Book of Common Prayer

¹ ¶ The LORD reigns; he has clothed himself with majesty; the LORD has clothed himself with strength; he has girded himself: he has established the world also, that it cannot be moved.

² From this time on, thy throne shall never be moved; thou art eternal.

³ The rivers have lifted up, O LORD; the rivers have lifted up their voice; the rivers lift up their waves.

⁴ The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

⁵ Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness becomes thy house, O LORD, for ever.

¹ ¶ O sing unto the LORD a new song; sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

² Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; show forth his saving health from day to day.

³ Declare his glory among the Gentiles, his wonders among all peoples.

⁴ For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Honour and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the peoples, give unto the LORD the glory and the strength.

⁸ Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; bring offerings, and come into his courts.

⁹ O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; fear before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ ¶ Say among the Gentiles that the LORD reigns; he also has established the world, it shall not be moved; he shall judge the peoples righteously.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fullness thereof.

¹² Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

¹³ before the LORD; for he has come, for he has come to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.

A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.

Aleph

¹ ¶ I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Beth

² My soul shall glory in the LORD; the meek shall hear of this, and be glad.

Gimel

³ O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Daleth

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

He

⁵ They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.

Vau

⁶ This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Zain

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps round about those that fear him and delivers them.

Cheth

⁸ O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that shall trust in him.

Teth

⁹ O fear the LORD, ye his saints; for those that fear him lack nothing.

Jod

¹⁰ The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those that seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Caph

¹¹ ¶ Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Lamed

¹² Who is the man that desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Mem

¹³ Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Nun

¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Samech

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

Ain

¹⁶ The anger of the LORD is against those that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Pe

¹⁷ The righteous cried out, and the LORD heard and delivered them out of all their troubles.

Tzaddi

¹⁸ The LORD is near unto those that are of a broken heart and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

Koph

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD shall deliver him out of them all,

Resh

²⁰ keeping all his bones; not one of them shall be broken.

Schin

²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked; and those that hate the righteous shall be declared guilty.

Tau

²² The LORD ransoms the soul of his slaves, and none of those that trust in him shall be declared guilty.

⁸ ¶ And it also happened that one day Elisha passed through Shunem, where there was an important woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

⁹ And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually.

¹⁰ Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a lampstand so that when he comes to us, he shall turn in there.

¹¹ And it came to pass one day that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and slept there.

¹² Then he said to Gehazi, his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

¹³ And he said unto Gehazi, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been diligent for us with all this care; what shall I do for thee? Dost thou have need that I speak for thee unto the king or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people.

¹⁴ And he said, What then shall we do for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she has no child, and her husband is old.

¹⁵ Then he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

¹⁶ And he said, At the appointed time, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, thou man of God, do not deceive thy handmaid.

¹⁷ But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the appointed time that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

¹⁸ ¶ And when the child was grown, it came to pass one day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

¹⁹ And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a servant, Carry him to his mother.

²⁰ And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon and then died.

²¹ Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and went out.

²² And calling her husband, she said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again.

²³ And he said, Why must thou go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath. And she said, Peace.

²⁴ Then she caused the ass to be saddled and said to her servant, Lead and go forward; slack not the pace for me except I bid thee.

²⁵ So she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi, his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.

²⁶ Run now, I pray thee, to meet her and say unto her, Dost thou have peace? And thy husband? And the child? And she answered, Peace.

²⁷ And when she came to the man of God in the mountain, she caught him by the feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is bitter within her; and the LORD has hid it from me and has not revealed it to me.

²⁸ Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins and take my staff in thy hand and go; if thou meet anyone, salute him not; and if anyone salutes thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

³⁰ Then the mother of the child said, As the LORD lives and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her.

³¹ And Gehazi had gone on before them and had laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice, nor attention. Therefore he went again to meet him and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

³² And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was laid dead upon his bed.

³³ He went in therefore and shut the door upon both of them and prayed unto the LORD.

³⁴ Then he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands; thus he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

³⁵ Then he returned and walked through the house to and fro and went up and stretched himself upon him again; and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And as she was coming in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

³⁷ Then she entered in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out.

¹⁰ ¶ And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; to whom the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prays

¹² and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

¹³ Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, of how much evil he has done to thy saints in Jerusalem,

¹⁴ and even here he has authority from the princes of the priests to bind all that call on thy name.

¹⁵ But the Lord said unto him, Go; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶ for I will show him how much it behooves him to suffer for my name.

¹⁷ Then Ananias went and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way as thou didst come, has sent me, that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight immediately and arose and was baptized.

¹⁹ And when he had received food, he was comforted. Then Saul was certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus.

²⁰ And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

²¹ But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and came here for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the princes of the priests?

²² But Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.

²³ ¶ And as many days passed, the Jews took counsel among themselves to kill him;

²⁴ but their ambushes were understood by Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

²⁵ Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket.

²⁶ And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem;

²⁹ and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Greeks; but they went about to slay him,

³⁰ which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.

³¹ Then the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} had rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and with the comfort of the Holy Spirit they were multiplied.

⁷ Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who taught you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

⁹ And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore which does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

¹⁰ And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?

¹¹ He answered and said unto them, He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has food, let him do likewise.

¹² Then the publicans also came to be baptized and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

¹³ And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

¹⁴ And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Oppress no one, neither accuse anyone falsely; and be content with your wages.

¹⁵ ¶ And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not,

¹⁶ John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you in water, but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire;

¹⁷ whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and will gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

¹⁸ And exhorting many other things he announced the gospel unto the people.