Book of Common Prayer
1 ¶ Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law he meditates day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
4 ¶ The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
1 ¶ Why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
3 let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet I have set my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness.
7 ¶ I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day I have begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance and unto the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10 ¶ Understand now therefore, O ye kings: receive chastening, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled in a little while. Blessed are all those that put their trust in him.
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
1 ¶ LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me.
2 There are many who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory and the lifter up of my head.
4 ¶ I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he answered me out of the mountain of his holiness. Selah.
5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God, for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the jawbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongs unto the LORD; thy blessing shall be upon thy people. Selah.
To the Overcomer in Neginoth, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after the lie? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and desist. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 ¶ There are many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart in the time that their grain and their wine multiplied.
8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou only, O LORD, dost make me to be confident.
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.
1 ¶ O LORD my God, in thee I have put my trust: save me from all those that persecute me, and deliver me
2 Lest they take my soul, as a lion dismembers his prey when there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands,
4 if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, then let my persecutor escape without retribution.
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay my honour in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger; lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake the judgment in my favour that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about, for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Let wickedness consume the wicked; but establish the just: for the righteous God is he who tries the hearts and kidneys.
10 ¶ My shield is in God, he who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is he who judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he does not turn, he will whet his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready.
13 He has also prepared for him the weapons of death; he ordains his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travails with iniquity and has conceived of his own work and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit and deepened it and shall fall into the ditch which he made.
16 His work shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
12 ¶ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and prepared the heavens with his palm and with three fingers measured the dust of the earth and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills with weights?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD or being his counsellor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him? Who taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed unto him the way of intelligence?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he causes the isles to disappear as dust.
16 And all Lebanon is not sufficient for the fire, nor all the beasts thereof sufficient for the sacrifice.
17 All the Gentiles are as nothing before him, and they are counted to him as vanity and as less than nothing.
18 ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 The workman prepares the graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto himself a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not been taught since the land was founded?
22 He is seated upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 He brings the powerful to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as if they had never been,
1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ;
4 according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in charity;
5 having marked out beforehand the way for us to be adopted as sons by Jesus Christ in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he has made us accepted in the beloved;
7 in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace,
8 which has over abounded in us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fulfillment of the times he might restore all things by the Christ, both those which are in heaven and those which are on earth,
11 in him in whom likewise we have obtained an inheritance, having had the way marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will,
12 so that we should be to the praise of his glory, those of us who first trusted in the Christ.
13 In whom ye also trusted, hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your saving health; in whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of the promise,
14 which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus, the Christ, Son of God,
2 as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.
4 John baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea and those of Jerusalem and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey
7 and preached, saying, There comes one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
9 ¶ And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth a city of Galilee and was baptized of John in the Jordan.
10 And as soon as he was come out of the water, John saw the heavens opened and the Spirit like a dove descending and resting upon him;
11 and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my dear Son, in whom I delight.
12 And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness.
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days and forty nights and was tempted of Satan and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International