Book of Common Prayer
55 Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance from the sanctuary for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar) when the Philistines held him in Geth.
2 Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.
3 My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me.
4 From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee.
5 In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me.
6 All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were against me unto evil.
7 They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As they have waited for my soul,
8 For nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces, O God,
9 I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set my tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise.
10 Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.
11 In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his speech. In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me.
12 In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to thee:
13 Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.
138 Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:
2 Thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up.
3 Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.
4 And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.
5 Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.
6 Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?
8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.
9 If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:
10 Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
12 But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.
15 My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
17 But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
18 I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee.
19 If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:
20 Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.
21 Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies?
22 I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.
23 Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.
24 And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.
139 Unto the end, a psalm for David.
2 Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
3 Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
4 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of saps is under their lips.
5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps.
6 The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the wayside.
7 I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.
7 I myself also am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him, that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh.
2 In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
3 And being born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.
4 I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares.
5 For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth.
6 For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.
7 Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
8 And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.
9 Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold in comparison of her, is as a little sand, and silver in respect to her shall be counted as clay.
10 I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for her light cannot be put out.
11 Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands,
12 And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not that she was the mother of them all.
13 Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not.
14 For she is an infinite treasure to men! which they that use, become the friends of God, being commended for the gift of discipline.
12 Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience:
13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also.
14 But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection:
15 And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God.
17 All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
18 And John's disciples told him of all these things.
19 And John called to him two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, saying: Art thou he that art to come; or look we for another?
20 And when the men were come unto him, they said: John the Baptist hath sent us to thee, saying: Art thou he that art to come; or look we for another?
21 (And in that same hour, he cured many of their diseases, and hurts, and evil spirits: and to many that were blind he gave sight.)
22 And answering, he said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the gospel is preached:
23 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized in me.
24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John. What went ye out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind?
25 But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings.
26 But what went you out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
28 For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he.
29 And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John's baptism.
30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.
31 And the Lord said: Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
32 They are like to children sitting in the marketplace, and speaking one to another, and saying: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have mourned, and you have not wept.
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say: He hath a devil.
34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking: and you say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners.
35 And wisdom is justified by all her children.
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