Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of the poor in spirit, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
1 ¶ Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as in a hearth.
4 My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
8 My enemies reproach me all the day, and those that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping,
10 because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down.
11 My days are like a shadow that declines, and I am withered like grass.
12 ¶ But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations.
13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, the set time, is come.
14 For thy slaves love her stones and have compassion on the dust thereof.
15 So the Gentiles shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory
16 because the LORD shall have built up Zion, and he shall be seen in his glory.
17 He shall have regarded the prayer of those who are alone and destitute and not despised their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people who shall be created shall praise JAH.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens the LORD beheld the earth
20 to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death,
21 that they might declare the name of the LORD in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 when the people are gathered together as one and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 ¶ He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, do not cut me off in the midst of my days; thy years are from generation to generation.
25 Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
28 The sons of thy slaves shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
1 ¶ O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
3 and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered lost in the wilderness, alone and out of the way; they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his mercy and for his wonderful works unto the sons of Adam!
9 For he satisfies the soul that is destitute and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 ¶ Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in irons,
11 because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel of the most High:
12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bonds asunder.
15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his mercy and for his wonderful works unto the sons of Adam!
16 For he has broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder.
17 ¶ The fools, because of the way of their rebellion, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near unto the gates of death.
19 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their graves.
21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his mercy and for his wonderful works unto the sons of Adam!
22 And let them offer the sacrifices of praise and publish his works with singing.
23 ¶ Those that go down to the sea in ships that do work in many waters,
24 these have seen the works of the LORD and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.
26 They mount up to the heavens; they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and all of their knowledge is of no avail.
28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivers them out of their afflictions.
29 He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are at rest; so he brings them into the haven of his will.
31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his mercy and for his wonderful works unto the sons of Adam!
32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
10 ¶ Israel is an empty vine. Shall he bring forth fruit unto himself? According to the multiplication of his fruit he has multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have bettered their statues.
2 Their heart has wandered; now they shall be found guilty: he shall break down their altars, he shall destroy their statues.
3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we did not fear the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment shall spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn because of the calf, and the religious persons thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, which shall be made to vanish away.
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb: Ephraim shall be ashamed, and Israel shall be confused at his own counsel.
7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the surface of the waters.
8 And the altars of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel: the thorn and the thistle shall grow upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 ¶ O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah; there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them.
10 And I shall chastise them as I desire; and the peoples shall gather themselves over them, when they shall be bound in their two furrows.
11 Ephraim is a heifer that is taught and loves to tread out the wheat; but I shall pass over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow yourselves unto righteousness, reap yourselves unto mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is the time to seek the LORD until he comes and teaches you righteousness.
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye shall eat the fruit of lies because thou didst trust in thy way and in the multitude of thy mighty men.
14 Therefore, in thy peoples a tumult shall arise, and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her sons.
15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness; in the morning the king of Israel shall utterly be cut off.
37 And as Paul was to be led into the fortress, he said unto the tribunal, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
38 Art not thou that Egyptian, who before these days made an uproar and led four thousand men out into the wilderness that were murderers?
39 But Paul said, I am certainly a Jew, a citizen of Tarsus, a city known in Cilicia; and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
40 And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
22 ¶ Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you.
2 (And when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence, and he said,)
3 ¶ I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
5 As also the prince of the priests bears me witness, and all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring those who were bound there unto Jerusalem to be punished.
6 And it came to pass that, as I made my journey and was come near unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
7 And I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?
8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I Am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou dost persecute.
9 And those that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him that spoke to me.
10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
11 And when I could not see for the clarity of that light, being led by the hand of those that were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good witness of all the Jews who dwelt there,
13 came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou should know his will and see that Just One and should hear the voice of his mouth.
15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
16 And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
12 ¶ And it came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples; and of them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles:
14 Simon (whom he also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon called Zelotes
16 and Judas the brother of James and Judas Iscariot, who also was the traitor.
17 And he came down with them and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
18 and those that were tormented with unclean spirits were healed.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him and healed them all.
20 ¶ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are those that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are those that weep now, for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the sake of the Son of man.
23 Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers treated the prophets in the same manner.
24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers treat the false prophets.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International