Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Blessed is he that understands regarding the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt soften all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 ¶ My enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die and his name perish?
6 And if he came to see me, he spoke lies: his heart gathered iniquity to itself, and when he goes out, he tells it.
7 All that hate me congregate together and murmur against me; against me do they devise my hurt.
8 A disease of Belial, they say, cleaves fast unto him, and now that he lies he shall rise up no more.
9 Even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them.
11 In this I shall know that I have pleased thee, that my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou sustained me in my integrity and hast seated me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
To the Overcomer, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
1 ¶ Why dost thou boast of evil, O strong man? The mercy of God is day by day.
2 Thy tongue devises wickedness like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou dost love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou dost love all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise cast thee down for ever; he shall cut thee off and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 ¶ The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, saying:
7 Behold, this is the man that did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the eternal mercy of God for ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it, and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy merciful ones.
To the Overcomer for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
1 ¶ We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the Gentiles with thy hand and plant them in their place; how thou didst afflict the peoples and cast them out.
3 For they did not get the land in inheritance by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance because thy delight was in them.
4 Thou art my King, O God; command saving health unto Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies; through thy name will we tread under those that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put to shame those that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 ¶ But thou hast cast us off and put us to shame and doth not go forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, and we are spoiled by those who hate us.
11 Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for food and hast scattered us among the Gentiles.
12 Thou hast sold thy people for nothing and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to those that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,
16 for the voice of him that reproaches and blasphemes by reason of the enemy and of the avenger.
17 ¶ All this is come upon us; yet we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way
19 though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, do not cast us off for ever.
24 Why dost thou hide thy face and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaves unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help and ransom us for thy mercies’ sake.
7 ¶ Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,
8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were red horses, speckled, and white.
9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee who these are.
10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are those whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the land, and, behold, all the earth sits still and is at rest.
12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of the hosts, when wilt thou have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?
13 And the LORD answered good words unto the angel that talked with me, words of consolation.
14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of the hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15 And I am very sore displeased with the Gentiles that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
16 Therefore thus hath the LORD said, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in her, saith the LORD of the hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, My cities through abundance of good shall yet be widened; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
4 John, to the seven congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} which are in Asia: Grace be unto you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne
5 and from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood
6 and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him and those also who pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail over him. Even so, Amen.
8 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end, saith the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
9 ¶ I John, your brother and participant in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit in the day of the Lord and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,
11 that said, I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and What thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} which are in Asia: unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like white wool, as the snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire
15 and his feet like unto brilliant metal as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun when it shines in its strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I AM the first and the last,
18 and he that lives and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of Hades and of death.
19 Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which must be after these.
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven congregations, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of the man, it walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then it says, I will return into my house from which I came out; and when it is come, it finds it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then it goes and takes with itself seven other spirits worse than itself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it also be unto this wicked generation.
46 ¶ While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood without, desiring to speak with him.
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brothers stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brothers?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brothers!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in the heavens, the same is my brother and sister and mother.
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