Book of Common Prayer
ALEPH.
1 ¶ Blessed are those who walk in the perfect way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are those that keep his testimonies and that seek him with their whole heart.
3 For those who do no iniquity walk in his ways.
4 ¶ Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
5 O that my ways were ordered to keep thy statutes!
6 Then I shall not be ashamed, when I have insight unto all thy commandments.
7 ¶ I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
8 I will keep thy statutes; O do not utterly forsake me.
BETH.
9 ¶ With what shall a young man cleanse his way? when he shall keep thy word.
10 ¶ With my whole heart I have sought thee; O let me not err from thy commandments.
11 ¶ Thy spoken word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
12 ¶ Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
13 ¶ With my lips I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as above all riches.
15 I will meditate in thy precepts and consider thy ways.
16 I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy words.
GIMEL.
17 ¶ Deal bountifully with thy slave that I may live and keep thy word.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, and I shall behold the wonders of thy law.
19 ¶ I am a stranger in the earth; hide not thy commandments from me.
20 ¶ My soul is broken from desiring thy judgments at all times.
21 ¶ Thou hast reprehended the proud; cursed are those who err from thy commandments.
22 ¶ Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies.
23 ¶ Princes also sat and spoke against me as thy slave spoke according to thy statutes.
24 ¶ For thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors.
To the Overcomer upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Help, LORD; for the merciful man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 Each one speaks vanity with his neighbour: they speak with flattering lips and with a double heart.
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, saith the LORD; I will set in safety the one whom the wicked one has ensnared.
6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8 The wicked press in on every side when the vilest men are exalted.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is no one that does good.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is no one that does good, no, not one.
4 ¶ The workers of iniquity certainly know this; those who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD.
5 There they were in great fear: for God is with the nation of the righteous.
6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor because the LORD is his hope.
7 Oh that the saving health of Israel were come out of Zion! When the LORD turns back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2 ¶ Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
2 and said, I cried by reason of my tribulation unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about; all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will see thy holy temple again.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul, the depth closed me round about; the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I descended to the roots of the mountains; the earth put her bars about me for ever; yet thou hast brought up my life out of the grave, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer entered in unto thee in thy holy temple.
8 Those that observe lying vanities forsake his mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed; that saving comes of the LORD.
10 ¶ And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
10 saying, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.
11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
12 ¶ And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, many were in agreement to depart from there also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice and winter there, which is a port of Crete and lies toward Africa and the west.
13 And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, raising sails, they sailed close by Crete.
14 But not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. {devastating cold north wind from Europe}
15 And when the ship was caught up by it and could not resist against the wind, the ship was taken by the wind and drifted.
16 And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat,
17 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into Syrtis, {or the sandbanks} struck sail and so were driven.
18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
19 and the third day with our own hands we cast off the dead works of the ship.
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then lost.
21 ¶ Then after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete to have avoided this harm and loss.
22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any person’s life among you, but only of the ship.
23 For the angel of God stood by me this night, whose I am and whom I serve,
24 saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and, behold, God has given thee all those that sail with thee.
25 Therefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
26 However we must be cast upon a certain island.
9 ¶ Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to cure diseases.
2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey: neither staves nor provision bag, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece.
4 And whatever house ye enter into, abide there and depart from there.
5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
6 And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing every where.
7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him, and he was perplexed because it was said of some that John was risen from the dead,
8 and of some, that Elijah had appeared, and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.
9 And Herod said, I have beheaded John, but who is this of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
10 ¶ And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him, and he received them and spoke unto them of the kingdom of God and healed those that had need of healing.
12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, Send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get victuals, for we are here in a desert place.
13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fishes, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.
14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in companies of fifty.
15 And they did so and made them all sit down.
16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
17 And they ate and were all filled, and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.
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