Book of Common Prayer
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not Thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me and hear me; I mourn in my complaint and moan,
3 because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
4 My heart is sorely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him.
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down alive into hell; for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.
18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many with me.
19 God shall hear and afflict them, even He that abideth of old. Selah Because they have not changed, therefore they fear not God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against those that are at peace with him; he hath broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in Thee.
138 I will praise Thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.
2 I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth, for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.
3 In the day when I cried, Thou answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.
5 Yea, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me; Thou shalt stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of Thine own hands.
139 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,” even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.
13 For Thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and intricately wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuity were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with Thee.
19 Surely, Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain.
21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against Thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts.
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there are higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased who eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, except the beholding of them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of the laboring man is sweet whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
14 But those riches perish by evil travail; and when he begetteth a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil: that in all ways as he came, so shall he go. And what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
18 Behold that which I have seen: It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him; for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, being shut apart from the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth in nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.
2 But he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.”
7 Therefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 However that be, then when ye knew not God, ye did service unto those which by nature are not gods.
9 But now after ye have known God, or rather are known by God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements unto which ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days and months and times and years.
11 I am afraid for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
15 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.”
3 But He answered and said unto them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor thy father and mother,’ and, ‘He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.’
5 But ye say that whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, ‘by whatsoever thou might have profited by me, it is a gift,’
6 and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 ‘This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
9 But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’”
10 And He called the multitude and said unto them, “Hear and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”
12 Then came His disciples and said unto Him, “Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
15 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, “Explain to us this parable.”
16 And Jesus said, “Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drain?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 these are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.”
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.