Book of Common Prayer

19 Unto the end. A psalm for David.

² May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation: may the name of the God of Jacob protect thee.

³ May he send thee help from the sanctuary: and defend thee out of Sion.

⁴ May he be mindful of all thy sacrifices: and may thy whole burnt offering be made fat.

⁵ May he give thee according to thy own heart; and confirm all thy counsels.

⁶ We will rejoice in thy salvation; and in the name of our God we shall be exalted.

⁷ The Lord fulfill all thy petitions: now have I known that the Lord hath saved his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven: the salvation of his right hand is in powers.

⁸ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God.

⁹ They are bound, and have fallen; but we are risen, and are set upright. O Lord, save the king: and hear us in the day that we shall call upon thee.

¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that speak justice, that declare right things.

²⁰ Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save.

²¹ Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this from the beginning, who hath foretold this from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else besides me? A just God and a saviour, there is none besides me.

²² Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.

²³ I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my mouth, and shall not return:

²⁴ For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall swear.

²⁵ Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire: they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded.

⁴ Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinketh he may have confidence in the flesh, I more,

⁵ Being circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee:

⁶ According to zeal, persecuting the church of God; according to the justice that is in the law, conversing without blame.

⁷ But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ.

⁸ Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ:

⁹ And may be found in him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God, justice in faith:

¹⁰ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death,

¹¹ If by any means I may attain to the resurrection which is from the dead.

9 And Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

² And asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³ And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him.

⁴ And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁵ Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.

⁶ And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

⁷ And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now the men who went in company with him, stood amazed, hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man.

⁸ And Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. But they leading him by the hands, brought him to Damascus.

⁹ And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink.

¹⁰ Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold I am here, Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the street that is called Stait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth.

¹² (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.)

¹³ But Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him: Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.

¹⁶ For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

¹⁷ And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

¹⁸ And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and rising up, he was baptized.

¹⁹ And when he had taken meat, he was strengthened. And he was with the disciples that were at Damascus, for some days.

²⁰ And immediately he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

²¹ And all that heard him, were astonished, and said: Is not this he who persecuted in Jerusalem those that called upon this name: and came hither for that intent, that he might carry them bound to the chief priests?

²² But Saul increased much more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, affirming that this is the Christ.