Book of Common Prayer
An instruction. Of Asaph.
78 Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles from of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us:
4 We will not hide [them] from their sons, shewing forth to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his marvellous works which he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know [them], the children that should be born; that they might rise up and tell [them] to their children,
7 And that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but observe his commandments;
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
9 The sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgot his doings, and his marvellous works which he had shewn them.
12 In the sight of their fathers had he done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.
13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; and made the waters to stand as a heap;
14 And he led them with a cloud in the daytime, and all the night with the light of fire.
15 He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as out of the depths, abundantly;
16 And he brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert;
18 And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;
19 And they spoke against God: they said, Is God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel:
22 Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation;
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.
25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.
26 He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind;
27 And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations:
29 And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.
30 They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths,
31 When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
32 For all this, they sinned still, and believed not in his marvellous works;
33 And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after God;
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and God, the Most High, their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;
37 For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
38 But he was merciful: he forgave the iniquity, and destroyed [them] not; but many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his fury:
39 And he remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
41 And they turned again and tempted God, and grieved the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,
43 How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan;
44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink;
45 He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them;
46 And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust;
47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones;
48 And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress,—a mission of angels of woes.
50 He made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
51 And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham.
52 And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies.
54 And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased;
55 And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 But they tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies,
57 And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow.
58 And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 God heard, and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
60 And he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men,
61 And gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor;
62 And delivered up his people unto the sword, and was very wroth with his inheritance:
63 The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not praised in [nuptial] song;
64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine;
66 And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach.
67 And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved;
69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever.
70 And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
71 From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72 And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.
21 And Elkanah her husband, and all his house, went up to sacrifice to Jehovah the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, [I will wait] until the child is weaned; then will I bring him, that he may appear before Jehovah, and there abide for ever.
23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what is good in thy sight: abide until thou hast weaned him; only, may Jehovah fulfil his word. And the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
24 And she took him up with her when she had weaned him, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a flask of wine, and brought him to the house of Jehovah to Shiloh; and the boy was young.
25 And they slaughtered the bullock, and brought the boy to Eli.
26 And she said, Oh my lord, [as] thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here to pray to Jehovah.
27 For this boy I prayed; and Jehovah has granted me my petition which I asked of him.
28 And also I have lent him to Jehovah: all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah. And he worshipped Jehovah there.
2 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exulteth in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies; for I rejoice in thy salvation.
2 There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God.
3 Do not multiply your words of pride, let not vain-glory come out of your mouth; For Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
4 The bow of the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
5 They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and the hungry are [so] no more: Even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
6 Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.
7 Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich, he bringeth low, also he lifteth up:
8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, To set [him] among nobles; and he maketh them inherit a throne of glory; For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, and he hath set the world upon them.
9 He keepeth the feet of his saints, but the wicked are silenced in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
10 They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; in the heavens will he thunder upon them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the boy ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest.
15 And in those days Peter, standing up in the midst of the brethren, said, (the crowd of names [who were] together [was] about a hundred and twenty,)
16 Brethren, it was necessary that the scripture should have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before, by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who became guide to those who took Jesus;
17 for he was numbered amongst us, and had received a part in this service.
18 (This [man] then indeed got a field with [the] reward of iniquity, and, having fallen down headlong, burst in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
19 And it was known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own dialect Aceldama; that is, field of blood.)
20 For it is written in [the] book of Psalms, Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no dweller in it; and, Let another take his overseership.
21 It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all [the] time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection.
23 And they appointed two, Joseph, who was called Barsabas, who had been surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed, and said, Thou Lord, knower of the hearts of all, shew which one of these two thou hast chosen,
25 to receive the lot of this service and apostleship, from which Judas transgressing fell to go to his own place.
26 And they gave lots on them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
19 And the chief priests and the scribes sought the same hour to lay hands on him, and they feared the people; for they knew that he had spoken this parable of them.
20 And having watched [him], they sent out suborned persons, pretending to be just men, that they might take hold of him in [his] language, so that they might deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.
21 And they asked him saying, Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest no [man's] person, but teachest with truth the way of God:
22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
23 But perceiving their deceit he said to them, Why do ye tempt me?
24 Shew me a denarius. Whose image and superscription has it? And answering they said, Caesar's.
25 And he said to them, Pay therefore what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God.
26 And they were not able to take hold of him in [his] expressions before the people, and, wondering at his answer, they were silent.
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