Book of Common Prayer
89 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever; with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up for ever; Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.”
3 “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant:
4 ‘Thy Seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.’” Selah
5 And the heavens shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord, Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all them that are about Him.
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?
9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea; when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them.
10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; Thou hast scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm.
11 The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine; as for the world and the fullness thereof, Thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south, Thou hast created them; Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name.
13 Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.
15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound! They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.
16 In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For Thou art the glory of their strength, and in Thy favor our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King.
19 Then Thou didst speak in a vision to Thy holy one and said, “I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him.
21 With him My hand shall be established; Mine arm shall also strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact from him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
24 But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto Me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 His Seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake My law and walk not in My judgments,
31 if they break My statutes and keep not My commandments,
32 then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor permit My faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the things which have gone out of My lips.
35 Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His Seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me.
37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in the heaven.” Selah
38 But Thou hast cast off and abhorred; Thou hast been wroth with Thine anointed.
39 Thou hast made void the covenant of Thy servant; Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way despoil him; he is a reproach to his neighbors.
42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast Thou shortened, Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, Lord? Wilt Thou hide Thyself for ever? Shall Thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is; why hast Thou made all men in vain?
48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where are Thy former lovingkindnesses, which Thou hast sworn unto David in Thy truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach against Thy servants” how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people
51 wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord for evermore! Amen and Amen.
23 And it came to pass after two full years that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim; and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
24 And Absalom came to the king and said, “Behold now, thy servant hath sheepshearers; let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy servant.”
25 And the king said to Absalom, “Nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be a burden unto thee.” And he pressed him; however he would not go, but blessed him.
26 Then said Absalom, “If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us.” And the king said unto him, “Why should he go with thee?”
27 But Absalom pressed him, so that he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.
28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, “Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you,‘Smite Amnon,’ then kill him. Fear not. Have not I commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.”
29 And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got himself up upon his mule and fled.
30 And it came to pass, while they were on the way, that tidings came to David, saying, “Absalom hath slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left.”
31 Then the king arose and tore his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes rent.
32 And Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered and said, “Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king’s sons, for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.
33 Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead.”
34 But Absalom fled. And the young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there came many people by the way of the hillside behind him.
35 And Jonadab said unto the king, “Behold, the king’s sons come. As thy servant said, so it is.”
36 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voice and wept; and the king also and all his servants wept very sorely.
37 But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.
38 So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years.
39 And the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called for the elders of the church.
18 And when they had come to him, he said unto them, “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, in what manner I have been with you in all seasons,
19 serving the Lord in all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me through the lying in wait of the Jews;
20 and how I kept back nothing that was profitable for you, but have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house,
21 testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 And now behold, bound by the Spirit, I go unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there,
23 save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.
25 “And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
26 Therefore I attest to you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men,
27 for I have not shrunk from declaring unto you all the counsel of God.
28 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.
29 For I know this: that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember that for the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
32 “And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33 I have coveted no man’s silver or gold or apparel.
34 Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my own necessities, and also to those who were with me.
35 I have shown you all things, how that by so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.
37 And they all wept sorely and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
38 sorrowing most of all because of the words which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.
42 And whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe in Me to fall, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea.
43 And if thy hand cause thee to fall, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched,
44 where ‘their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.’
45 And if thy foot cause thee to fall, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter halt into life than, having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched,
46 where ‘their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.’
47 And if thine eye cause thee to fall, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire,
48 where ‘their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.’
49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost his saltness, with what will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”
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