Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments: an instruction. Of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me, and answer me: I wander about in my plaint, and I moan aloud,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy; because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in anger they persecute me.
4 My heart is writhing within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away, and be at rest;
7 Behold, I would flee afar off, I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah;
8 I would hasten my escape from the stormy wind, from the tempest.
9 Swallow [them] up, Lord; divide their tongue: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; and iniquity and mischief are in the midst of it.
11 Perversities are in the midst thereof; and oppression and deceit depart not from its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy that hath reproached me—then could I have borne it; neither is it he that hateth me that hath magnified [himself] against me—then would I have hidden myself from him;
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, mine intimate, my familiar friend. …
14 We who held sweet intercourse together. To the house of God we walked amid the throng.
15 Let death seize upon them, let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwellings, in their midst.
16 As for me, unto God will I call; and Jehovah will save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and moan aloud; and he will hear my voice.
18 He hath redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me: for there were many about me.
19 God will hear, and afflict them: he that is seated of old, (Selah) … because there is no change in them, and they fear not God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as are at peace with him; he hath profaned his covenant.
21 Smooth were the milky [words] of his mouth, but his heart was war; his words were softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and *he* will sustain thee: he will never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 And thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. But as for me, I will confide in thee.
[A Psalm] of David.
138 I will give thee thanks with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing psalms of thee.
2 I will bow down toward the temple of thy holiness, and celebrate thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
3 In the day when I called thou answeredst me; thou didst encourage me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall celebrate thee, Jehovah, when they have heard the words of thy mouth;
5 And they shall sing in the ways of Jehovah, for great is the glory of Jehovah.
6 For Jehovah is high; but he looketh upon the lowly, and the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the anger of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 Jehovah will perfect what concerneth me: thy loving-kindness, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known [me].
2 *Thou* knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off;
3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways;
4 For there is not yet a word on my tongue, [but] lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.
6 O knowledge too wonderful for me! it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into the heavens thou art there; or if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou [art there];
9 [If] I take the wings of the dawn [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 And if I say, Surely darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night;
12 Even darkness hideth not from thee, and the night shineth as the day: the darkness is as the light.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins; thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.
15 My bones were not hidden from thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my unformed substance, and in thy book all [my members] were written; [during many] days were they fashioned, when [as yet] there was none of them.
17 But how precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 [If] I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O +God! And ye men of blood, depart from me.
20 For they speak of thee wickedly, they take [thy name] in vain, thine enemies.
21 Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? and do not I loathe them that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I account them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts;
2 And Moses called to all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his bondmen, and to all his land:
3 the great trials that thine eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.
4 But Jehovah hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not grown old upon you, and thy sandal is not grown old upon thy foot;
6 ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink, that ye might know that I am Jehovah your God.
7 And ye came to this place; and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us for battle, and we smote them.
8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of the Manassites.
9 Ye shall keep then the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
10 Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God: your chiefs [of] your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel,
11 your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, as well the hewer of thy wood as the drawer of thy water;
12 that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day;
13 that he may establish thee this day for a people unto himself, and [that] he may be to thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,
15 but with him that standeth here with us this day before Jehovah our God, and with him that is not here with us this day
9 For concerning the ministration which [is] for the saints, it is superfluous my writing to you.
2 For I know your readiness, which I boast of as respects you to Macedonians, that Achaia is prepared since a year ago, and the zeal [reported] of you has stimulated the mass [of the brethren].
3 But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made void in this respect, in order that, as I have said, ye may be prepared;
4 lest haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, *we*, that we say not *ye*, may be put to shame in this confidence.
5 I thought it necessary therefore to beg the brethren that they would come to you, and complete beforehand your fore-announced blessing, that this may be ready thus as blessing, and not as got out of you.
6 But this [is true], he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that sows in [the spirit of] blessing shall reap also in blessing:
7 each according as he is purposed in his heart; not grievingly, or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 But God is able to make every gracious gift abound towards you, that, having in every way always all-sufficiency, ye may abound to every good work:
9 according as it is written, He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains for ever.
10 Now he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:
11 enriched in every way unto all free-hearted liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God.
12 Because the ministration of this service is not only filling up the measure of what is lacking to the saints, but also abounding by many thanksgivings to God;
13 they glorifying God through the proof of this ministration, by reason of your subjection, by profession, to the glad tidings of the Christ, and your free-hearted liberality in communicating towards them and towards all;
14 and in their supplication for you, full of ardent desire for you, on account of the exceeding grace of God [which is] upon you.
15 Thanks [be] to God for his unspeakable free gift.
15 And they brought to him also infants that he might touch them, but the disciples when they saw [it] rebuked them.
16 But Jesus calling them to [him] said, Suffer little children to come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say to you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
18 And a certain ruler asked him saying, Good teacher, having done what, shall I inherit eternal life?
19 But Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, God.
20 Thou knowest the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these things have I kept from my youth.
22 And when Jesus had heard this, he said to him, One thing is lacking to thee yet: Sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in the heavens, and come, follow me.
23 But when he heard this he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 But when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, he said, How difficultly shall those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God;
25 for it is easier for a camel to enter through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
26 And those who heard it said, And who can be saved?
27 But he said, The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.
28 And Peter said, Behold, *we* have left all things and have followed thee.
29 And he said to them, Verily I say to you, There is no one who has left home, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,
30 who shall not receive manifold more at this time, and in the coming age life eternal.
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