Book of Common Prayer
37 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
6 And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently look for his place, and it shall not be.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
13 The Lord shall laugh at him, for He seeth that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bows to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright manner of living.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall be consumed; into smoke shall they be consumed away.
21 The wicked borroweth and payeth not back, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth:
22 for such as are blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but they that are cursed by Him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delighteth in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread.
26 He is ever merciful and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.
27 Depart from evil and do good, and dwell for evermore.
28 For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved for ever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
33 But the Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and lo, he was no more; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is in the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them, because they trust in Him.
11 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—
2 from the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, “Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon cleaved unto these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
8 And likewise did he for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods.
9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded.
11 Therefore the Lord said unto Solomon, “Forasmuch as this is done by thee, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant.
12 Notwithstanding, I will not do it in thy days for David thy father’s sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
13 However I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David My servant’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show his works out of good conduct and with the meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 Such wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envy and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of those who make peace.
4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? Do they not come even from your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy”?
6 But He giveth more grace; therefore He saith, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.
9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?
12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, “What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?”
13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him!”
14 Then Pilate said unto them, “Why, what evil hath he done?” But they cried out the more exceedingly, “Crucify him!”
15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified.
16 And the soldiers led Him away into the hall called the Praetorium, and they called together the whole detachment.
17 And they clothed Him with purple, and they platted a crown of thorns and put it about His head,
18 and began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
19 And they smote Him on the head with a reed and spat upon Him and, bowing their knees, worshiped Him.
20 And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.
21 And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was passing by, coming from the country, to bear His cross.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.