Book of Common Prayer
ZAIN.
49 ¶ Remember the word unto thy slave, in which thou hast caused me to wait.
50 ¶ This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy spoken word has caused me to live.
51 ¶ The proud have had me greatly in derision; yet I have not deviated from thy law.
52 ¶ I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD, and have consoled myself.
53 ¶ Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
54 ¶ Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 ¶ I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.
56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
CHETH.
57 ¶ My portion, O LORD, I have said, will be to keep thy words.
58 ¶ I intreated thy presence with my whole heart; be merciful unto me according to thy word.
59 ¶ I considered my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
60 I made haste and did not delay to keep thy commandments.
61 ¶ The company of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law.
62 ¶ At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of the judgments of thy righteousness.
63 ¶ I am a companion of all those that fear thee and of those that keep thy precepts.
64 ¶ The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy and teaches me thy statutes.
TETH.
65 ¶ Thou hast dealt well with thy slave, O LORD, according unto thy word,
66 which teaches me discernment and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments.
67 ¶ Before I was humbled, I went into error, but now I keep thy spoken word.
68 ¶ Thou art good and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
69 ¶ The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart became fat like grease, but I delight in thy law.
71 ¶ It was good for me that I have been humbled, that I might learn thy statutes.
72 ¶ The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
To the Overcomer: A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1 ¶ Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart intelligence.
4 I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will declare my enigma upon the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of adversity when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
6 ¶ Those that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
7 none of them can by any means ransom his brother, nor give God an atonement for him;
8 (for the redemption of their soul is of great price, and they shall never pay it)
9 that he should still live for ever and not see corruption.
10 For he sees that all the wise men die, likewise the fool and the ignorant perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses are eternal and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man will not abide forever in honour; he is like the beasts that are cut off.
13 This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in Sheol; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave from their dwelling.
15 ¶ Surely God will ransom my soul from the hand of Sheol when he shall take me. Selah.
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17 for in his death he shall carry nothing away; nor shall his glory descend after him.
18 Though while he lives, his life shall be blessed: and men will praise thee when thou art prosperous.
19 He shall enter into the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light forever.
20 Man that is in honour that does not understand is like the beasts that are cut off.
To the Overcomer upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves and have done abominable iniquity; there is no one that does good.
2 God looked down from heaven upon the sons of Adam to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
3 Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is no one that does good, no, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread; they have not called upon God.
5 They were there in great fear where no fear was; for God has scattered the bones of him that encamps against thee: thou hast put them to shame because God has despised them.
6 Oh that the saving health of Israel were come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
6 ¶ Then Darius, the king, gave a commandment, and a search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2 And there was found in the coffer of the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
3 In the first year of Cyrus, the king, the same Cyrus, the king, gave a commandment concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, that the house be built as a place for sacrifices to be offered, and let the walls thereof be covered; the height thereof sixty cubits, and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;
4 the orders, three of stones of marble and one order of new timber and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.
5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which was at Jerusalem and brought unto Babylon, be restored and go again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, to his place, and let them be placed in the house of God.
6 Now therefore, Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions, the Apharsachites, who are on the other side of the river, remove yourselves from there.
7 Leave the work of this house of God unto the captain of the Jews and to their elders that they may build this house of God in his place.
8 And by me is given the commandment regarding what ye shall do with the elders of these Jews, to build this house of God: that of the king’s goods, of the tribute from the other side of the river, the expenses be given unto these men, that they not cease.
9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day that they not cease:
10 that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.
11 It is also given by my commandment that whoever shall alter this word, let a timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged upon it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
12 And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter or to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made the decree; let it be done with speed.
13 ¶ Then Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, speedily did according to that which Darius, the king, had sent.
14 And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered according to the prophecy of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and of Darius and of Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the king.
16 And the sons of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
17 and they offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and as the sin of all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18 And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses over the work of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19 And the sons of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the sons of the captivity and for their brethren, the priests, and for themselves.
21 And the sons of Israel who had returned out of captivity and all those who had separated themselves unto them from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate
22 and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
5 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of him that was seated on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel preaching with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?
3 And no one was able not in the heaven nor in the earth neither under the earth to open the book neither to look upon it.
4 And I wept much because no one was found worthy to open the book nor to read it neither to look upon it.
5 And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, who has overcome to open the book and to loose its seven seals.
6 ¶ And I saw, and, behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four animals and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that was seated upon the throne.
8 And when he had taken the book, the four animals and the twenty-four elders fell on their faces before the Lamb, each one of them having harps, and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
10 and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
10 Then the disciples came and said unto him, Why dost thou speak unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have in abundance; but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has.
13 Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive;
15 for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.
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