Book of Common Prayer
55 To the Overseer with stringed instruments. -- An instruction, by David. Give ear, O God, [to] my prayer, And hide not from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and answer me, I mourn in my meditation, and make a noise,
3 Because of the voice of an enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked, For they cause sorrow to move against me, And in anger they hate me.
4 My heart is pained within me, And terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling come in to me, And horror doth cover me.
6 And I say, `Who doth give to me a pinion as a dove? I fly away and rest,
7 Lo, I move far off, I lodge in a wilderness. Selah.
8 I hasten escape for myself, From a rushing wind, from a whirlwind.
9 Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city.
10 By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness [are] in its midst,
11 Mischiefs [are] in its midst. Fraud and deceit depart not from its street.
12 For an enemy reproacheth me not, or I bear [it], He who is hating me Hath not magnified himself against me, Or I hide from him.
13 But thou, a man -- as mine equal, My familiar friend, and mine acquaintance.
14 When together we sweeten counsel, Into the house of God we walk in company.
15 Desolations [are] upon them, They go down [to] Sheol -- alive, For wickedness [is] in their dwelling, in their midst.
16 I -- to God I call, and Jehovah saveth me.
17 Evening, and morning, and noon, I meditate, and make a noise, and He heareth my voice,
18 He hath ransomed in peace my soul From him who is near to me, For with the multitude they were with me.
19 God doth hear and afflict them, And He sitteth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, and fear not God,
20 He hath sent forth his hands against his well-wishers, He hath polluted his covenant.
21 Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart [is] war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they [are] drawn [swords].
22 Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, And He doth sustain thee, He doth not suffer for ever the moving of the righteous.
23 And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I -- I do trust in Thee!
138 By David. I confess Thee, with all my heart, Before the gods I do praise Thee.
2 I bow myself toward Thy holy temple, And I confess Thy name, For Thy kindness, and for Thy truth, For Thou hast made great Thy saying above all Thy name.
3 In the day I called, when Thou dost answer me, Thou dost strengthen me in my soul [with] strength.
4 O Jehovah, all kings of earth confess Thee, When they have heard the sayings of Thy mouth.
5 And they sing in the ways of Jehovah, For great [is] the honour of Jehovah.
6 For high [is] Jehovah, and the lowly He seeth, And the haughty from afar He knoweth.
7 If I walk in the midst of distress Thou quickenest me, Against the anger of mine enemies Thou sendest forth Thy hand, And Thy right hand doth save me.
8 Jehovah doth perfect for me, O Jehovah, Thy kindness [is] to the age, The works of Thy hands let not fall!
139 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm by David. Jehovah, Thou hast searched me, and knowest.
2 Thou -- Thou hast known my sitting down, And my rising up, Thou hast attended to my thoughts from afar.
3 My path and my couch Thou hast fanned, And [with] all my ways hast been acquainted.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, Lo, O Jehovah, Thou hast known it all!
5 Behind and before Thou hast besieged me, And Thou dost place on me Thy hand.
6 Knowledge too wonderful for me, It hath been set on high, I am not able for it.
7 Whither do I go from Thy Spirit? And whither from Thy face do I flee?
8 If I ascend the heavens -- there Thou [art], And spread out a couch in Sheol, lo, Thee!
9 I take the wings of morning, I dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,
10 Also there Thy hand doth lead me, And Thy right hand doth hold me.
11 And I say, `Surely darkness bruiseth me, Then night [is] light to me.
12 Also darkness hideth not from Thee, And night as day shineth, as [is] darkness so [is] light.
13 For Thou -- Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou dost cover me in my mother's belly.
14 I confess Thee, because that [with] wonders I have been distinguished. Wonderful [are] Thy works, And my soul is knowing [it] well.
15 My substance was not hid from Thee, When I was made in secret, Curiously wrought in the lower part of earth.
16 Mine unformed substance Thine eyes saw, And on Thy book all of them are written, The days they were formed -- And not one among them.
17 And to me how precious have been Thy thoughts, O God, how great hath been their sum!
18 I recount them! than the sand they are more, I have waked, and I am still with Thee.
19 Dost Thou slay, O God, the wicked? Then, men of blood, turn aside from me!
20 Who exchange Thee for wickedness, Lifted up to vanity [are] Thine enemies.
21 Do not I hate, Jehovah, those hating Thee? And with Thy withstanders grieve myself?
22 [With] perfect hatred I have hated them, Enemies they have become to me.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart, Try me, and know my thoughts,
20 And it hath come to pass, in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add any more to lean on its smiter, And have leant on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant returneth -- a remnant of Jacob, Unto the Mighty God.
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, A remnant doth return of it, A consumption determined, Overflowing [with] righteousness.
23 For a consumption that is determined, The Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is making in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore, thus said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, `Be not afraid, my people, inhabiting Zion, because of Asshur, With a rod he doth smite thee, And his staff lifteth up against thee, in the way of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little, And the indignation hath been completed, And Mine anger by their wearing out.
26 And awaking for him is Jehovah of Hosts, A scourge like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, And his rod [is] over the sea, And he hath lifted it in the way of Egypt.
27 And it hath come to pass, in that day, Turned is his burden from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, And destroyed hath been the yoke, because of prosperity.
17 and ye, beloved, remember ye the sayings spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
18 that they said to you, that in the last time there shall be scoffers, after their own desires of impieties going on,
19 these are those setting themselves apart, natural men, the Spirit not having.
20 And ye, beloved, on your most holy faith building yourselves up, in the Holy Spirit praying,
21 yourselves in the love of God keep ye, waiting for the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ -- to life age-during;
22 and to some be kind, judging thoroughly,
23 and some in fear save ye, out of the fire snatching, hating even the coat from the flesh spotted.
24 And to Him who is able to guard you not stumbling, and to set [you] in the presence of His glory unblemished, in gladness,
25 to the only wise God our Saviour, [is] glory and greatness, power and authority, both now and to all the ages! Amen.
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.'