Book of Common Prayer

50 Unto the end, a psalm of David,

² When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee.

³ Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

⁴ Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

⁵ For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

⁶ To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.

⁷ For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.

⁸ For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

⁹ Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

¹⁰ To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

¹¹ Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹² Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

¹³ Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

¹⁴ Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

¹⁵ I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

¹⁶ Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

¹⁷ O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

¹⁸ For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

¹⁹ A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

²⁰ Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

²¹ Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

59 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the inscription of a title, to David himself, for doctrine,

² When he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Sobal and Joab returned and slew of Edom, in the vale of the saltpits, twelve thousand men.

³ O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us; thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us.

⁴ Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal thou the breaches thereof, for it has been moved.

⁵ Thou hast shewn thy people hard things; thou hast made us drink wine of sorrow.

⁶ Thou hast given a warning to them that fear thee: that they may flee from before the bow: That thy beloved may be delivered.

⁷ Save me with thy right hand, and hear me.

⁸ God hath spoken in his holy place: I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem; and will mete out the vale of tabernacles.

⁹ Galaad is mine, and Manasses is mine: and Ephraim is the strength of my head. Juda is my king:

¹⁰ Moab is the pot of my hope. Into Edom will I stretch out my shoe: to me the foreigners are made subject.

¹¹ Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?

¹² Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go out with our armies?

¹³ Give us help from trouble: for vain is the salvation of man.

¹⁴ Through God we shall do mightily: and he shall bring to nothing them that afflict us.

60 Unto the end, in hymns, for David.

² Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer,

³ To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth: when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me;

⁴ For thou hast been my hope; a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.

⁵ In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: I shall be protected under the covert of thy wings.

⁶ For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name.

⁷ Thou wilt add days to the days of the king: his years even to generation and generation.

⁸ He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who shall search?

⁹ So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may pay my vows from day to day.

33 For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who dismissed him, and he went his way. [1 Kings 21.]

² I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.

³ In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice.

⁴ O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together.

⁵ I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my troubles.

⁶ Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded.

⁷ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him: and saved him out of all his troubles.

⁸ The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them.

⁹ O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him.

¹⁰ Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

¹¹ The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.

¹² Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

¹³ Who is the man that desireth life: who loveth to see good days?

¹⁴ Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

¹⁵ Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it.

¹⁶ The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers.

¹⁷ But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

¹⁸ The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.

¹⁹ The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.

²⁰ Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.

²¹ The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.

²² The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.

²³ The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.

1 The words of Nehemias the son of Helchias. And it came to pass in the month of Casleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in the castle of Susa,

² That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and some men of Juda; and I asked them concerning the Jews, that remained and were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³ And they said to me: They that have remained, and are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction, and reproach: and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.

⁴ And when I had heard these words, I sat down, and wept, and mourned for many days: and I fasted, and prayed before the face of the God of heaven.

⁵ And I said: I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, strong, great, and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy with those that love thee, and keep thy commandments:

⁶ Let thy ears be attentive, and thy eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, night and day, for the children of Israel thy servants: and I confess the sins of the children of Israel, by which they have sinned against thee: I and my father's house have sinned.

⁷ We have been seduced by vanity, and have not kept thy commandments, and ceremonies and judgments, which thou hast commanded thy servant Moses.

⁸ Remember the word that thou commandedst to Moses thy servant, saying: If you shall transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

⁹ But if you return to me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though you should be led away to the uttermost parts of the world, I will gather you from thence, and bring you back to the place which I have chosen for my name to dwell there.

¹⁰ And these are thy servants, and thy people: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great strength, and by thy mighty hand.

¹¹ I beseech thee, O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name: and direct thy servant this day, and give him mercy before this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

¹¹ And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the ancients; and the number of them was thousands of thousands,

¹² Saying with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction.

¹³ And every creature, which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them: I heard all saying: To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honour, and glory, and power, for ever and ever.

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said: Amen. And the four and twenty ancients fell down on their faces, and adored him that liveth for ever and ever.

6 And I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, saying: Come, and see.

² And I saw: and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and there was a crown given him, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer.

³ And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature, saying: Come, and see.

⁴ And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.

⁵ And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying: Come, and see. And behold a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶ And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying: Two pounds of wheat for a penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil.

⁷ And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying: Come, and see.

⁸ And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with sword, with famine, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

⁹ And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

¹¹ And white robes were given to every one of them one; and it was said to them, that they should rest for a little time, till their fellow servants, and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should be filled up.

¹⁸ Hear you therefore the parable of the sower.

¹⁹ When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side.

²⁰ And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy.

²¹ Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized.

²² And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless.

²³ But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.