Book of Common Prayer
56 To the Overseer. -- `On the Dumb Dove far off.' -- A secret treasure of David, in the Philistines' taking hold of him in Gath. Favour me, O God, for man swallowed me up, All the day fighting he oppresseth me,
2 Mine enemies have swallowed up all the day, For many [are] fighting against me, O most High,
3 The day I am afraid I am confident toward Thee.
4 In God I praise His word, in God I have trusted, I fear not what flesh doth to me.
5 All the day they wrest my words, Concerning me all their thoughts [are] for evil,
6 They assemble, they hide, they watch my heels, When they have expected my soul.
7 By iniquity they escape, In anger the peoples put down, O God.
8 My wandering Thou hast counted, Thou -- place Thou my tear in Thy bottle, Are they not in Thy book?
9 Then turn back do mine enemies in the day I call. This I have known, that God [is] for me.
10 In God I praise the word, In Jehovah I praise the word.
11 In God I trusted, I fear not what man doth to me,
12 On me, O God, [are] Thy vows, I repay thank-offerings to Thee.
13 For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Dost Thou not my feet from falling? To walk habitually before God in the light of the living!
57 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure of David, in his fleeing from the face of Saul into a cave. Favour me, O God, favour me, For in Thee is my soul trusting, And in the shadow of Thy wings I trust, Until the calamities pass over.
2 I call to God Most High, To God [who] is perfecting for me.
3 He sendeth from the heaven, and saveth me, He reproached -- who is panting after me. Selah. God sendeth forth His kindness and His truth.
4 My soul [is] in the midst of lions, I lie down [among] flames -- sons of men, Their teeth [are] a spear and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, Above all the earth Thine honour.
6 A net they have prepared for my steps, Bowed down hath my soul, They have digged before me a pit, They have fallen into its midst. Selah.
7 Prepared is my heart, O God, Prepared is my heart, I sing and praise.
8 Awake, mine honour, awake, psaltery and harp, I awake the morning dawn.
9 I thank Thee among the peoples, O Lord, I praise Thee among the nations.
10 For great unto the heavens [is] Thy kindness, And unto the clouds Thy truth.
11 Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God. Above all the earth Thine honour!
58 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?
2 Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
7 They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
8 As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
11 And man saith: `Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
64 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice, in my meditation, From the fear of an enemy Thou keepest my life,
2 Hidest me from the secret counsel of evil doers, From the tumult of workers of iniquity.
3 Who sharpened as a sword their tongue, They directed their arrow -- a bitter word.
4 To shoot in secret places the perfect, Suddenly they shoot him, and fear not.
5 They strengthen for themselves an evil thing, They recount of the hiding of snares, They have said, `Who doth look at it?'
6 They search out perverse things, `We perfected a searching search,' And the inward part of man, and the heart [are] deep.
7 And God doth shoot them [with] an arrow, Sudden have been their wounds,
8 And they cause him to stumble, Against them [is] their own tongue, Every looker on them fleeth away.
9 And all men fear, and declare the work of God, And His deed they have considered wisely.
10 The righteous doth rejoice in Jehovah, And hath trusted in Him, And boast themselves do all the upright of heart!
65 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. A Song. To Thee, silence -- praise, O God, [is] in Zion, And to Thee is a vow completed.
2 Hearer of prayer, to Thee all flesh cometh.
3 Matters of iniquities were mightier than I, Our transgressions -- Thou dost cover them.
4 O the happiness of [him whom] Thou choosest, And drawest near, he inhabiteth Thy courts, We are satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, Thy holy temple.
5 By fearful things in righteousness Thou answerest us, O God of our salvation, The confidence of all far off ends of earth and sea.
6 Establishing mountains by His power, He hath been girded with might,
7 Restraining the noise of seas, the noise of their billows, And the multitude of the peoples.
8 And the inhabitants of the uttermost parts From Thy signs are afraid, The outgoings of morning and evening Thou causest to sing.
9 Thou hast inspected the earth, and waterest it, Thou makest it very rich, the rivulet of God [is] full of water, Thou preparest their corn, When thus Thou dost prepare it,
10 Its ridges have been filled, Deepened hath been its furrow, With showers Thou dost soften it, Its springing up Thou blessest.
11 Thou hast crowned the year of Thy goodness, And Thy paths drop fatness.
12 Drop do the pastures of a wilderness, And joy of the heights Thou girdest on.
13 Clothed have lambs the flock, And valleys are covered with corn, They shout -- yea, they sing!
16 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, in their drawing near before Jehovah, and they die;
2 yea, Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Speak unto Aaron thy brother, and he cometh not in at all times unto the sanctuary within the vail, unto the front of the mercy-seat, which [is] upon the ark, and he dieth not, for in a cloud I am seen upon the mercy-seat.
3 `With this doth Aaron come in unto the sanctuary; with a bullock, a son of the herd, for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering;
4 a holy linen coat he putteth on, and linen trousers are on his flesh, and with a linen girdle he girdeth himself, and with a linen mitre he wrappeth himself up; they [are] holy garments; and he hath bathed with water his flesh, and hath put them on.
5 `And from the company of the sons of Israel he taketh two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering;
6 and Aaron hath brought near the bullock of the sin-offering which is his own, and hath made atonement for himself, and for his house;
7 and he hath taken the two goats, and hath caused them to stand before Jehovah, at the opening of the tent of meeting.
8 `And Aaron hath given lots over the two goats, one lot for Jehovah, and one lot for a goat of departure;
9 and Aaron hath brought near the goat on which the lot for Jehovah hath gone up, and hath made it a sin-offering.
10 `And the goat on which the lot for a goat of departure hath gone up is caused to stand living before Jehovah to make atonement by it, to send it away for a goat of departure into the wilderness.
11 `And Aaron hath brought near the bullock of the sin-offering which is his own, and hath made atonement for himself, and for his house, and hath slaughtered the bullock of the sin-offering which [is] his own,
12 and hath taken the fulness of the censer of burning coals of fire from off the altar, from before Jehovah, and the fulness of his hands of thin spice-perfume, and hath brought [it] within the vail;
13 and he hath put the perfume on the fire before Jehovah, and the cloud of the perfume hath covered the mercy-seat which [is] on the testimony, and he dieth not.
14 `And he hath taken of the blood of the bullock, and hath sprinkled with his finger on the front of the mercy-seat eastward; even at the front of the mercy-seat he doth sprinkle seven times of the blood with his finger.
15 `And he hath slaughtered the goat of the sin-offering which [is] the people's, and hath brought in its blood unto the inside of the vail, and hath done with its blood as he hath done with the blood of the bullock, and hath sprinkled it on the mercy-seat, and at the front of the mercy-seat,
16 and he hath made atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins; and so he doth for the tent of meeting which is tabernacling with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
17 `And no man is in the tent of meeting in his going in to make atonement in the sanctuary, till his coming out; and he hath made atonement for himself, and for his house, and for all the assembly of Israel.
18 `And he hath gone out unto the altar which [is] before Jehovah, and hath made atonement for it; and he hath taken of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and hath put on the horns of the altar round about;
19 and he hath sprinkled on it of the blood with his finger seven times, and hath cleansed it, and hath hallowed it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel.
13 And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not sorrow, as also the rest who have not hope,
14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God those asleep through Jesus he will bring with him,
15 for this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living -- who do remain over to the presence of the Lord -- may not precede those asleep,
16 because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first,
17 then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be;
18 so, then, comfort ye one another in these words.
6 `Take heed your kindness not to do before men, to be seen by them, and if not -- reward ye have not from your Father who [is] in the heavens;
2 whenever, therefore, thou mayest do kindness, thou mayest not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory from men; verily I say to you -- they have their reward!
3 `But thou, doing kindness, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth,
4 that thy kindness may be in secret, and thy Father who is seeing in secret Himself shall reward thee manifestly.
5 `And when thou mayest pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites, because they love in the synagogues, and in the corners of the broad places -- standing -- to pray, that they may be seen of men; verily I say to you, that they have their reward.
6 `But thou, when thou mayest pray, go into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who [is] in secret, and thy Father who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly.
16 `And when ye may fast, be ye not as the hypocrites, of sour countenances, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men fasting; verily I say to you, that they have their reward.
17 `But thou, fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face,
18 that thou mayest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father who [is] in secret, and thy Father, who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly.