Book of Common Prayer
101 I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes; I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
4 A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked person.
5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off; him that hath a haughty look and a proud heart will I not suffer.
6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.
109 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise.
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer.
5 They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set Thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer be counted as sin.
8 Let his days be few, and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the strangers despoil his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation to follow let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 because he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him; as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and as a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But do Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name’s sake; because Thy mercy is good, deliver Thou me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth; I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 I have become a reproach also unto them; when they looked upon me they shook their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God! O save me according to Thy mercy,
27 that they may know that this is Thy hand—that Thou, Lord, hast done it.
28 Let them curse, but Thou bless; when they arise let them be ashamed, but let Thy servant rejoice.
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise Him among the multitude.
121 I have done judgment and justice; leave me not to mine oppressors.
122 Be surety for Thy servant for good; let not the proud oppress me.
123 Mine eyes fail, seeking for Thy salvation and for the word of Thy righteousness.
124 Deal with Thy servant according unto Thy mercy, and teach me Thy statutes.
125 I am Thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know Thy testimonies.
126 It is time for Thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void Thy law.
127 Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold.
128 Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.
129 Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore doth my soul keep them.
130 The entering of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
131 I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Thy commandments.
132 Look Thou upon me and be merciful unto me, as Thou used to do unto those that love Thy name.
133 Order my steps in Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
134 Deliver me from the oppression of man; so will I keep Thy precepts.
135 Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant, and teach me Thy statutes.
136 Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because men keep not Thy law.
137 Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are Thy judgments.
138 Thy testimonies that Thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten Thy words.
140 Thy word is very pure; therefore Thy servant loveth it.
141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Thy precepts.
142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me, yet Thy commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of Thy testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live.
9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it;
10 and at the end of three years they took it. Even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 And the king of Assyria carried away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them nor do them.
13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, “I have offended. Turn away from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear.” And the king of Assyria imposed upon Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the Fuller’s Field.
18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, “Speak ye now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
20 Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), “I have counsel and strength for the war.” Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all who trust in him.
22 But if ye say unto me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is not that He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, “Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?
23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
8 Now concerning things offered unto idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
2 And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if any man love God, the same is known by Him.
4 Concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but One.
5 For though there be what are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
6 yet to us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we by Him.
7 However, there is not in every man that knowledge; for some, with conscience of the idol until this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither are we the better if we eat, nor are we the worse if we eat not.
9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
10 For if any man see thee, who hast knowledge, sitting at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols,
11 and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 For when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
13 “Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat.
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
20 Therefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 “Not every one that saith unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in Heaven.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.