Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm to Asaph.
1 ¶ The God of gods, even the LORD, has spoken and convocated the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined forth.
3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall convocate the heavens of above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my merciful ones together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is the judge. Selah.
7 ¶ Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee; I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee regarding thy sacrifices; thy burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are with me.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine and the fullness thereof.
13 Must I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 Sacrifice praise unto God and pay thy vows unto the most High
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 ¶ But unto the wicked God saith, What part hast thou to declare my statutes or that thou should take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou dost hate chastening and dost cast my words behind thee.
18 When thou didst see a thief, then thou didst consent with him and hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou didst give thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frames deceit.
20 Thou didst sit and speak against thy brother; thou didst slander thine own mother’s son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou didst think that I was altogether such a one as thyself, but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I take you away, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whosoever sacrifices praise glorifies me; and to him that orders his ways aright I will show the salvation of God.
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 ¶ Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; defend me from those that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloodthirsty men.
3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul; the strong are gathered against me; I am not in rebellion, nor in sin, O LORD.
4 They run and prepare themselves when I have committed no iniquity; awake to help me and behold.
5 Thou, therefore, O LORD God of the hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the Gentiles; be not merciful to any rebellious workers of iniquity. Selah.
6 They will return at evening; they will bark like dogs and go round about outside the city.
7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords are in their lips; for who, say they, doth hear?
8 ¶ But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the Gentiles in derision.
9 I will reserve his strength unto thee, for God is my defence.
10 The God of my mercy shall meet me on the way; God shall let me see my desire upon my enemies.
11 Slay them not lest my people forget; scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; they shall be subject to weakness and to a curse.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be and let them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 And at evening let them return and let them bark like dogs and go round about outside the city.
15 Let them wander up and down for food and murmur if they are not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of thy power; I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing, for God is my defence and the God of my mercy.
To the Overcomer upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.
1 ¶ O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us; thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it; heal its breaches, for it shakes.
3 Thou hast showed thy people hard things; thou hast made us to drink the wine of shaking.
4 Thou hast given a banner to those that fear thee that they raise up for the truth. Selah.
5 That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand and hear me.
6 ¶ God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver;
8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom I will cast out my shoe; Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?
10 Surely thou, O God, who had cast us off; and thou, O God, who did not go out with our armies.
11 Give us help from trouble, for vain is the salvation of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
1 ¶ Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous, for to the upright praise is beautiful.
2 Celebrate unto the LORD with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing unto him a new song; play unto excellence with joy.
4 For the word of the LORD is right, and all his works are done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; he lays up the deeps for treasures.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it came into being.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the Gentiles to nought; he makes the devices of the peoples of no effect.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 ¶ Blessed is the people whose God is the LORD; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The LORD looked from heaven; he saw all the sons of Adam.
14 From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioned all of their hearts; he considers all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the multitude of the army; the mighty man does not escape by much strength.
17 A horse is a vain thing for salvation; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those that fear him, upon those that wait for his mercy
19 to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in the famine.
20 Our soul waited for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
21 Therefore our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in the name of his holiness.
22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have waited upon thee.
1 ¶ The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan, the palace,
2 that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens
5 ¶ and said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of the heavens, strong, great and terrible, who keeps covenant and mercy for those that love thee and observe thy commandments;
6 let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou may hear the prayer of thy slave, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the sons of Israel, thy slaves, and I confess the sins of the sons of Israel, with which we have sinned against thee; both I and my father’s house have sinned.
7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments, which thou didst command thy slave Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou didst command thy slave Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;
9 but if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there.
10 Now these are thy slaves and thy people, whom thou hast ransomed with thy great power and with thy strong hand.
11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy slave and to the prayer of thy slaves who desire to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy slave this day, and grant him grace 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 of the animals and of the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
12 saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to take power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.
13 And I heard every creature which is in heaven and upon the earth and under the earth and such as are upon the sea and all that are in it, saying, Blessing and honour and glory and power, be unto him that is seated upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
14 And the four animals said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders fell on their faces and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever.
6 ¶ And I saw when the Lamb had opened the first seal, and I heard the first of the four animals, saying as with a voice of thunder, Come and see.
2 And I saw and, behold, a white horse; and he that was seated upon him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth victorious, that he might also overcome.
3 ¶ And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second animal, which said, Come and see.
4 And another horse went forth that was red, and unto him that was seated thereon was given power to take away the peace of the earth and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal, which said, Come and see. And I saw and, behold, a black horse, and he that was seated upon him had a yoke in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals, which said, A choenix of wheat for a denarius and three choenix of barley for a denarius; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal, which said, Come and see.
8 And I looked and, behold, a green horse, and he that was seated upon him was named Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword and with hunger 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 those that had been slain because of 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 avenge our blood on those that dwell in the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto each one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little while until their fellow servants and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he who was planted beside the way.
20 But he that was planted in stony places, the same is he that hears the word and receives it immediately with joy;
21 yet he has no root in himself but is temporal, for when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 And he that was planted among the thorns is he that hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23 But he that was planted in good ground is he that hears the word and understands it and who also bears the fruit and brings forth: one a hundredfold and another sixty and another thirty.
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