Book of Common Prayer
70 A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion:
2 Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.
5 For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth;
6 By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing:
7 I run become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper.
8 Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory; thy greatness all the day long.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me.
10 For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my soul have consulted together,
11 Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.
12 O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help.
13 Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek my hurt.
14 But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise.
15 My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not known learning,
16 I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone.
17 Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works.
18 And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power,
19 And thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee?
20 How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth:
21 Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou hast comforted me.
22 For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed.
24 Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.
71 A psalm on Solomon.
2 Give to the king thy judgment, O God: and to the king's son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.
3 Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.
5 And he shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth.
7 In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken sway.
8 And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
9 Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground.
10 The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:
11 And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor.
14 He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day.
16 And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.
17 Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.
18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things.
19 And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.
20 The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
74 Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.
2 We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:
3 When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.
4 The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof.
5 I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn.
6 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.
7 For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills:
8 For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up:
9 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.
10 But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.
11 And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.
7 Now after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, Esdras the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helcias,
2 The son of Sellum, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,
3 The son of Amarias, the son of Azarias, the son of Maraioth,
4 The son of Zarahias, the son of Ozi, the son of Bocci,
5 The son of Abisue, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest from the beginning.
6 This Esdras went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God had given to Israel: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the children of the priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathinites to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8 And they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him.
10 For Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment.
11 And this is the copy of the letter of the edict, which king Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the priest, the scribe instructed in the words and commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies in Israel.
12 Artaxerxes king of kings to Esdras the priest, the most learned scribe of the law of the God of heaven, greeting.
13 It is decreed by me, that all they of the people of Israel, and of the priests and of the Levites in my realm, that are minded to go into Jerusalem, should go with thee.
14 For thou art sent from before the king, and his seven counsellors, to visit Judea and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God, which is in thy hand.
15 And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose tabernacle is in Jerusalem.
16 And all the silver and gold that thou shalt find in all the province of Babylon, and that the people is willing to offer, and that the priests shall offer of their own accord to the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem,
17 Take freely, and buy diligently with this money, calves, rams, lambs, with the sacrifices and libations of them, and offer them upon the altar of the temple of your God, that is in Jerusalem.
18 And if it seem good to thee, and to thy brethren to do any thing with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God.
19 The vessels also, that are given thee for the sacrifice of the house of thy God, deliver thou in the sight of God in Jerusalem.
20 And whatsoever more there shall be need of for the house of thy God, how much soever thou shalt have occasion to spend, it shall be given out of the treasury, and the king's exchequer, and by me.
21 I Artaxerxes the king have ordered and decreed to all the keepers of the public chest, that are beyond the river, that whatsoever Esdras the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, you give it without delay,
22 Unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred cores of wheat, and unto a hundred bates of wine, and unto a hundred bates of oil, and salt without measure.
23 All that belongeth to the rites of the God of heaven, let it be given diligently in the house of the God of heaven: lest his wrath should be enkindled against the realm of the king, and of his sons.
24 We give you also to understand concerning all the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nathinites, and ministers of the house of this God, that you have no authority to impose toll or tribute, or custom upon them.
25 And thou Esdras according to the wisdom of thy God, which is in thy hand, appoint judges and magistrates, that may judge all the people, that is beyond the river, that is, for them who know the law of thy God, yea and the ignorant teach ye freely.
26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king diligently, judgment shall be executed upon him, either unto death, or unto banishment, or to the confiscation of goods, or at least to prison.
14 And I beheld, and lo a lamb stood upon mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the noise of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard, was as the voice of harpers, harping on their harps.
3 And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients; and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand, who were purchased from the earth.
4 These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb:
5 And in their mouth there was found no lie; for they are without spot before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel, to preach unto them that sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people:
7 Saying with a loud voice: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come; and adore ye him, that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And another angel followed, saying: That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen; which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, and receive his character in his forehead, or in his hand;
10 He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever: neither have they rest day nor night, who have adored the beast, and his image, and whoever receiveth the character of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow them.
14 At the time Herod the Tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus.
2 And he said to his servants: This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him.
3 For Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother's wife.
4 For John said to him: It is not lawful for thee to have her.
5 And having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people: because they esteemed him as a prophet.
6 But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod.
7 Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him.
8 But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist.
9 And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given.
10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus.
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