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;
18 And Moses set up the tabernacle, and put in its bases, and fixed its boards, and put in its bars, and set up its pillars.
19 And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above over it; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and put the staves in the ark, and put the mercy-seat above on the ark.
21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and hung up the veil of separation, and covered the ark of the testimony; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
22 And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tabernacle northward, outside the veil,
23 and arranged the bread in order upon it before Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, opposite to the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.
25 And he lighted the lamps before Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil.
27 And he burnt on it fragrant incense; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
28 And he hung up the curtain of the entrance to the tabernacle.
29 And he put the altar of burnt-offering at the entrance to the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt-offering and the oblation; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
30 And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing.
31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet out of it:
32 when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they drew near to the altar, they washed; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
33 And he set up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the curtain of the gate of the court. And so Moses finished the work.
34 And the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses could not enter into the tent of meeting, for the cloud abode on it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel journeyed in all their journeys.
37 And if the cloud were not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of Jehovah was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
4 For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in [the] Lord Jesus, even as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and please God, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more.
2 For ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is [the] will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication;
4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour,
5 (not in passionate desire, even as the nations who know not God,)
6 not overstepping the rights of and wronging his brother in the matter, because the Lord [is] the avenger of all these things, even as we also told you before, and have fully testified.
7 For God has not called us to uncleanness, but in sanctification.
8 He therefore that [in this] disregards [his brother], disregards, not man, but God, who has given also his Holy Spirit to you.
9 Now concerning brotherly love ye have no need that we should write to you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 For also ye do this towards all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia; but we exhort you, brethren, to abound still more,
11 and to seek earnestly to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your [own] hands, even as we charged you,
12 that ye may walk reputably towards those without, and may have need of no one.
38 Ye have heard that it has been said, Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
39 But *I* say unto you, not to resist evil; but whoever shall strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other;
40 and to him that would go to law with thee and take thy body coat, leave him thy cloak also.
41 And whoever will compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.
42 To him that asks of thee give, and from him that desires to borrow of thee turn not away.
43 Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.
44 But *I* say unto you, Love your enemies, [bless those who curse you,] do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who [insult you and] persecute you,
45 that ye may be [the] sons of your Father who is in [the] heavens; for he makes his sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust.
46 For if ye should love those who love you, what reward have ye? Do not also the tax-gatherers the same?
47 And if ye should salute your brethren only, what do ye extraordinary? Do not also the Gentiles the same?
48 Be *ye* therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
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