Book of Common Prayer
78 1 He showeth how God of his mercy chose his Church of the posterity of Abraham, 8 Reproaching the stubborn rebellion of their fathers, that the children might not only understand. 11 That God of his free mercy made his Covenant with their ancestors, 17 But also seeing them so malicious and perverse, might be ashamed, and so turn wholly to God. In this Psalm the holy Ghost hath comprehended, as it were, the sum of all God’s benefits, to the intent the ignorant and gross people might see in few words the effect of the whole histories of the Bible.
A Psalm to give [a]instruction, committed to Asaph.
1 Hear my [b]doctrine, O my people: incline your ears unto the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will declare high sentences of old.
3 Which we have heard and known, and our [c]fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, but to the generation to come we will show the praise of the Lord, his power also, and his wonderful works that he hath done:
5 How he established a [d]testimony in Jacob, and ordained a Law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should teach their children:
6 That the [e]posterity might know it, and the children, which should be born, should stand up, and declare it to their children.
7 That they might [f]set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And not to be as their [g]fathers, a disobedient and rebellious generation: a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful unto God.
9 The children of [h]Ephraim being armed and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the Covenant of God, but refused to walk in his Law,
11 And forgate his acts, and his wonderful works that he had showed them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their [i]fathers in the land of Egypt; even in the field of Zoan.
13 (A)He divided the Sea, and led them through: he made also the waters to stand as an heap.
14 (B)In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15 (C)He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as of the great depths.
16 (D)He brought floods also out of the stony rock, so that he made the waters to descend like the rivers.
17 Yet they [j]sinned still against him, and provoked the Highest in the wilderness,
18 And tempted God in their hearts in [k]requiring meat for their lust.
19 (E)They spake against God also, saying, Can God [l]prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 (F)Behold, he smote the rock, that the water gushed out, and the streams overflowed: can he give bread also? or prepare flesh for his people?
21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry, and the (G)fire was kindled in Jacob, and also wrath came upon Israel,
22 Because they believed not in God, and [m]trusted not in his help.
23 Yet he had commanded the [n]clouds above, and had opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down Manna upon them for to eat, and had given them of the wheat of heaven.
25 (H)Man did eat the bread of Angels: he sent them meat enough.
26 He caused the [o]East wind to pass in the heaven: and through his power he brought in the South wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the sea.
28 And he made it fall in the midst of their camp, even round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their desire.
30 They were not turned from their [p]lusts, but the meat was yet in their mouths,
31 When the wrath of God came even upon them, and slew [q]the strongest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
32 For all this they [r]sinned still, and believed not his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years hastily.
34 And when he [s]slew them, they sought him, and they returned, and sought God early.
35 And they remembered that God was their strength, and the most high God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouth, and dissembled with him with their tongue.
37 For their [t]heart was not upright with him: neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 Yet he being merciful, [u]forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not, but oft times called back his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were flesh: yea, a wind that passeth and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness? and grieve him in the desert?
41 Yea, they [v]returned and tempted God, and [w]limited the Holy one of Israel.
42 They [x]remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy,
43 Nor him that set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their floods, that they could not drink.
45 He sent [y]a swarm of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He [z]gave also their fruits unto the caterpillar, and their labor unto the grasshopper.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their wild fig trees with the hailstone.
48 He gave their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to the thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, indignation and wrath, and vexation by the sending out of [aa]evil angels.
50 He made a way to his anger: he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life to the pestilence,
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt, even the [ab]beginning of their strength in the tabernacles of [ac]Ham.
52 But he made his people to go out like sheep, and led them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 Yea, he carried them out safely, and they [ad]feared not, and the Sea covered their enemies.
54 And he brought them unto the borders of his [ae]Sanctuary: even to this Mountain which his right hand purchased.
55 (I)He cast out the heathen also before them, and caused them to fall to the lot of his inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.
56 Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies,
57 But turned back, and dealt [af]falsely like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow.
58 And they [ag]provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to wrath with their graven images.
59 God heard this and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel,
60 So that he [ah]forsook the habitation of Shiloh, even the Tabernacle where he dwelt among men,
61 And delivered his [ai]power into captivity, and his beauty into the enemy’s hand.
62 And he gave up his people to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
63 The fire [aj]devoured their chosen men, and their maids were not [ak]praised.
64 Their Priests fell by the sword, and their [al]widows lamented not.
65 But the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a strong man that after his [am]wine crieth out,
66 And smote his enemies in the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetual shame.
67 Yet he refused the tabernacle of [an]Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, and mount Zion which he loved.
69 And he [ao]built his Sanctuary as an high palace, like the earth, which he established forever.
70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 Even from behind the ewes with young, brought he him to feed his people in Jacob, and his inheritance in Israel.
72 So [ap]he fed them according to the simplicity of his heart, and guided them by the discretion of his hands.
45 1 Joseph maketh himself known to his brethren. 8 He showeth that all was done by God’s providence. 18 Pharaoh commandeth him to send for his father. 24 Joseph exhorteth his brethren to concord.
1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all that stood by him, but he cried, [a]Have forth every man from me. And there tarried not one with him, while Joseph uttered himself unto his brethren.
2 And he wept, and cried, so that the Egyptians heard: the house of Pharaoh heard also.
3 Then Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph: doth my father yet live? But his brethren could not answer him, for they were astonished at his presence.
4 Again, Joseph said to his brethren, Come near, I pray you, to me. And they came near. And he said, (A)I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
5 Now therefore be not [b]sad, neither grieved with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: (B)For God did send me before you for your preservation.
6 For now two years of famine have been through the land, and five years are behind, wherein neither shall be earing nor harvest.
7 Wherefore God sent me before you to preserve your posterity in this land, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
8 Now then you sent not me hither, but [c]God, who hath made me a father unto Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
9 Haste you and go up to my father, and tell him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down to me, tarry not.
10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and shalt be near me, thou and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy sheep, and thy beasts, and all that thou hast.
11 Also I will nourish thee there (for yet remain five years of famine) lest thou perish through poverty, thou and thy household, and all that thou hast.
12 And behold, your eyes do see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that [d]my mouth speaketh to you.
13 Therefore tell my father of all mine honor in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen, and make haste, and bring my father hither.
14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15 Moreover, he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and afterward his brethren talked with him.
32 And I would have you without care. The unmarried careth for things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33 But he that is married, [a]careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.
34 There is difference also between a virgin and a wife: the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in [b]spirit: but she that is married, careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I speak for your own [c]commodity, not to tangle you in a snare, but that ye follow that which is honest, and that ye may cleave fast unto the Lord without separation.
36 [d]But if any man think that it is uncomely for his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he [e]sinneth not: let them be married.
37 Nevertheless, he that standeth firm in his [f]heart, that he hath no [g]need, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will keep his virgin, he doeth well.
38 So then he that giveth her to marriage, doeth well, but he that giveth her not to marriage, doeth [h]better.
39 [i]The wife is bound by the [j]law, as long as her husband (A)liveth: but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to marry with whom she will, only in the [k]Lord.
40 But she is more blessed, if she so abide in my judgment: (B)and I think that I have also the Spirit of God.
6 3 Christ preaching in his country, his own condemn him. 6 The unbelief of the Nazarites. 7 The Apostles are sent. 13 They cast out devils: they anoint the sick with oil. 14 Herod’s opinion of Christ. 18 The cause of John’s imprisonment. 22 Dancing. 27 John beheaded, 29 buried. 30 The Apostles return from preaching. 34 Christ teacheth in the desert. 37 He feedeth the people with five loaves. 48 The Apostles are troubled on the sea. 56 The sick that touch Christ’s garment, are healed.
1 And (A)[a]he departed thence, and came into his own country, and his disciples followed him.
2 And when the Sabbath was come, he began to teach in the Synagogue, and many that heard him, were astonied, and said, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this that is given unto him, that even such [b]great works are done by his hands?
3 Is not this that carpenter Mary’s son, the brother of James and Joses, and of Judas and Simon? and are not his [c]sisters here with us? And they were offended in him.
4 And Jesus said unto them, A (B)Prophet is not without [d]honor, but in his own country, and among his own kindred, and in his own house.
5 And he [e]could there do no great works, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6 And he marveled at their unbelief, (C)and went about by the towns on every side, teaching.
7 ¶ (D)[f]And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits,
8 [g]And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only: neither scrip, neither bread, neither money in their girdles:
9 But that they should be shod with (E)[h]sandals, and that they should not put on [i]two coats,
10 And he said unto them, Wheresoever ye shall enter into an house, [j]there abide till ye depart thence.
11 ¶ (F)[k]And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, (G)shake off the dust that is under your feet, for a witness unto them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be easier for Sodom, or Gomorrah at the day of Judgment, than for that city.
12 ¶ And they went out, and preached, that men should amend their lives.
13 And they cast out many devils: and they (H)[l]anointed many that were sick, with oil, and healed them.
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