Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon Shoshannim, {lilies} A testimony of Asaph: A Psalm.
1 ¶ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the presence of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us.
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of the hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou dost feed them with the bread of tears and give them tears to drink in great measure.
6 Thou dost make us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies laugh at us among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of the hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
8 ¶ Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
9 Thou didst prepare room before it and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the earth.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and its boughs were like the cedars of God.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all those who pass by the way pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of the hosts: look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine
15 and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted and the branch that thou didst make strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire; it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou didst make strong for thyself,
18 so we will not go back from thee. Thou shalt quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of the hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
To the Overcomer, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore bled in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
4 Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak.
5 I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages.
6 I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.
7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
8 Is his mercy gone for ever? does his word fail from generation to generation?
9 Has God forgotten to have mercy? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
10 And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
11 ¶ I remembered the works of JAH; therefore I shall remember thy wonders of old.
12 I meditated also on all thy works and spoke of thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is in holiness; who is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the peoples.
15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled.
17 The clouds poured out floods of waters; the heavens thundered; thy bolts of lightning also went forth.
18 The voice of thy thunder was all around; the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way was in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps were not known.
20 Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily meet us on the way, for we are very poor.
9 Help us, O God, our saving health, for the honor of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Why should the Gentiles say, Where is their God? let him be known among the Gentiles in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy slaves which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve those that are appointed to die
12 and render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: from generation to generation we will sing thy praises.
1 ¶ The word of the LORD that went to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the earth. Has this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your sons of it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons another generation.
4 That which the palmerworm has left the locust has eaten; and that which the locust has left the cankerworm has eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left the caterpillar has eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a people has come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the molars of a great lion.
7 He has laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare and cast it away; its branches are made white.
8 ¶ Lament like a young woman girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering of the house of the LORD has perished; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field was destroyed, the land mourns; for the wheat was destroyed; the new wine was dried up, the oil perished.
11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is lost.
12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has perished; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, have withered: therefore joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the present and the drink offering is taken away from the house of your God.
15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off
18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city was like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, in which all that had ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her riches! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your cause upon her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with impetus shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatever craft he is, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23 and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth in whose witchcraft all the Gentiles have erred.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth.
12 Then said he also to him that invited him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbours, lest they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a banquet, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind,
14 and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
15 ¶ And when one of those that sat at the table with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and called many
17 and sent his slave at supper time to say to those that were called, Come, for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I have need to go and see it; I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that slave came and showed his lord these things. Then the husband of the house, being angry, said to his slave, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind.
22 And the slave said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the slave, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were called shall taste of my supper.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International