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.
49 And Jacob called unto his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 “Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father:
3 “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it; he went up to my couch.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they dug down a wall.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens.
15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute.
16 “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!
19 “Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last.
20 “Out of Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 “Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,
25 even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
27 “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
14 Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless: is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break: is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread.
18 Behold Israel according to the flesh: are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
19 What say I then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?
20 But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils.
22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify.
24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wellbeing.
25 Whatsoever is sold in the meat market, that eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake;
26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
27 If any of those who do not believe bid you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake.
28 But if any man say unto you, “This is offered in sacrifice unto idols,” then eat it not for his sake who showed it, and for conscience’ sake; for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
29 I do not mean thine own conscience, but the other’s. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?
30 For if I by grace be a partaker, why is evil spoken of me for that for which I give thanks?
31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God,
33 even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
11 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
24 And from thence He arose and went into the region of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know about it; but He could not be hid.
25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet.
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation, and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said unto her, “Let the children first be filled, for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it unto the dogs.”
28 And she answered and said unto Him, “Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.”
29 And He said unto her, “For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.”
30 And when she had come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the region of Decapolis.
32 And they brought unto Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they besought Him to put His hand upon him.
33 And He took him aside from the multitude and put His fingers into his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.
34 And looking up to Heaven, He sighed and said unto him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly.
36 And He charged them that they should tell no man. But the more He charged them, the more widely they proclaimed it
37 and were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.”
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.