Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
1 ¶ Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.
2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my life; let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, and let such as love thy saving health say continually, Let God be magnified.
5 But I am poor and destitute; make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
1 ¶ In thee, O LORD, have I waited; let me not be forever put to shame.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape; incline thine ear unto me and save me.
3 Be thou my strong habitation unto which I may continually resort; thou hast given a commandment that I should be saved because thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the perverse and violent man.
5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD; thou art my security from my youth.
6 By thee have I been sustained from the womb; thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels; my praise has been continually of thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me, and those that lay in wait for my soul take counsel together,
11 saying, God has forsaken him; persecute and take him for there is no one to deliver him.
12 O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste for my help.
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
14 ¶ But I will continually wait and will add upon all thy praise.
15 My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth and until now; I shall manifest thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not until I have showed the strength of thy arm unto the next generation and thy power to every one that is to come,
19 and thy righteousness, O God, unto excellence because thou hast done great things; O God, who is like unto thee!
20 Thou who hast caused me to see great and sore troubles, shalt return and quicken me and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side.
22 I will also praise thee with an instrument of the psaltery, O my God; unto thee will I sing thy truth with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing praises unto thee and my soul, which thou hast ransomed.
24 In the same manner my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness every day, for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.
Maschil of Asaph.
1 ¶ O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, in which thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the eternal desolations, unto every enemy who has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies have roared in the midst of thy assemblies; they set up their own banners for signs.
5 Renowned, as one on the way to heaven, he who lifted up axes upon the thick trees for the work of the sanctuary.
6 But now they break down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuaries; they have defiled the tabernacle of thy name in the earth.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them at once; they have burned up all the meeting places of the people of God in the earth.
9 We no longer see our own banners; there is no longer any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows. How long shall this be?
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why dost thou withdraw thy hand, even thy right hand? Why dost thou hide it in thy bosom.
12 ¶ For God is my King from of old, he who works saving health in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou didst break the heads of leviathan in pieces and didst give him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the river; thou didst dry up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter.
18 ¶ Remember this, that the enemy has spoken against the LORD and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the beasts; forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed; the poor and destitute shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily.
23 Forget not the voices of thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually.
7 ¶ Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the first priest.
6 This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a diligent scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; 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 sons of Israel and of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the porters and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first 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 Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD and to do it and to teach in Israel his statutes and judgments.
11 ¶ Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra, the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD and of his statutes over Israel.
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra, the priest, perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and to Cheenet.
13 By me is given commandment, that any of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, who desire of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14 For thou art sent on behalf of the king and of his seven counsellors, to inquire of Judah 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 freely offer unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,
16 and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;
17 Therefore, with diligence thou shalt buy with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their presents and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.
19 The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, thou shalt restore before the God of Jerusalem.
20 And whatever else shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have need to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 And by me, Artaxerxes, the king, is given the commandment to all the treasurers who are on the other side of the river, that whatever Ezra, the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,
22 unto one hundred talents of silver and to one hundred measures of wheat and to one hundred baths of wine and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be speedily done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also unto you we cause it to be known, that regarding all of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, and ministers of the house of this God, no one shall be able to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.
25 And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thy hand, set as judges and governors, who govern all the people that are on the other side of the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach those that do not know them.
26 And whoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let them be judged speedily, whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment.
14 ¶ And I saw and, behold, the Lamb stood upon Mount Sion and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having the name of his Father written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps;
3 and they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four animals and the elders; and no one could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are those who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These are redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without blemish before the throne of God.
6 ¶ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel that he might evangelize those that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred and tongue and people,
7 saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.
8 And another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has given all the Gentiles to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand,
10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb;
11 and the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever; and those that worship the beast and its image and whosoever receives the mark of its name, have no rest day or night.
12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13 ¶ And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
14 ¶ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus
2 and said unto his slaves, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
3 For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.
4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.
7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask.
8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John the Baptist’s head in a platter.
9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless because of the oath and of those who sat with him at the table, he commanded it to be given her.
10 And he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought in a platter and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.
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