Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
140 Free me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man:
2 Who devise mischiefs in [their] heart; every day are they banded together for war.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
4 Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked [man], preserve me from the violent man, who devise to overthrow my steps.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the way-side; they have set traps for me. Selah.
6 I have said unto Jehovah, Thou art my God: give ear, O Jehovah, to the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah, the Lord, is the strength of my salvation: thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Jehovah, the desire of the wicked; further not his device: they would exalt themselves. Selah.
9 [As for] the head of those that encompass me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10 Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep waters, that they rise not up again.
11 Let not the man of [evil] tongue be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the man of violence to [his] ruin.
12 I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted one, the right of the needy.
13 Yea, the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
An instruction of David; when he was in the cave: a prayer.
142 I cry unto Jehovah with my voice: with my voice unto Jehovah do I make supplication.
2 I pour out my plaint before him; I shew before him my trouble.
3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then *thou* knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they hidden a snare for me.
4 Look on the right hand and see; there is no man that knoweth me: refuge hath failed me; no man careth for my soul.
5 I cried unto thee, Jehovah; I said, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
6 Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.
7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may celebrate thy name. The righteous shall surround me, because thou dealest bountifully with me.
A Psalm of David.
141 Jehovah, I have called upon thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee.
2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation.
3 Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise deeds of wickedness with men that are workers of iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse: for yet my prayer also is [for them] in their calamities.
6 When their judges are thrown down from the rocks, they shall hear my words, for they are sweet.
7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol, as when one cutteth and cleaveth [wood] upon the earth.
8 For unto thee, Jehovah, Lord, are mine eyes; in thee do I trust: leave not my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that *I* withal pass over.
A Psalm of David.
143 Jehovah, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.
3 For the enemy persecuteth my soul: he hath crushed my life down to the earth; he hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
4 And my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of old: I meditate on all thy doing; I muse on the work of thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul, as a parched land, [thirsteth] after thee. Selah.
7 Answer me speedily, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, or I shall be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I confide; make me to know the way wherein I should walk, for unto thee do I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me, O Jehovah, from mine enemies: unto thee do I flee for refuge.
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: let thy good Spirit lead me in a plain country.
11 Revive me, O Jehovah, for thy name's sake; in thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble;
12 And in thy loving-kindness cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that oppress my soul: for I am thy servant.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity,
10 that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed [as] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
4 But it shall come to pass in the end of days [that] the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and the peoples shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and Jehovah's word from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many peoples, and reprove strong nations, even afar off; and they shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 And they shall sit every one under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to make [them] afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken [it].
5 For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah, our God for ever and ever.
24 And after certain days, Felix having arrived with Drusilla his wife, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
25 And as he reasoned concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment about to come, Felix, being filled with fear, answered, Go for the present, and when I get an opportunity I will send for thee;
26 hoping at the same time that money would be given him by Paul: wherefore also he sent for him the oftener and communed with him.
27 But when two years were completed, Felix was relieved by Porcius Festus as his successor; and Felix, desirous to oblige the Jews, to acquire their favour, left Paul bound.
25 Festus therefore, being come into the eparchy, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
2 And the chief priests and the chief of the Jews laid informations before him against Paul, and besought him,
3 asking as a grace against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying people in wait to kill him on the way.
4 Festus therefore answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to set out shortly.
5 Let therefore the persons of authority among you, says he, going down too, if there be anything in this man, accuse him.
6 And having remained among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; and on the next day, having sat down on the judgment-seat, commanded Paul to be brought.
7 And when he was come, the Jews who were come down from Jerusalem stood round, bringing many and grievous charges which they were not able to prove:
8 Paul answering for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I offended [in] anything.
9 But Festus, desirous of obliging the Jews, to acquire their favour, answering Paul, said, Art thou willing to go up to Jerusalem, there to be judged before me concerning these things?
10 But Paul said, I am standing before the judgment-seat of Caesar, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews have I done no wrong, as *thou* also very well knowest.
11 If then I have done any wrong and committed anything worthy of death, I do not deprecate dying; but if there is nothing of those things of which they accuse me, no man can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.
12 Then Festus, having conferred with the council, answered, Thou hast appealed to Caesar. To Caesar shalt thou go.
8 And it came to pass afterwards that *he* went through [the country] city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve [were] with him,
2 and certain women who had been healed of wicked spirits and infirmities, Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
3 and Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to him of their substance.
4 And a great crowd coming together, and those who were coming to him out of each city, he spoke by parable:
5 The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the way, and it was trodden under foot, and the birds of the heaven devoured it up;
6 and other fell upon the rock, and having sprung up, it was dried up because it had not moisture;
7 and other fell in the midst of the thorns, and the thorns having sprung up with [it] choked it;
8 and other fell into the good ground, and having sprung up bore fruit a hundredfold. As he said these things he cried, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
9 And his disciples asked him [saying], What may this parable be?
10 And he said, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, in order that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
11 But the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 But those by the wayside are those who hear; then comes the devil and takes away the word from their heart that they may not believe and be saved.
13 But those upon the rock, those who when they hear receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a time, and in time of trial fall away.
14 But that that fell where the thorns were, these are they who having heard go away and are choked under cares and riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
15 But that in the good ground, these are they who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
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