Book of Common Prayer
1 ¶ The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the seat of his throne.
3 A fire shall go before him and burn up his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings enlightened the world; the earth saw and trembled.
5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.
7 Let all those that serve graven images be confounded, those that boast of idols; worship him, all ye gods.
8 ¶ Zion heard and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.
9 For thou, O LORD, art high above all the earth; thou art exalted far above all gods.
10 Ye that love the LORD are to hate evil; he preserves the souls of his saints; he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
1 ¶ The LORD reigns; the peoples shall tremble; he who sits above the cherubim reigns; the earth shall be moved.
2 The LORD is great in Zion, and he is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy.
4 The king’s strength is that he loves judgment; thou dost establish equity; thou dost execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt ye the LORD our God and worship at the footstool of his feet, which is holy.
6 ¶ Moses and Aaron are among his priests and Samuel among those that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke unto them in the pillar of fire; they kept his testimonies and the order that he gave them.
8 Thou didst answer them, O LORD our God; thou wast a God that didst forgive them, and an avenger for their works.
9 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at the mountain of his holiness, for the LORD our God is holy.
A Psalm of praise.
1 ¶ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD all the earth.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness; come before his presence with joy.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God; it is he that has made us and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.
1 ¶ O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show thyself.
2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, JAH shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8 Understand, ye carnal ones among the people, and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10 He that chastens the Gentiles, shall he not correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 ¶ Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O JAH, and teach him out of thy law,
13 to cause him to rest in the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But the judgment shall be returned unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would have quickly dwelt with the dead.
18 When I said, My foot slips, thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, who creates toil under the guise of law?
21 They gather themselves together as an army against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my refuge, and my God is the rock of my trust.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
1 ¶ O come, let us bring joy unto the LORD; let us sing with joy unto the rock of our saving health.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and sing unto him with joy.
3 For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7 ¶ For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice,
8 harden not your heart, as in the provocation and as in the day of trials in the wilderness
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long I was grieved with this generation and said, It is a people that err from the heart, who have not known my ways;
11 unto whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
14 ¶ Now Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.
2 And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought an astute woman from there and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner and put on mourning apparel and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman that has mourned for a long time for someone who is dead
3 and come to the king and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 And when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance and said, Save me, O king.
5 And the king said unto her, What ails thee? And she answered, I am a widow woman, and my husband is dead.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and the two strove together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one smote the other and slew him.
7 And, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heir also. So they shall quench my coal which is left and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thy house, and I will give a command concerning thee.
9 And the woman of Tekoa said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me and on my father’s house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.
10 And the king said, Whoever speaks against thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
11 Then she said, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou will not allow the avengers {Heb. redeemers} of blood to increase the damage by destroying my son. And he said, As the LORD lives, not one hair of thy son shall fall to the earth.
12 Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
13 And the woman said, Why then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this word as one who is guilty in that the king does not bring home again his banished.
14 For it is certain that we die and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither does God respect any person; yet he does devise means that his outcasts not be expelled from him.
15 Now, therefore, that I have come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. But thy handmaid said to herself, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the word of his handmaid.
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then thy handmaid said, Let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil; and let the LORD thy God be with thee.
18 Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, By the life of thy soul, my lord the king, I can not turn to the right hand or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for thy slave Joab, he commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thy handmaid;
20 to bring about this form of speech thy slave Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know that which is done in the earth.
21 ¶ And it came to pass that after we had left them and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from there unto Patara;
2 and finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard and set forth.
3 Now when we had sighted Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo.
4 And finding the disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
5 And when we had accomplished those days, we departed; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, until we were out of the city; and we knelt down on the shore and prayed.
6 And when we had taken our leave one of another, we embarked on the ship, and they returned home again.
7 And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais and saluted the brethren and abode with them one day.
8 ¶ And the next day Paul and those of us that were with him departed and came unto Caesarea; and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and abode with him.
9 And he had four daughters, virgins, who prophesied.
10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
12 And when we heard these things, both we and those of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, Let the will of the Lord be done.
10 ¶ And he left there and came into the borders of Judaea and behind the Jordan; and the multitude joined him again, and he taught them again as was his custom.
2 And the Pharisees came to him and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorce and to put her away.
5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this commandment.
6 But at the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall join to his wife;
8 and they that were two shall be made one flesh, so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
11 And he said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another commits adultery against her.
12 And if the woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she commits adultery.
13 ¶ And they brought young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
14 And Jesus seeing it, became angry and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me and hinder them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.
15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16 And taking them up in his arms and putting his hands upon them, he blessed them.
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