Book of Common Prayer
72 A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!
2 But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.
4 For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.
5 They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.
6 Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.
7 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.
8 They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.
9 They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.
10 Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.
11 And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches.
13 And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.
14 And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.
15 If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.
16 I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:
17 Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.
18 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.
19 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
20 As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.
21 For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
22 And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
23 I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
24 Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.
25 For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?
26 For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
27 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
28 But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.
1 There was a man of Ramathaimsophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elcana, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliu, the son of Thohu, the son of Suph, an Ephraimite:
2 And he had two wives, the name of one was Anna, and the name of the other Phenenna. Phenenna had children: but Anna had no children.
3 And this man went up out of his city upon the appointed days, to adore and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Silo. And the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were there priests of the Lord.
4 Now the day came, and Elcana offered sacrifice, and gave to Phenenna his wife, and to all her sons and daughters, portions:
5 But to Anna he gave one portion with sorrow, because he loved Anna. And the Lord had shut up her womb.
6 Her rival also afflicted her, and troubled her exceedingly, insomuch that she upbraided her, that the Lord had shut up her womb:
7 And thus she did every year, when the time returned that they went up to the temple of the Lord: and thus she provoked her: but Anna wept, and did not eat.
8 Then Elcana her husband said to her: Anna, why weepest thou? and why dost thou not eat? And why dost thou afflict thy heart? Am not I better to thee than ten children?
9 So Anna arose after she had eaten and drunk in Silo: And Heli the priest sitting upon a stool, before the door of the temple of the Lord:
10 As Anna had her heart full of grief, she prayed to the Lord, shedding many tears,
11 And she made a vow, saying: O Lord, of hosts, if thou wilt look down on the affliction of thy servant, and wilt be mindful of me, and not forget thy handmaid, and wilt give to thy servant a man child: I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.
12 And it came to pass, as she multiplied prayers before the Lord, that Heli observed her mouth.
13 Now Anna spoke in her heart, and only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard at all. Heli therefore thought her to be drunk,
14 And said to her: How long wilt thou, be drunk? digest a little the wine, of which thou hast taken too much.
15 Anna answering, said: Not so, my lord: for I am an exceeding unhappy woman, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.
16 Count not thy handmaid for one of the daughters of Belial: for out of the abundance of my sorrow and grief have I spoken till now.
17 Then Heli said to her: Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition, which thou hast asked of him.
18 And she said: Would to God thy handmaid may find grace in thy eyes. So the woman went on her way, and ate, and her countenance was no more changed.
19 And they rose in the morning, and worshipped before the Lord: and they returned, and came into their house at Ramatha. And Elcana knew Anna his wife: and the Lord remembered her.
20 And it came to pass when the time was come about, Anna conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel: because she had asked him of the Lord.
3 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly vocation, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus:
2 Who is faithful to him that made him, as was also Moses in all his house.
3 For this man was counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, by so much as he that hath built the house, hath greater honour than the house.
4 For every house is built by some man: but he that created all things, is God.
5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be said:
6 But Christ as the Son in his own house: which house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and glory of hope unto the end.
146 Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God be joyful and comely praise.
2 The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.
3 Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises.
4 Who telleth the number of the stars: and calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power: and of his wisdom there is no number.
6 The Lord lifteth up the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.
7 Sing ye to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp.
8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the service of men.
9 Who giveth to beasts their food: and to the young ravens that call upon him.
10 He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them that hope in his mercy.
147 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion.
13 Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 Who hath placed peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the fat of corn.
15 Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly.
16 Who giveth snow like wool: scattereth mists like ashes.
17 He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?
18 He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.
19 Who declareth his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.
20 He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them. Alleluia.
25 And there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews concerning purification:
26 And they came to John, and said to him: Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou gavest testimony, behold he baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27 John answered, and said: A man cannot receive any thing, unless it be given him from heaven.
28 You yourselves do bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
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