Book of Common Prayer
41 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. O the happiness of him Who is acting wisely unto the poor, In a day of evil doth Jehovah deliver him.
2 Jehovah doth preserve him and revive him, He is happy in the land, And Thou givest him not into the will of his enemies.
3 Jehovah supporteth on a couch of sickness, All his bed Thou hast turned in his weakness.
4 I -- I said, `O Jehovah, favour me, Heal my soul, for I did sin against Thee,'
5 Mine enemies say evil of me: When he dieth -- his name hath perished!
6 And if he came to see -- vanity he speaketh, His heart gathereth iniquity to itself, He goeth out -- at the street he speaketh.
7 All hating me whisper together against me, Against me they devise evil to me:
8 A thing of Belial is poured out on him, And because he lay down he riseth not again.
9 Even mine ally, in whom I trusted, One eating my bread, made great the heel against me,
10 And Thou, Jehovah, favour me, And cause me to rise, And I give recompence to them.
11 By this I have known, That Thou hast delighted in me, Because my enemy shouteth not over me.
12 As to me, in mine integrity, Thou hast taken hold upon me, And causest me to stand before Thee to the age.
13 Blessed [is] Jehovah, God of Israel, From the age -- and unto the age. Amen and Amen.
52 To the Overseer. -- An instruction, by David, in the coming in of Doeg the Edomite, and he declareth to Saul, and saith to him, `David came in unto the house of Ahimelech.' What, boasteth thou in evil, O mighty one? The kindness of God [is] all the day.
2 Mischiefs doth thy tongue devise, Like a sharp razor, working deceit.
3 Thou hast loved evil rather than good, Lying, than speaking righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou hast loved all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 Also -- God doth break thee down for ever, Taketh thee, and pulleth thee out of the tent, And He hath uprooted thee Out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 And the righteous see, And fear, and laugh at him.
7 `Lo, the man who maketh not God his strong place, And trusteth in the abundance of his riches, He is strong in his mischiefs.'
8 And I, as a green olive in the house of God, I have trusted in the kindness of God, To the age and for ever,
9 I thank Thee to the age, because Thou hast done [it], And I wait [on] Thy name for [it is] good before Thy saints!
44 To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. An Instruction. O God, with our ears we have heard, Our fathers have recounted to us, The work Thou didst work in their days, In the days of old.
2 Thou, [with] Thy hand, nations hast dispossessed. And Thou dost plant them. Thou afflictest peoples, and sendest them away.
3 For, not by their sword Possessed they the land, And their arm gave not salvation to them, But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, And the light of Thy countenance, Because Thou hadst accepted them.
4 Thou [art] He, my king, O God, Command the deliverances of Jacob.
5 By Thee our adversaries we do push, By Thy name tread down our withstanders,
6 For, not in my bow do I trust, And my sword doth not save me.
7 For Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And those hating us Thou hast put to shame.
8 In God we have boasted all the day, And Thy name to the age we thank. Selah.
9 In anger Thou hast cast off and causest us to blush, And goest not forth with our hosts.
10 Thou causest us to turn backward from an adversary, And those hating us, Have spoiled for themselves.
11 Thou makest us food like sheep, And among nations Thou hast scattered us.
12 Thou sellest Thy people -- without wealth, And hast not become great by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a reproach to our surrounders.
14 Thou makest us a simile among nations, A shaking of the head among peoples.
15 All the day my confusion [is] before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me.
16 Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.
17 All this met us, and we did not forget Thee, Nor have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.
18 We turn not backward our heart, Nor turn aside doth our step from Thy path.
19 But Thou hast smitten us in a place of dragons, And dost cover us over with death-shade.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, And spread our hands to a strange God,
21 Doth not God search out this? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Surely, for Thy sake we have been slain all the day, Reckoned as sheep of the slaughter.
23 Stir up -- why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, cast us not off for ever.
24 Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression,
25 For bowed to the dust hath our soul, Cleaved to the earth hath our belly.
26 Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for thy kindness' sake.
2 I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it [is] vanity.
2 Of laughter I said, `Foolish!' and of mirth, `What [is] this it is doing?'
3 I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where [is] this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
4 I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.
5 I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
6 I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
7 I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance -- herd and flock -- above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8 I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man -- a wife and wives.
9 And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
10 And all that mine eyes asked I kept not back from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this hath been my portion, from all my labour,
11 and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man who cometh after the king? that which [is] already -- they have done it!
13 And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
14 The wise! -- his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;
15 and I said in my heart, `As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:
1 Paul, an apostle -- not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who did raise him out of the dead --
2 and all the brethren with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:
3 Grace to you, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who did give himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of God even our Father,
5 to whom [is] the glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.
6 I wonder that ye are so quickly removed from Him who did call you in the grace of Christ to another good news;
7 that is not another, except there be certain who are troubling you, and wishing to pervert the good news of the Christ;
8 but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be!
9 as we have said before, and now say again, If any one to you may proclaim good news different from what ye did receive -- anathema let him be!
10 for now men do I persuade, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if yet men I did please -- Christ's servant I should not be.
11 And I make known to you, brethren, the good news that were proclaimed by me, that it is not according to man,
12 for neither did I from man receive it, nor was I taught [it], but through a revelation of Jesus Christ,
13 for ye did hear of my behaviour once in Judaism, that exceedingly I was persecuting the assembly of God, and wasting it,
14 and I was advancing in Judaism above many equals in age in mine own race, being more abundantly zealous of my fathers' deliverances,
15 and when God was well pleased -- having separated me from the womb of my mother, and having called [me] through His grace --
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might proclaim him good news among the nations, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem unto those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and again returned to Damascus,
44 `Again, the reign of the heavens is like to treasure hid in the field, which a man having found did hide, and from his joy goeth, and all, as much as he hath, he selleth, and buyeth that field.
45 `Again, the reign of the heavens is like to a man, a merchant, seeking goodly pearls,
46 who having found one pearl of great price, having gone away, hath sold all, as much as he had, and bought it.
47 `Again, the reign of the heavens is like to a net that was cast into the sea, and did gather together of every kind,
48 which, when it was filled, having drawn up again upon the beach, and having sat down, they gathered the good into vessels, and the bad they did cast out,
49 so shall it be in the full end of the age, the messengers shall come forth and separate the evil out of the midst of the righteous,
50 and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.'
51 Jesus saith to them, `Did ye understand all these?' They say to him, `Yes, sir.'
52 And he said to them, `Because of this every scribe having been discipled in regard to the reign of the heavens, is like to a man, a householder, who doth bring forth out of his treasure things new and old.'