Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
1 ¶ Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks, for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare.
2 When I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I bore up the pillars of it. Selah.
4 I said unto the fools, Do not deal foolishly and to the wicked, Do not lift up the horn:
5 Do not lift up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck.
6 ¶ For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert.
7 But God is the judge; he puts down one and sets up another.
8 For the cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he pours out of the same; yea, the dregs thereof, shall wring out and swallow up all the wicked of the earth.
9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 And I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
To the Overcomer on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
1 ¶ In Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he broke the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the war. Selah.
4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are spoiled; they have slept their sleep; and nothing was found in the hands of the men of might.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
7 ¶ Thou, even thou, art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
8 From the heavens thou didst cause judgment to be heard; the earth feared and was still,
9 when thou didst arise unto judgment, O God, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
10 Surely the wrath of man shall cause praise to come unto thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
11 Vow and pay unto the LORD your God; let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff shall comfort me.
5 Thou shalt prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup is running over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will rest in the house of the LORD for ever.
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the LORD and to enquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his tabernacle; in the secret of his tent shall he hide me; he shall set me high upon a rock.
6 And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
7 ¶ Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me and answer me.
8 My heart has spoken unto me from thee, Seek my face. Thy face, O LORD, will I seek.
9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy slave away in anger: thou hast been my help; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my saving health.
10 For my father and my mother have left me, and the LORD has taken me up.
11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a right path because of my enemies.
12 Deliver me not over unto the will of my enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty.
13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, for the LORD.
5 Now in Shushan, the palace, there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away.
7 And he had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; and as her father and mother were dead, Mordecai had taken her for his own daughter.
8 So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan, the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king’s house to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained grace in the sight of all those that looked upon her.
16 So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and mercy in his sight more than did all the other virgins so that he set the crown of the kingdom upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king made a great banquet unto all his princes and his slaves, the banquet of Esther; and he made a release to the provinces of their taxes and gave gifts according to the power of the king.
19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate.
20 Esther had not yet declared her birth nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her; for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai as when she was being brought up with him.
21 ¶ In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth and sought to lay hand on King Ahasuerus.
22 And the thing was known by Mordecai, who told it unto Esther, the queen; and Esther notified the king of this in Mordecai’s name.
23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore, they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
16 ¶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city completely given over to idolatry.
17 Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the market daily with those that he met with.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? others, He seems to be a setter forth of new gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is, of which thou speakest?
20 For thou bringest certain new things to our ears; we desire, therefore, to know what these things mean.
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)
22 ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, {Mars’ Hill} and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by and beheld your sanctuaries, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you.
24 The God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life and breath and all things
26 and has made of one blood all the lineage of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined the seasons (which he has limited) and the bounds of their habitation;
27 that they should seek the Lord, if in any manner they might reach out to touch him and find him though he is not far from each one of us;
28 for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also of his lineage.
29 Being therefore of the lineage of God, we ought not to think that which is Divine is like unto gold or silver or stone, bearing the mark of art and man’s imagination.
30 For the times of this ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men everywhere to repent
31 because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of whom he has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead.
32 ¶ And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 But certain men believed and joined themselves with him, among whom was Dionysius of the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
44 ¶ But Jesus cried and said, He that believes in me, believes not in me, but in him that sent me,
45 and he that sees me sees him that sent me.
46 I am come as a light into the world that whosoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.
47 And if anyone hears my words and believes not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world.
48 He that rejects me and does not receive my words has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life; whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
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