Book of Common Prayer

38 Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.

² I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.

³ I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.

⁴ My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

⁵ I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.

⁶ Behold thou hast made my days measurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.

⁷ Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

⁸ And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.

⁹ Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.

¹⁰ I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.

¹¹ Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:

¹² Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

¹³ Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

¹⁴ O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

20 But David fled from Najoth, which is in Ramatha, and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done? what is my iniquity, and what is my sin against thy father, that he seeketh my life?

² And he said to him: God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be.

³ And he swore again to David. And David said: Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death.

⁴ And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee.

⁵ And David said to Jonathan: Behold to morrow is the new moon, and I according to custom am wont to sit beside the king to eat: let me go then that I may be hid in the field till the evening of the third day.

⁶ If thy father look and inquire for me, thou shalt answer him: David asked me that he might run to Bethlehem his own city: because there are solemn sacrifices there for all his tribe.

⁷ If he shall say, It is well: thy servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to its height.

⁸ Deal mercifully then with thy servant: for thou hast brought me thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee. But if there be any iniquity in me, do thou kill me, and bring me not in to thy father.

⁹ And Jonathan said: Far be this from thee: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against thee, I could do no otherwise than tell thee.

¹⁰ And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me?

¹¹ And Jonathan said to David: Come and let us go out into the field. And when they were both of them gone out into the field,

¹² Jonathan said to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I shall discover my father's mind, to morrow or the day after, and there be any thing good for David, and I send not immediately to thee, and make it known to thee,

¹³ May the Lord do so and so to Jonathan and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against thee, I will discover it to thy ear, and will send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.

¹⁴ And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die,

¹⁵ Thou shalt not take away thy kindness from my house for ever, when the Lord shall have rooted out the enemies of David, every one of them from the earth, may he take away Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it at the hands of David's enemies.

¹⁶ Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David's enemies.

¹⁷ And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as his own soul.

¹⁸ And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon, and thou wilt be missed:

¹⁹ For thy seat will be empty till after to morrow. So thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place, where thou must be hid on the day when it is lawful to work, and thou shalt remain beside the stone, which is called Ezel.

²⁰ And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will shoot as if I were exercising myself at a mark.

²¹ And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows.

²² If I shall say to the boy: Behold the arrows are on this side of thee, take them up: come thou to me, because, there is peace to thee, and there is no evil, as the Lord liveth. But if I shall speak thus to the boy: Behold the arrows are beyond thee: go in peace, for the Lord hath sent thee away.

²³ And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.

¹⁸ Now when day was come, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.

¹⁹ And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not; having examined the keepers, he commanded they should be put to death; and going down from Judea to Caesarea, he abode there.

²⁰ And he was angry with the Tyrians and the Sidonians. But they with one accord came to him, and having gained Blastus, who was the king's chamberlain, they desired peace, because their countries were nourished by him.

²¹ And upon a day appointed, Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat, and made an oration to them.

²² And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

²³ And forthwith an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the honour to God: and being eaten up by worms, he gave up the ghost.

²⁴ But the word of the Lord increased and multiplied.

²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled their ministry, taking with them John, who was surnamed Mark.

¹³ And he went forth again to the sea side; and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴ And when he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith to him: Follow me. And rising up, he followed him.

¹⁵ And it came to pass, that as he sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat down together with Jesus and his disciples. For they were many, who also followed him.

¹⁶ And the scribes and the Pharisees, seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners, said to his disciples: Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

¹⁷ Jesus hearing this, saith to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners.

¹⁸ And the disciples of John and the Pharisees used to fast; and they come and say to him: Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast; but thy disciples do not fast?

¹⁹ And Jesus saith to them: Can the children of the marriage fast, as long as the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; and then they shall fast in those days.

²¹ No man seweth a piece of raw cloth to an old garment: otherwise the new piecing taketh away from the old, and there is made a greater rent.

²² And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost. But new wine must be put into new bottles.