Book of Common Prayer
89 An instruction, by Ethan the Ezrahite. Of the kind acts of Jehovah, to the age I sing, To all generations I make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth,
2 For I said, `To the age is kindness built, The heavens! Thou dost establish Thy faithfulness in them.'
3 I have made a covenant for My chosen, I have sworn to David My servant:
4 `Even to the age do I establish thy seed, And have built to generation and generation thy throne. Selah.
5 and the heavens confess Thy wonders, O Jehovah, Thy faithfulness also [is] in an assembly of holy ones.
6 For who in the sky, Compareth himself to Jehovah? Is like to Jehovah among sons of the mighty?
7 God is very terrible, In the secret counsel of His holy ones, And fearful over all surrounding Him.
8 O Jehovah, God of Hosts, Who [is] like Thee -- a strong Jah? And Thy faithfulness [is] round about Thee.
9 Thou [art] ruler over the pride of the sea, In the lifting up of its billows Thou dost restrain them.
10 Thou hast bruised Rahab, as one wounded. With the arm of Thy strength Thou hast scattered Thine enemies.
11 Thine [are] the heavens -- the earth also [is] Thine, The habitable world and its fulness, Thou hast founded them.
12 North and south Thou hast appointed them, Tabor and Hermon in Thy name do sing.
13 Thou hast an arm with might, Strong is Thy hand -- high Thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and judgment [Are] the fixed place of Thy throne, Kindness and truth go before Thy face.
15 O the happiness of the people knowing the shout, O Jehovah, in the light of Thy face they walk habitually.
16 In Thy name they rejoice all the day, And in Thy righteousness they are exalted,
17 For the beauty of their strength [art] Thou, And in Thy good will is our horn exalted,
18 For of Jehovah [is] our shield, And of the Holy One of Israel our king.
19 Then Thou hast spoken in vision, To Thy saint, yea, Thou sayest, I have placed help upon a mighty one, Exalted a chosen one out of the people,
20 I have found David My servant, With My holy oil I have anointed him.
21 With whom My hand is established, My arm also doth strengthen him.
22 An enemy exacteth not upon him, And a son of perverseness afflicteth him not.
23 And I have beaten down before him his adversaries, And those hating him I plague,
24 And My faithfulness and kindness [are] with him, And in My name is his horn exalted.
25 And I have set on the sea his hand, And on the rivers his right hand.
26 He proclaimeth me: `Thou [art] my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'
27 I also first-born do appoint him, Highest of the kings of the earth.
28 To the age I keep for him My kindness, And My covenant [is] stedfast with him.
29 And I have set his seed for ever, And his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake My law, And in My judgments do not walk;
31 If My statutes they pollute, And My commands do not keep,
32 I have looked after with a rod their transgression, And with strokes their iniquity,
33 And My kindness I break not from him, Nor do I deal falsely in My faithfulness.
34 I profane not My covenant, And that which is going forth from My lips I change not.
35 Once I have sworn by My holiness, I lie not to David,
36 His seed is to the age, And his throne [is] as the sun before Me,
37 As the moon it is established -- to the age, And the witness in the sky is stedfast. Selah.
38 And Thou, Thou hast cast off, and dost reject, Thou hast shown Thyself wroth With Thine anointed,
39 Hast rejected the covenant of Thy servant, Thou hast polluted to the earth his crown,
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges, Thou hast made his fenced places a ruin.
41 Spoiled him have all passing by the way, He hath been a reproach to his neighbours,
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries, Thou hast caused all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Also -- Thou turnest back the sharpness of his sword, And hast not established him in battle,
44 Hast caused [him] to cease from his brightness, And his throne to the earth hast cast down.
45 Thou hast shortened the days of his youth, Hast covered him over [with] shame. Selah.
46 Till when, O Jehovah, art Thou hidden? For ever doth Thy fury burn as fire?
47 Remember, I pray Thee, what [is] life-time? Wherefore in vain hast Thou created All the sons of men?
48 Who [is] the man that liveth, and doth not see death? He delivereth his soul from the hand of Sheol. Selah.
49 Where [are] Thy former kindnesses, O Lord. Thou hast sworn to David in Thy faithfulness,
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, I have borne in my bosom all the strivings of the peoples,
51 Wherewith Thine enemies reproached, O Jehovah, Wherewith they have reproached The steps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed [is] Jehovah to the age. Amen, and amen!
30 And Rachel seeth that she hath not borne to Jacob, and Rachel is envious of her sister, and saith unto Jacob, `Give me sons, and if there is none -- I die.'
2 And Jacob's anger burneth against Rachel, and he saith, `Am I in stead of God who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?'
3 And she saith, `Lo, my handmaid Bilhah, go in unto her, and she doth bear on my knees, and I am built up, even I, from her;'
4 and she giveth to him Bilhah her maid-servant for a wife, and Jacob goeth in unto her;
5 and Bilhah conceiveth, and beareth to Jacob a son,
6 and Rachel saith, `God hath decided for me, and also hath hearkened to my voice, and giveth to me a son;' therefore hath she called his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah, Rachel's maid-servant, conceiveth again, and beareth a second son to Jacob,
8 and Rachel saith, `With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, yea, I have prevailed;' and she calleth his name Napthali.
9 And Leah seeth that she hath ceased from bearing, and she taketh Zilpah her maid-servant, and giveth her to Jacob for a wife;
10 and Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth to Jacob a son,
11 and Leah saith, `A troop is coming;' and she calleth his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth a second son to Jacob,
13 and Leah saith, `Because of my happiness, for daughters have pronounced me happy;' and she calleth his name Asher.
14 And Reuben goeth in the days of wheat-harvest, and findeth love-apples in the field, and bringeth them in unto Leah, his mother, and Rachel saith unto Leah, `Give to me, I pray thee, of the love-apples of thy son.'
15 And she saith to her, `Is thy taking my husband a little thing, that thou hast taken also the love-apples of my son?' and Rachel saith, `Therefore doth he lie with thee to-night, for thy son's love-apples.'
16 And Jacob cometh in from the field at evening; and Leah goeth to meet him, and saith, `Unto me dost thou come in, for hiring I have hired thee with my son's love-apples;' and he lieth with her during that night.
17 And God hearkeneth unto Leah, and she conceiveth, and beareth to Jacob a son, a fifth,
18 and Leah saith, `God hath given my hire, because I have given my maid-servant to my husband;' and she calleth his name Issachar.
19 And conceive again doth Leah, and she beareth a sixth son to Jacob,
20 and Leah saith, `God hath endowed me -- a good dowry; this time doth my husband dwell with me, for I have borne to him six sons;' and she calleth his name Zebulun;
21 and afterwards hath she born a daughter, and calleth her name Dinah.
22 And God remembereth Rachel, and God hearkeneth unto her, and openeth her womb,
23 and she conceiveth and beareth a son, and saith, `God hath gathered up my reproach;'
24 and she calleth his name Joseph, saying, `Jehovah is adding to me another son.'
1 That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we did behold, and our hands did handle, concerning the Word of the Life --
2 and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and do testify, and declare to you the Life, the age-during, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us --
3 that which we have seen and heard declare we to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ;
4 and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.
5 And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is light, and darkness in Him is not at all;
6 if we may say -- `we have fellowship with Him,' and in the darkness may walk -- we lie, and do not the truth;
7 and if in the light we may walk, as He is in the light -- we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son doth cleanse us from every sin;
8 if we may say -- `we have not sin,' ourselves we lead astray, and the truth is not in us;
9 if we may confess our sins, stedfast He is and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness;
10 if we may say -- `we have not sinned,' a liar we make Him, and His word is not in us.
9 And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth,
2 and his disciples asked him, saying, `Rabbi, who did sin, this one or his parents, that he should be born blind?'
3 Jesus answered, `Neither did this one sin nor his parents, but that the works of God may be manifested in him;
4 it behoveth me to be working the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night doth come, when no one is able to work: --
5 when I am in the world, I am a light of the world.'
6 These things saying, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and rubbed the clay on the eyes of the blind man, and said to him,
7 `Go away, wash at the pool of Siloam,' which is, interpreted, Sent. He went away, therefore, and did wash, and came seeing;
8 the neighbours, therefore, and those seeing him before, that he was blind, said, `Is not this he who is sitting and begging?'
9 others said -- `This is he;' and others -- `He is like to him;' he himself said, -- `I am [he].'
10 They said, therefore, to him, `How were thine eyes opened?'
11 he answered and said, `A man called Jesus made clay, and rubbed my eyes, and said to me, Go away to the pool of Siloam, and wash; and having gone away and having washed, I received sight;'
12 they said, therefore, to him, `Where is that one?' he saith, `I have not known.'
13 They bring him to the Pharisees who once [was] blind,
14 and it was a sabbath when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
15 Again, therefore, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received sight, and he said to them, `Clay he did put upon my eyes, and I did wash -- and I see.'
16 Of the Pharisees, therefore, certain said, `This man is not from God, because the sabbath he doth not keep;' others said, `How is a man -- a sinful one -- able to do such signs?' and there was a division among them.
17 They said to the blind man again, `Thou -- what dost thou say of him -- that he opened thine eyes?'