Book of Common Prayer
Jehovah’s covenant with David, and Israel’s afflictions.
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the lovingkindness of Jehovah for ever:
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever;
Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish in the very heavens.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen,
I have sworn unto David my servant:
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever,
And build up thy throne to all generations. Selah
5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Jehovah;
Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared unto Jehovah?
Who among the [a]sons of the [b]mighty is like unto Jehovah,
7 A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones,
And to be feared above all them that are round about him?
8 O Jehovah God of hosts,
Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O [c]Jehovah?
And thy faithfulness is round about thee.
9 Thou rulest the pride of the sea:
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou hast broken [d]Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain;
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:
The world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south, thou hast created them:
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy name.
13 Thou hast [e]a mighty arm;
Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne:
Lovingkindness and truth go before thy face.
15 Blessed is the people that know the [f]joyful sound:
They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name do they rejoice all the day;
And in thy righteousness are they exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength;
And in thy favor [g]our horn shall be exalted.
18 For our shield belongeth unto Jehovah;
[h]And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy [i]saints,
And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
With my holy oil have I anointed him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established;
Mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not [j]exact from him,
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his adversaries before him,
And smite them that hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be with him;
And in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
And his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 I also will make him my first-born,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My lovingkindness will I keep for him for evermore;
And my covenant shall [k]stand fast with him.
29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
And walk not in mine ordinances;
31 If they [l]break my statutes,
And keep not my commandments;
32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33 But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him,
Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant will I not [m]break,
Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 [n]Once have I sworn by my holiness:
I will not lie unto David:
36 His seed shall endure for ever,
And his throne as the sun before me.
37 [o]It shall be established for ever as the moon,
[p]And as the faithful witness in the sky. Selah
38 But thou hast cast off and rejected,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant:
Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges;
Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way rob him:
He is become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword,
And hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his brightness to cease,
And cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened:
Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou hide thyself for ever?
How long shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Oh remember how short my time is:
For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
48 What man is he that shall live and not see death,
That shall deliver his soul from the [q]power of Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses,
Which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants;
How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the [r]mighty peoples,
51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah,
Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore.
Amen, and Amen.
24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not Jehovah: therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the law of the god of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the law of the god of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land. 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah. 29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the [a]gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared Jehovah, and made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34 Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 36 but Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall ye fear, and unto him shall ye bow yourselves, and to him shall ye sacrifice: 37 and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods: 38 and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods: 39 but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. 41 So these nations feared Jehovah, and served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children’s children, as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy. 26 I think therefore that this is good by reason of the distress that is upon us, namely, that it is good for a man [a]to be as he is. 27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28 But shouldest thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I would spare you. 29 But this I say, brethren, the time [b]is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none; 30 and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not; 31 and those that use the world, as not using it to the full: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto [a]the measure of his life? 28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
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