Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon: The silent dove in a distant land, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
1 ¶ Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up; he oppresses me fighting me daily.
2 My enemies would daily swallow me up, for they are many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 When I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day my life is filled with sorrow; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 ¶ Thou tellest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies be turned back; in this I know that God is for me.
10 In God I will praise his word; in the LORD I will praise his word.
11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me.
12 Thy promises are upon me, O God; I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my life from death; thou hast kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, Michtam of David, when he fled from the presence of Saul in the cave.
1 ¶ Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in thee; and in the shadow of thy wings I will make my refuge until these calamities are overpast.
2 I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performs all things for me.
3 He shall send from the heavens and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions, and I lie even among those that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me, into the midst of which they are fallen themselves. Selah.
7 ¶ My heart is ready, O God, my heart is willing; I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will arise early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, Michtam of David.
1 ¶ Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of Adam?
2 Yea, in heart ye work iniquity; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear,
5 which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 ¶ Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually; when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melts, let them pass away, like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the fire of the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judges in the earth.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer; preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
3 Who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect; suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they attempt to hide the snares; they say, Who shall see them?
6 They search out iniquities; they perfect and put into effect that which they have invented in the inward thought of each one of them and that which they have devised in their heart.
7 ¶ But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So they shall make their own council and agreements to fall upon themselves; all that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God, for they shall understand his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD and shall become secure in him, and all the upright in heart shall glory in him.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm and Song of David.
1 ¶ Praise doth rest in thee, O God, in Sion and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Words of iniquity overwhelmed me, but thou shalt purge away our rebellion.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou dost choose and cause to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple.
5 With tremendous things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our saving health, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those that are afar off upon the sea:
6 ¶ Thou art he who doth establish the mountains by thy strength, being girded with valour:
7 He who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves and the tumult of the Gentiles.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy wonders; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou dost visit the earth, and when thou hast caused it to want, thou dost greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water; thou dost prepare their grain, according to thy will.
10 Thou dost water its rows abundantly; thou dost settle its furrows; thou dost make it soft with showers of rain; thou dost bless its sprouting.
11 Thou dost crown the year with thy goodness, and thy clouds distill fatness.
12 They fall upon the habitations of the wilderness; and the hills gird themselves with happiness.
13 The plains clothe themselves with sheep, and the valleys cover themselves with grain; they give shouts of triumph, they even sing.
40 ¶ Moreover, the LORD answered Job and said,
2 Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? Let him that disputes with God answer this.
3 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand over my mouth.
5 Once I have spoken; but I will not answer; even twice, but I will proceed no further.
6 ¶ Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
7 Gird up thy loins now like a man; I will ask thee, and explain thou unto me.
8 Wilt thou disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou may be justified?
9 Hast thou an arm like God? And canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath; and behold every one that is proud and bring him down.
12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
13 Hide them in the dust together; and blindfold their faces in darkness.
14 Then I will also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
15 ¶ Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eats grass as an ox.
16 Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
18 His bones are as strong as brass; his members are like bars of iron.
19 He is the beginning of the ways of God; he that made him shall make his sword draw near unto him.
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
21 He shall lie down under the shade, in the covert of the reeds and of the damp places.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, he shall drink up a river and not change; he trusts that he can draw up the Jordan into his mouth.
24 His maker shall take him by the weakness of his eyes in a snare, and pierce through his nose.
36 ¶ And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.
37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
38 But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and did not go with them to the work.
39 And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus;
40 and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}
16 ¶ Then he came to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman, who was faithful, but his father was a Gentile,
2 of whom the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium gave good witness.
3 Paul desired to have him go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those quarters, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they asked them to keep the decrees that had been determined by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
5 And so the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} were established in the faith and increased in number daily.
55 And the passover of the Jews was now at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover to purify themselves;
56 and they sought for Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?
57 Now both the high priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if anyone knew where he was he should show it, that they might take him.
12 ¶ Jesus, therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those that sat at the table with him.
3 Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4 Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who should betray him,
5 Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarius and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and would take from what was put therein.
7 Therefore Jesus said, Let her alone; against the day of my burying she has kept this;
8 for the poor ye always have with you, but ye shall not always have me.
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