Book of Common Prayer

38 Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.

² I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my tongue. I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.

³ I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.

⁴ My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.

⁵ I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.

⁶ Behold thou hast made my days measurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man living.

⁷ Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

⁸ And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.

⁹ Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.

¹⁰ I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.

¹¹ Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:

¹² Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.

¹³ Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.

¹⁴ O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.

²⁴ Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and thy maker, from the womb: I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the heavens, that establish the earth, and there is none with me.

²⁵ That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers mad. That turn the wise backward, and that, make their knowledge foolish.

²⁶ That raise up the word of my servant and perform the counsel of my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes thereof.

²⁷ Who say to the deep: Be thou desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers.

²⁸ Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the temple: Thy foundations shall be laid.

45 Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.

² I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron.

³ And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.

⁴ For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me.

⁵ I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me:

⁶ That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else:

⁷ I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.

5 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children;

² And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.

³ But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints:

⁴ Or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of thanks.

⁵ For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶ Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief.

⁷ Be ye not therefore partakers with them.

⁸ For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light.

⁹ For the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth;

¹⁰ Proving what is well pleasing to God:

¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

¹² For the things that are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.

¹³ But all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light; for all that is made manifest is light.

¹⁴ Wherefore he saith: Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee.

4 And again he began to teach by the sea side; and a great multitude was gathered together unto him, so that he went up into a ship, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude was upon the land by the sea side.

² And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his doctrine:

³ Hear ye: Behold, the sower went out to sow.

⁴ And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up.

⁵ And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth.

⁶ And when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸ And some fell upon good ground; and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.

⁹ And he said: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰ And when he was alone, the twelve that were with him asked him the parable.

¹¹ And he said to them: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to them that are without, all things are done in parables:

¹² That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand: lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

¹³ And he saith to them: Are you ignorant of this parable? and how shall you know all parables?

¹⁴ He that soweth, soweth the word.

¹⁵ And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

¹⁶ And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution ariseth for the word they are presently scandalized.

¹⁸ And others there are who are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the word,

¹⁹ And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless.

²⁰ And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.