Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. Of David. A Psalm.
40 I waited patiently for Jehovah; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 And he brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock; he hath established my goings:
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall confide in Jehovah.
4 Blessed is the man that hath made Jehovah his confidence, and turneth not to the proud, and to such as turn aside to lies.
5 Thou, O Jehovah my God, hast multiplied thy marvellous works, and thy thoughts toward us: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; would I declare and speak [them], they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: ears hast thou prepared me. Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not demanded;
7 Then said I, Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me—
8 To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart.
9 I have published righteousness in the great congregation: behold, I have not withheld my lips, Jehovah, *thou* knowest.
10 I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou, Jehovah, thy tender mercies from me; let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head: and my heart hath failed me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me; Jehovah, make haste to my help.
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be turned backward and confounded that take pleasure in mine adversity;
15 Let them be desolate, because of their shame, that say unto me, Aha! Aha!
16 Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee; let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified!
17 But I am afflicted and needy: the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer: my God, make no delay.
To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments: an instruction. Of David; when the Ziphites came, and said to Saul, Is not David hiding himself with us?
54 O God, by thy name save me, and by thy strength do me justice.
2 O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers are risen up against me, and the violent seek after my life: they have not set God before them. Selah.
4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is among them that uphold my soul.
5 He will requite evil to mine enemies: in thy truth cut them off.
6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O Jehovah, because it is good.
7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble; and mine eye hath seen [its desire] upon mine enemies.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.
51 Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; according to the abundance of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me fully from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou wilt have truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden [part] thou wilt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear gladness and joy; [that] the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the spirit of thy holiness from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let a willing spirit sustain me.
13 I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall return unto thee.
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou have sacrifices of righteousness, burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer up bullocks upon thine altar.
5 Ah! the Assyrian! the rod of mine anger! and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge; to take the spoil, and to seize the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; for it is in his heart to extirpate and cut off nations not a few.
8 For he saith, Are not my princes all kings?
9 Is not Calno as Karkemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols,—and their graven images exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 —shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?
12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stoutness of heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done [it], and by my wisdom, for I am intelligent; and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and, like a valiant man, I have brought down them that sit [on thrones];
14 and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples, and as one gathereth forsaken eggs, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped.
15 —Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? As if the rod should wield them that lift it up; as if the staff should lift up [him who is] not wood!
16 Therefore shall the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire:
17 and the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day,
18 and it shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a sick man fainteth.
19 And the remainder of the trees of his forest shall be few: yea, a child might write them.
17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by storm, to whom the gloom of darkness is reserved [for ever].
18 For [while] speaking great highflown words of vanity, they allure with [the] lusts of [the] flesh, by dissoluteness, those who have just fled those who walk in error,
19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a man is subdued, by him is he also brought into slavery.
20 For if after having escaped the pollutions of the world through [the] knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, again entangled, they are subdued by these, their last state is worse than the first.
21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known [it] to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 But that [word] of the true proverb has happened to them: [The] dog [has] turned back to his own vomit; and, [The] washed sow to [her] rolling in mud.
2 But John, having heard in the prison the works of the Christ, sent by his disciples,
3 and said to him, Art *thou* the coming [one]? or are we to wait for another?
4 And Jesus answering said to them, Go, report to John what ye hear and see.
5 Blind [men] see and lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear; and dead are raised, and poor have glad tidings preached to them:
6 and blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me.
7 But as they went [away], Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed moved about by the wind?
8 But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in delicate raiment? behold, those who wear delicate things are in the houses of kings.
9 But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet:
10 this is he of whom it is written, Behold, *I* send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
11 Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among [the] born of women a greater than John the baptist. But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he.
12 But from the days of John the baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and [the] violent seize on it.
13 For all the prophets and the law have prophesied unto John.
14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come.
15 He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
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