Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
140 Free me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man:
2 Who devise mischiefs in [their] heart; every day are they banded together for war.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
4 Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked [man], preserve me from the violent man, who devise to overthrow my steps.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the way-side; they have set traps for me. Selah.
6 I have said unto Jehovah, Thou art my God: give ear, O Jehovah, to the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah, the Lord, is the strength of my salvation: thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Jehovah, the desire of the wicked; further not his device: they would exalt themselves. Selah.
9 [As for] the head of those that encompass me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10 Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep waters, that they rise not up again.
11 Let not the man of [evil] tongue be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the man of violence to [his] ruin.
12 I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted one, the right of the needy.
13 Yea, the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
An instruction of David; when he was in the cave: a prayer.
142 I cry unto Jehovah with my voice: with my voice unto Jehovah do I make supplication.
2 I pour out my plaint before him; I shew before him my trouble.
3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then *thou* knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they hidden a snare for me.
4 Look on the right hand and see; there is no man that knoweth me: refuge hath failed me; no man careth for my soul.
5 I cried unto thee, Jehovah; I said, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
6 Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.
7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may celebrate thy name. The righteous shall surround me, because thou dealest bountifully with me.
A Psalm of David.
141 Jehovah, I have called upon thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee.
2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation.
3 Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise deeds of wickedness with men that are workers of iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse: for yet my prayer also is [for them] in their calamities.
6 When their judges are thrown down from the rocks, they shall hear my words, for they are sweet.
7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol, as when one cutteth and cleaveth [wood] upon the earth.
8 For unto thee, Jehovah, Lord, are mine eyes; in thee do I trust: leave not my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that *I* withal pass over.
A Psalm of David.
143 Jehovah, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.
3 For the enemy persecuteth my soul: he hath crushed my life down to the earth; he hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
4 And my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of old: I meditate on all thy doing; I muse on the work of thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul, as a parched land, [thirsteth] after thee. Selah.
7 Answer me speedily, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, or I shall be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I confide; make me to know the way wherein I should walk, for unto thee do I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me, O Jehovah, from mine enemies: unto thee do I flee for refuge.
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: let thy good Spirit lead me in a plain country.
11 Revive me, O Jehovah, for thy name's sake; in thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble;
12 And in thy loving-kindness cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that oppress my soul: for I am thy servant.
19 Now there was no smith found throughout the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.
20 And all Israel went down to the Philistines, every man to get his ploughshare, and his hoe, and his axe, and his sickle sharpened,
21 when the edges of the sickles, and the hoes, and the forks, and the axes were blunted; and to set the goads.
22 And it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan; but with Saul and with Jonathan his son there was found.
23 And a garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
14 Now it came to pass one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man that bore his armour, Come and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison which is on the other side. But he did not tell his father.
2 And Saul abode at the extreme end of Gibeah under the pomegranate-tree which [was] in Migron; and the people that were with him were about six hundred men.
3 (And Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, Jehovah's priest in Shiloh, wore the ephod.) And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.
4 Now between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side; and the name of the one [was] Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The one crag [formed] a pillar on the north opposite to Michmash, and the other on the south opposite to Geba.
6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: perhaps Jehovah will work for us; for there is no restraint to Jehovah to save by many or by few.
7 And his armour-bearer said to him, Do all that is in thy heart; turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will shew ourselves to them.
9 If they say thus to us, Stand still until we come to you, then we will stay in our place, and will not go up to them.
10 And if they say thus, Come up to us, then we will go up; for Jehovah has given them into our hand; and this shall be the sign to us.
11 And both of them shewed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armour-bearer and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you something. And Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, Come up after me; for Jehovah has delivered them into the hand of Israel.
13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armour-bearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan; and his armour-bearer slew after him.
14 And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armour-bearer wrought was about twenty men, as it were on the half-furrow of an acre of land.
15 And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the ravagers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked; for it was a trembling [from] God.
9 But Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, came to the high priest
2 and asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the way, both men and women, he might bring [them] bound to Jerusalem.
3 But as he was journeying, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus; and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven,
4 and falling on the earth he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he [said], *I* am Jesus, whom *thou* persecutest.
6 But rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
7 But the men who were travelling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but beholding no one.
8 And Saul rose up from the earth, and his eyes being opened he saw no one. But leading [him] by the hand they brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank.
26 And as they led him away, they laid hold on a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, and put the cross upon him to bear it behind Jesus.
27 And a great multitude of the people, and of women who wailed and lamented him, followed him.
28 And Jesus turning round to them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me, but weep over yourselves and over your children;
29 for behold, days are coming in which they will say, Blessed [are] the barren, and wombs that have not borne, and breasts that have not given suck.
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall upon us; and to the hills, Cover us:
31 for if these things are done in the green tree, what shall take place in the dry?
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