Book of Common Prayer
80 To the Overseer. -- `On the Lilies.' A testimony of Asaph. -- A Psalm. Shepherd of Israel, give ear, Leading Joseph as a flock, Inhabiting the cherubs -- shine forth,
2 Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, Wake up Thy might, and come for our salvation.
3 O God, cause us to turn back, And cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved.
4 Jehovah, God of Hosts, till when? Thou hast burned against the prayer of Thy people.
5 Thou hast caused them to eat bread of tears, And causest them to drink With tears a third time.
6 Thou makest us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies mock at it.
7 God of Hosts, turn us back, And cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved.
8 A vine out of Egypt Thou dost bring, Thou dost cast out nations, and plantest it.
9 Thou hast looked before it, and dost root it, And it filleth the land,
10 Covered have been hills [with] its shadow, And its boughs [are] cedars of God.
11 It sendeth forth its branches unto the sea, And unto the river its sucklings.
12 Why hast Thou broken down its hedges, And all passing by the way have plucked it?
13 A boar out of the forest doth waste it, And a wild beast of the fields consumeth it.
14 God of Hosts, turn back, we beseech Thee, Look from heaven, and see, and inspect this vine,
15 And the root that Thy right hand planted, And the branch Thou madest strong for Thee,
16 Burnt with fire -- cut down, From the rebuke of Thy face they perish.
17 Let Thy hand be on the man of Thy right hand, On the son of man Thou hast strengthened for Thyself.
18 And we do not go back from Thee, Thou dost revive us, and in Thy name we call.
19 O Jehovah, God of Hosts, turn us back, Cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved!
77 To the Overseer, for Jeduthun. -- A Psalm of Asaph. My voice [is] to God, and I cry, my voice [is] to God, And He hath given ear unto me.
2 In a day of my distress the Lord I sought, My hand by night hath been spread out, And it doth not cease, My soul hath refused to be comforted.
3 I remember God, and make a noise, I meditate, and feeble is my spirit. Selah.
4 Thou hast taken hold of the watches of mine eyes, I have been moved, and I speak not.
5 I have reckoned the days of old, The years of the ages.
6 I remember my music in the night, With my heart I meditate, and my spirit doth search diligently:
7 To the ages doth the Lord cast off? Doth He add to be pleased no more?
8 Hath His kindness ceased for ever? The saying failed to all generations?
9 Hath God forgotten [His] favours? Hath He shut up in anger His mercies? Selah.
10 And I say: `My weakness is, The changes of the right hand of the Most High.'
11 I mention the doings of Jah, For I remember of old Thy wonders,
12 And I have meditated on all Thy working, And I talk concerning Thy doings.
13 O God, in holiness [is] Thy way, Who [is] a great god like God?
14 Thou [art] the God doing wonders. Thou hast made known among the peoples Thy strength,
15 Thou hast redeemed with strength Thy people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters have seen Thee, O God, The waters have seen Thee, They are afraid -- also depths are troubled.
17 Poured out waters have thick clouds, The skies have given forth a noise, Also -- Thine arrows go up and down.
18 The voice of Thy thunder [is] in the spheres, Lightnings have lightened the world, The earth hath trembled, yea, it shaketh.
19 In the sea [is] Thy way, And Thy paths [are] in many waters, And Thy tracks have not been known.
20 Thou hast led as a flock Thy people, By the hand of Moses and Aaron!
79 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have come into Thy inheritance, They have defiled Thy holy temple, They made Jerusalem become heaps,
2 They gave the dead bodies of Thy servants Food for the fowls of the heavens, The flesh of Thy saints For the wild beast of the earth.
3 They have shed their blood As water round about Jerusalem, And there is none burying.
4 We have been a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a derision to our surrounders.
5 Till when, O Jehovah? art Thou angry for ever? Thy jealousy doth burn as fire.
6 Pour Thy fury on the nations who have not known Thee, And on kingdoms that have not called in Thy name.
7 For [one] hath devoured Jacob, And his habitation they have made desolate.
8 Remember not for us the iniquities of forefathers, Haste, let Thy mercies go before us, For we have been very weak.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, Because of the honour of Thy name, And deliver us, and cover over our sins, For Thy name's sake.
10 Why do the nations say, `Where [is] their God?' Let be known among the nations before our eyes, The vengeance of the blood of Thy servants that is shed.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come in before Thee, According to the greatness of Thine arm, Leave Thou the sons of death.
12 And turn Thou back to our neighbours, Sevenfold unto their bosom, their reproach, Wherewith they reproached Thee, O Lord.
13 And we, Thy people, and the flock of Thy pasture, We give thanks to Thee to the age, To all generations we recount Thy praise!
4 And young women of Esther come in and her eunuchs, and declare [it] to her, and the queen is exceedingly pained, and sendeth garments to clothe Mordecai, and to turn aside his sackcloth from off him, and he hath not received [them].
5 And Esther calleth to Hatach, of the eunuchs of the king, whom he hath stationed before her, and giveth him a charge for Mordecai, to know what this [is], and wherefore this [is].
6 And Hatach goeth out unto Mordecai, unto a broad place of the city, that [is] before the gate of the king,
7 and Mordecai declareth to him all that hath met him, and the explanation of the money that Haman said to weigh to the treasuries of the king for the Jews, to destroy them,
8 and the copy of the writing of the law that had been given in Shushan to destroy them he hath given to him, to shew Esther, and to declare [it] to her, and to lay a charge on her to go in unto the king, to make supplication to him, and to seek from before him, for her people.
9 And Hatach cometh in and declareth to Esther the words of Mordecai,
10 and Esther speaketh to Hatach, and chargeth him for Mordecai:
11 `All servants of the king, and people of the provinces of the king, do know that any man and woman, who cometh in unto the king, unto the inner court, who is not called -- one law [of] his [is] to put [them] to death, apart from him to whom the king holdeth out the golden sceptre, then he hath lived; and I -- I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.'
12 And they declare to Mordecai the words of Esther,
13 and Mordecai speaketh to send back unto Esther: `Do not think in thy soul to be delivered [in] the house of the king, more than all the Jews,
14 but if thou keep entirely silent at this time, respite and deliverance remaineth to the Jews from another place, and thou and the house of thy fathers are destroyed; and who knoweth whether for a time like this thou hast come to the kingdom?'
15 And Esther speaketh to send back unto Mordecai:
16 `Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, by night and by day; also I and my young women do fast likewise, and so I go in unto the king, that [is] not according to law, and when I have perished -- I have perished.'
17 And Mordecai passeth on, and doth according to all that Esther hath charged upon him.
18 And after these things, Paul having departed out of Athens, came to Corinth,
2 and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquilas, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife -- because of Claudius having directed all the Jews to depart out of Rome -- he came to them,
3 and because of being of the same craft, he did remain with them, and was working, for they were tent-makers as to craft;
4 and he was reasoning in the synagogue every sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks.
5 And when both Silas and Timotheus came down from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit, testifying fully to the Jews Jesus the Christ;
6 and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken [his] garments, he said unto them, `Your blood [is] upon your head -- I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.'
7 And having departed thence, he went to the house of a certain one, by name Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was adjoining the synagogue,
8 and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue did believe in the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing were believing, and they were being baptized.
9 And the Lord said through a vision in the night to Paul, `Be not afraid, but be speaking and thou mayest be not silent;
10 because I am with thee, and no one shall set on thee to do thee evil; because I have much people in this city;'
11 and he continued a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God.
1 Seeing that many did take in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us,
2 as they did deliver to us, who from the beginning became eye-witnesses, and officers of the Word, --
3 it seemed good also to me, having followed from the first after all things exactly, to write to thee in order, most noble Theophilus,
4 that thou mayest know the certainty of the things wherein thou wast instructed.
3 And in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar -- Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother, tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene --
2 Annas and Caiaphas being chief priests -- there came a word of God unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness,
3 and he came to all the region round the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of reformation -- to remission of sins,
4 as it hath been written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, `A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths;
5 every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straightness, and the rough become smooth ways;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'
7 Then said he to the multitudes coming forth to be baptised by him, `Brood of vipers! who did prompt you to flee from the coming wrath?
8 make, therefore, fruits worthy of the reformation, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have a father -- Abraham; for I say to you, that God is able out of these stones to raise children to Abraham;
9 and already also the axe unto the root of the trees is laid, every tree, therefore, not making good fruit is cut down, and to fire it is cast.'
10 And the multitudes were questioning him, saying, `What, then, shall we do?'
11 and he answering saith to them, `He having two coats -- let him impart to him having none, and he having victuals -- in like manner let him do.'
12 And there came also tax-gatherers to be baptised, and they said unto him, `Teacher, what shall we do?'
13 and he said unto them, `Exact no more than that directed you.'
14 And questioning him also were those warring, saying, `And we, what shall we do?' and he said unto them, `Do violence to no one, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.'