Book of Common Prayer

26 The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?

² Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen.

³ If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.

⁴ One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.

⁵ For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.

⁶ He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies. I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me and hear me.

⁸ My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.

⁹ Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.

¹⁰ For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up.

¹¹ Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way, and guide me in the right path, because of my enemies.

¹² Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to itself.

¹³ I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.

28 A psalm for David, at the finishing of the tabernacle. Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.

² Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.

³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.

⁴ The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in magnificence.

⁵ The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars: yea, the Lord shall break the cedars of Libanus.

⁶ And shall reduce them to pieces, as a calf of Libanus, and as the beloved son of unicorns.

⁷ The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire:

⁸ The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall shake the desert of Cades.

⁹ The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory.

¹⁰ The Lord maketh the flood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.

36 A psalm for David himself. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity.

² For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches.

⁴ Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.

⁵ Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.

⁶ And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

⁷ Be subject to the Lord and pray to him Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things.

⁸ Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.

⁹ For the evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land.

¹⁰ For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.

¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.

¹² The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.

¹³ But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come.

¹⁴ The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.

¹⁵ Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken.

¹⁶ Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked.

¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just.

¹⁸ The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.

¹⁹ They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled:

²⁰ Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.

²¹ The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give.

²² For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish.

²³ With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.

²⁴ When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth his hand under him.

²⁵ I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

²⁶ He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing.

²⁷ Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.

²⁸ For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.

²⁹ But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore.

³⁰ The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue shall speak judgment.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.

³² The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death,

³³ But the Lord will not leave in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.

³⁴ Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.

³⁵ I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.

³⁶ And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found.

³⁷ Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for the peaceable man.

³⁸ But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish.

³⁹ But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble.

⁴⁰ And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.

39 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

² With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

³ And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

⁴ And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.

⁵ Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.

⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number.

⁷ Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require:

⁸ Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me

⁹ That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

¹⁰ I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.

¹¹ I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.

¹² Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.

¹³ For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.

¹⁴ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, look down, O Lord, to help me.

¹⁵ Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me.

¹⁶ Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: 'T is well, 't is well.

¹⁷ Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

¹⁸ But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack.

⁶⁵ And Solomon made at the same time a solemn feast, and all Israel with him, a great multitude from the entrance of Emath to the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, that is, fourteen days.

⁶⁶ And on the eighth day he sent away the people: and they blessed the king, and went to their dwellings rejoicing, and glad in heart for all the good things that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

9 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all that he desired, and was pleased to do,

² That the Lord appeared to him the second time, as he had appeared to him in Gabaon.

³ And the Lord said to him: I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which thou hast made before me: I have sanctified this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there always.

⁴ And if thou wilt walk before me, as thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness: and wilt do all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my ordinances and my judgments,

⁵ I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, as I promised David thy father, saying: There shall not fail a man of thy race upon the throne of Israel.

⁶ But if you and your children revolting shall turn away from following me, and will not keep my commandments, and my ceremonies, which I have set before you, but will go and worship strange gods, and adore them:

⁷ I will take away Israel from the face of the land which I have given them; and the temple which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all people.

⁸ And this house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house:

⁹ And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

¹⁴ What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him?

¹⁵ And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food:

¹⁶ And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit?

¹⁷ So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself.

¹⁸ But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith.

¹⁹ Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble.

²⁰ But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar?

²² Seest thou, that faith did co-operate with his works; and by works faith was made perfect?

²³ And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴ Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?

²⁵ And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers, and sending them out another way?

²⁶ For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead.

⁶⁶ Now when Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the maidservants of the high priest.

⁶⁷ And when she had seen Peter warming himself, looking on him she saith: Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.

⁶⁸ But he denied, saying: I neither know nor understand what thou sayest. And he went forth before the court; and the cock crew.

⁶⁹ And again a maidservant seeing him, began to say to the standers by: This is one of them.

⁷⁰ But he denied again. And after a while they that stood by said again to Peter: Surely thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilean.

⁷¹ But he began to curse and to swear, saying; I know not this man of whom you speak.

⁷² And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. And he began to weep.