Book of Common Prayer

To the Overcomer upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my meditation.

² Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto thee will I pray.

³ My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; early will I present myself unto thee and wait.

⁴ For thou art not a God that loves wickedness; neither shall one who is evil dwell with thee.

⁵ The foolish (those who are governed by carnal thoughts or desires) shall not stand in thy sight; thou dost hate all workers of iniquity.

⁶ Thou shalt destroy those that speak lies: the LORD will abominate the bloody and deceitful man.

⁷ ¶ But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear I will worship toward thy holy temple.

⁸ Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

⁹ For there is no uprightness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰ Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out for the multitude of their rebellions; for they have rebelled against thee.

¹¹ And all those that put their trust in thee shall rejoice: they shall ever be in jubilee, for thou shalt cover them; and all that love thy name shall be joyful in thee.

¹² For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

To the Overcomer in Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

² Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

³ My soul is also greatly troubled; but thou, O LORD, how long?

⁴ Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.

⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in Sheol who shall give thee thanks?

⁶ I am weary with my groaning; all the night I flood my bed; I water my couch with my tears.

⁷ Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxes old because of all mine enemies.

⁸ ¶ Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.

⁹ The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD has received my prayer.

¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed; they shall be sorely troubled: they shall turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

¹ ¶ Why dost thou stand afar off, O LORD? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble?

² The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

³ For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire and blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors.

⁴ The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, does not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

⁵ His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he puffs at them.

⁶ He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.

⁷ His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

⁸ He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places he murders the innocent: his eyes are secretly set against the poor.

⁹ He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he catches the poor when he draws him into his net.

¹⁰ He crouches and hides himself, and many are those who fall under his power.

¹¹ He has said in his heart, God has forgotten; he hides his face; he will never see it.

¹² ¶ Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand; forget not the humble.

¹³ In what does the wicked irritate God? He has said in his heart, Thou wilt not require accountability.

¹⁴ Thou hast seen it, for thou dost behold mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand: the poor commits himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵ Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until thou find none.

¹⁶ The LORD is King for ever and ever; the Gentiles are perished out of his land.

¹⁷ LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

¹⁸ to judge the fatherless and the oppressed that the man of the earth may no longer oppress.

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I put my trust in the LORD: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

² For, behold, the wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart.

³ The foundations shall be destroyed. What has the righteous done?

⁴ ¶ The LORD is in the temple of his holiness, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.

⁵ The LORD tries the righteous, but the wicked and he that loves violence his soul hates.

⁶ Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, with winds of whirlwinds: this shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷ For the righteous LORD loves righteousness; his countenance beholds the upright.

²⁷ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king burned the roll, the words which Baruch had written at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying:

²⁸ Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

²⁹ And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus hath the LORD said: Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?

³⁰ Therefore thus hath the LORD said unto Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit upon the throne of David; and his body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.

³¹ And I will visit upon him and upon his seed and upon his slaves, their iniquity; and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they did not hearken.

³² Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire, and there were added besides upon them many like words.

37 ¶ And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

² But neither he nor his slaves nor the people of the land hearkened unto the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

14 ¶ Follow after charity and earnestly pursue spiritual gifts, but above all, that ye may prophesy.

² For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God, for no one understands him, even though by the Spirit he speaks mysteries.

³ But he that prophesies speaks unto men for edification and exhortation and comfort.

⁴ He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the congregation. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

⁵ I would that ye all spoke with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied, for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, that the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} may receive edifying.

⁶ ¶ Now, brothers, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either with revelation or with knowledge or with prophecy or with doctrine?

⁷ And even things without life giving sound, whether flute or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is played or harped?

⁸ For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

⁹ So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue a clear and definite word, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

¹⁰ There are many kinds of distinct voices in the world, and nothing is dumb.

¹¹ Therefore, if I ignore the virtue of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaks as a barbarian, and he that speaks shall be a barbarian unto me.

¹² Even so ye, forasmuch as ye desire the things of the Spirit, earnestly pursue excellence unto the edification of the congregation. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

¹⁶ ¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore prudent as serpents and innocent as doves.

¹⁷ But keep yourselves from men, for they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

¹⁸ and ye shall even be brought before princes and kings for my sake, for testimony unto them and to the Gentiles.

¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

²⁰ For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹ And brother shall deliver up brother unto death, and the father the child, and children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.

²² And ye shall be hated of all men for my name, but he that endures to the end shall be saved.

²³ But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another, for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of man be come.