Book of Common Prayer
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 ¶ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens; in them thou shalt establish thy truth.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my slave, saying,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5 ¶ And the heavens shall praise thy wonder, O LORD, thy truth also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heavens can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him.
8 O LORD God of the hosts, who is like unto thee? Strong JAH, compassed about with thy truth.
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, thou dost still them.
10 Thou hast broken Egypt in pieces as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: the world and its fullness, thou didst found.
12 Thou hast created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon shall sing in thy name.
13 The mighty arm is thine; strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Thy throne is composed of righteousness and judgment; mercy and truth go before thy face.
15 ¶ Happy are the people that know how to enter into joy; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name shall they rejoice each day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the LORD is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 ¶ Then thou didst speak in vision to thy holy one and didst say, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of my people.
20 I have found David my slave; I anointed him with the oil of my holiness,
21 with whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not overcome him, nor the son of iniquity break him down.
23 But I will break down his foes before his face and smite those that hate him.
24 But my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 In the same manner I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall call me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my saving health.
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 I will also make his seed to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments,
31 if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will visit their rebellion with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
33 Nevertheless I will not take my mercy from him, neither will I falsify my truth.
34 I will not profane my covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me.
37 It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
38 ¶ But thou hast cast off and abhorred thine anointed; thou hast been wroth with him.
39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy slave; thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way spoil him; he is a reproach to his neighbours.
42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Thou hast also blunted the edge of his sword and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his clarity to cease and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, O LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is; why hast thou made all men subject to vanity?
48 What man is he that lives and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah.
49 Lord, where are thy former mercies, which thou didst sware unto David in thy truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy slaves; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of many peoples,
51 because thine enemies have dishonoured, O LORD; they have dishonoured the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be the LORD for ever. Amen and Amen.
2 ¶ I will stand upon my watch and affirm my foot upon the fortress and will watch to see what he will say in me and what I shall answer to my question.
2 And the LORD answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come; wait for it.
4 Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him will become filled with pride, but the just in his faith shall live.
9 Woe to him that covets ill-gotten gain by violence for his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may escape from the power of evil!
10 Thou hast taken shameful counsel for thy house by cutting off many peoples and hast committed a sin against thy life.
11 For the stone shall cry out from the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12 Woe to him that builds the city with blood and founds the village with iniquity!
13 Is this not of the LORD of the hosts? Therefore the peoples shall labour for the fire, and the Gentiles shall weary themselves in vain.
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
15 ¶ Woe unto him that gives his neighbours drink, that puts thy bottle to them, and makes them drunken also, that thou may look on their nakedness!
16 Thou hast filled thyself with dishonour instead of honour; drink thou also, and thy foreskin shall be uncovered; the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful vomit shall fall upon thy glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall fall upon thee and the destruction of the wild beasts shall break thee, because of the human blood, and of the robbery of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.
18 Of what profit is the graven image that its maker has sculpted; the molten image, that teaches lies, so that in making dumb images the maker trusts in his work?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Can it ever teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
14 ¶ My brethren, What shall it profit though someone says that they have faith and do not have works? Shall this type of faith be able to save them?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says unto them, Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled; but ye do not give them those things which are needful for the body; what shall it profit them?
17 Even so faith, if it does not have works, is dead in and of itself.
18 But someone may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well; the demons also believe and tremble.
20 But, O vain man, dost thou desire to know that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22 Dost thou not see how the faith worked together with his works, and the faith was complete by the works?
23 And that the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
19 ¶ There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day;
20 and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores
21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died and was buried;
23 and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted here, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass from there to us.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, No, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, even though one rose from the dead.
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