Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Song or Psalm.
1 ¶ Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth;
2 sing forth the glory of his name; put glory into thy praise.
3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
4 All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5 Come and see the works of God; he is terrible in his doing toward the sons of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in him.
7 He rules by his power for ever; his eyes watch the Gentiles; the rebellious shall not exalt themselves. Selah.
8 ¶ O bless our God, ye peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard.
9 It is he who placed our soul into life and did not suffer our feet to slip.
10 For thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast refined us as silver is refined.
11 Thou didst bring us into the net; thou didst lay affliction upon our loins.
12 Thou hast placed a man over our head; we went through fire and through water, but thou didst bring us out into abundance.
13 ¶ I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows,
14 which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he has done unto my soul.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19 But verily God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me.
To the Overcomer on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song.
1 ¶ God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah.
2 That thy way may be known upon the earth, thy saving health among all the Gentiles.
3 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee.
4 O let the Gentiles be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and shepherd the Gentiles upon the earth. Selah.
5 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee.
6 Then shall the earth bring forth her fruit, and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows the work of his hands.
2 One day provides a word for the next day, and one night declares wisdom unto the next night.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 ¶ The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever; the rights of the LORD are true, they are all just.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy slave warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy slave also from pride and arrogance; let them not have dominion over me; then I shall be perfect, and I shall be innocent of the great rebellion.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
To the Overcomer: for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.
1 ¶ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in tribulation.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,
3 though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the violence thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the tents of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, as the morning dawns.
6 ¶ The Gentiles raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he has made in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted in the Gentiles, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
2 Contend with your mother, contend: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore remove her whoredoms from her face and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst.
4 Neither will I have mercy upon her sons, for they are the sons of whoredoms.
5 For their mother has played the harlot; she that conceived them has been shamed; for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.
6 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.
8 For she did not recognize that I gave her the wheat and the wine and the oil and multiplied unto them the silver and the gold, with which they made Baal.
9 Therefore I will return and take away my wheat in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax that I had given to cover her nakedness.
10 And now I will uncover her folly in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast, her new moon, and her sabbath, and all her festivities.
12 And I will cause her vine and her fig tree to be cut down, of which she has said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will reduce them to a thicket, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 And I will visit upon her the times of the Baals, unto whom she burned incense, and she adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, oblivious of me, saith the LORD.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will induce her and bring her into the wilderness and speak unto her heart.
3 ¶ My brethren, make not unto yourselves many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
2 For we all offend in many things. If any man offends not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to govern the whole body with restraint.
3 Behold, we put bits (or restraint) in the horses’ mouths to persuade them, and we govern their whole body.
4 Behold also the ships, which though they are so great are driven of fierce winds, yet they are governed with a very small rudder, wherever the governor desires.
5 In the same manner, the tongue is a very small member and boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
7 For every nature of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of beings in the sea may be tamed and is tamed by mankind,
8 but no man can tame the tongue, which is an evil that cannot be restrained and is full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless God, even the Father; and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a fountain send forth at the same place both sweet and bitter water?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, produce olive berries? or the vine, figs? In the same manner no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
13 ¶ Who is wise and ready among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works in meekness of wisdom.
44 ¶ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto treasure hid in the field, which when found, a man hides it and, for the joy thereof, goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,
46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind of fish,
48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just
50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They answered unto him, Yes, Lord.
52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a husband of a house, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
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