Book of Common Prayer
A psalm of complaint and of praise.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
31 In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge;
Let me never be put to shame:
Deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear unto me; deliver me speedily:
Be thou to me a strong rock,
A house of [a]defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress;
Therefore for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me.
4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid privily for me;
For thou art my stronghold.
5 Into thy hand I commend my spirit:
Thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth.
6 I hate them that regard lying vanities;
But I trust in Jehovah.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy lovingkindness;
For thou hast seen my affliction:
Thou hast known [b]my soul in adversities;
8 And thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;
Thou hast set my feet in a large place.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress:
Mine eye wasteth away with grief, yea, my soul and my body.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
And my years with sighing:
My strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
And my bones are wasted away.
11 Because of all mine adversaries I am become a reproach,
Yea, unto my neighbors exceedingly,
And a fear to mine acquaintance:
They that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the defaming of many,
Terror on every side:
While they took counsel together against me,
They devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Jehovah:
I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand:
Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant:
Save me in thy lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah; for I have called upon thee:
Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be dumb,
Which speak against the righteous insolently,
With pride and contempt.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness,
Which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
Which thou hast wrought for them that take refuge in thee,
Before the sons of men!
20 In the covert of thy presence wilt thou hide them from the plottings of man:
Thou wilt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be Jehovah;
For he hath showed me his marvellous lovingkindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my [c]haste,
I am cut off from before thine eyes:
Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications,
When I cried unto thee.
23 Oh love Jehovah, all ye his saints:
Jehovah preserveth [d]the faithful,
And plentifully rewardeth him that dealeth proudly.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All ye that [e]hope in Jehovah.
Prayer for rescue from enemies.
A Psalm of David.
35 Strive thou, O Jehovah, with them that strive with me:
Fight thou against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
3 Draw out also the spear, [a]and stop the way against them that pursue me:
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor that seek after my soul:
Let them be turned back and confounded that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind,
And the angel of Jehovah driving them on.
6 Let their way be [b]dark and slippery,
And the angel of Jehovah pursuing them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me [c]their net in a pit;
Without cause have they digged a pit for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him unawares;
And let his net that he hath hid catch himself:
[d]With destruction let him fall therein.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in Jehovah:
It shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, Jehovah, who is like unto thee,
Who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,
Yea, the poor and the needy from him that robbeth him?
11 [e]Unrighteous witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I know not.
12 They reward me evil for good,
To the bereaving of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:
I afflicted my soul with fasting;
And my prayer [f]returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother:
I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother.
15 But in [g]mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:
The [h]abjects gathered themselves together against me, and [i]I knew it not;
They did tear me, and ceased not:
16 [j]Like the profane mockers in feasts,
They gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions,
My [k]darling from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great assembly:
I will praise thee among [l]much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies [m]wrongfully rejoice over me;
Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace;
But they devise deceitful words against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 Thou hast seen it, O Jehovah; keep not silence:
O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to the justice due unto me,
Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Jehovah my God, according to thy righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their heart, [n]Aha, so would we have it:
Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be put to shame and confounded together that rejoice at my hurt:
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that [o]favor my righteous cause:
Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified,
Who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness
And of thy praise all the day long.
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, [a]It is not the time for us to come, the time for Jehovah’s house to be built. 3 Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: [b]Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the [c]mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah. 9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did [d]blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. 10 Therefore [e]for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit. 11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him; and the people did fear before Jehovah. 13 Then spake Haggai Jehovah’s messenger in Jehovah’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah. 14 And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work on the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God, 15 in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass: 19 I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and [a]patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. 20 But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest [b]the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my [c]servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication. 22 Behold, I cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of [d]her works. 23 And I will kill her children with [e]death; and all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according to your works. 24 But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, who know not the deep things of Satan, as they are wont to say; I cast upon you none other burden. 25 Nevertheless that which ye have, hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the [f]nations: 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of [g]iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father: 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, 30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of [a]hell? 34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you [b]desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)