Book of Common Prayer
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he answered me.
2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
5 ¶ Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul has long dwelt with those that hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keeps thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
A Song of degrees of David.
1 ¶ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
2 Our feet stood within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem, that one which is built as a city that is well united together
4 Because the tribes went up there, the tribes of JAH, the testimony to Israel, to praise the name of the LORD.
5 For there are set thrones of the judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 ¶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; those that love thee shall be brought into rest.
7 Peace be within thy walls and rest within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek thy good.
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of slaves look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until he shall have mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly weary of being held in contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly weary of the scorning of those that are at ease and of the contempt of the proud.
A Song of degrees of David.
1 ¶ If the LORD had not been for us, now may Israel say,
2 If the LORD had not been for us, when men rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;
4 then the waters would have overwhelmed us; the flood would have gone over our soul;
5 then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.
6 ¶ Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare has broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made the heaven and the earth.
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ Those that trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed but abides for ever.
2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from now on even for ever.
3 For the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous because the righteous shall not put forth their hands unto iniquity.
4 ¶ Do good, O LORD, unto those that are good and to those that are upright in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall take them away with the workers of iniquity; and peace shall be upon Israel.
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ When the LORD shall turn again the captivity of Zion, we shall be like those that dream.
2 Then our mouth shall be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing; then they shall say among the Gentiles, The LORD has done great things with them.
3 The LORD has done great things with us, of which we shall be glad.
4 ¶ Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
5 Those that sow with tears shall reap with joy.
6 He that goes forth and weeps, bearing the precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
A Song of degrees for Solomon.
1 ¶ Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain that build it; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchmen watch in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to come home late, to eat the bread of sorrows, because he shall give his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, sons are a heritage of the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is to be desired.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the young men.
5 Happy is the man that has filled his quiver with them: he shall not be ashamed when he speaks with the enemies in the gate.
1 ¶ The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
2 ¶ God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; the LORD avenges and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all treat the guilty as though they were innocent; the LORD whose way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He reprehends the sea and makes it dry and dries up all the rivers; Bashan was destroyed, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon was destroyed.
5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, and the world and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of his place, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 ¶ What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end; he will not hold back the tribulation the second time.
10 For while they are entwined together as thorns, and while the drunkards shall be drinking, they shall be devoured as stubble full of dryness.
11 He has come out of thee that has imagined evil against the LORD, a counsellor of Belial.
12 Thus hath the LORD said: For much rest that they have, and though they are many, yet thus shall they be cut down, and he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
13 For now I will break his yoke from off thee and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
13 ¶ Therefore, having the loins of your understanding girded with temperance, wait perfectly in the grace that is presented unto you when Jesus, the Christ, is manifested unto you,
14 as obedient sons, not conforming yourselves with the former desires that you had before in your ignorance,
15 but as he who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16 for it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
17 And if ye invoke as Father, he who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, converse in fear the entire time of your sojourning here,
18 knowing that ye have been ransomed from your vain conversation (which you received from your fathers), not with corruptible things like silver and gold,
19 but with the precious blood of the Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without contamination,
20 already ordained from before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for love of you,
21 who by him do believe God, who raised him up from the dead and has given him glory: that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Having purified your souls in the obedience of the truth, by the Spirit, in unfeigned brotherly love, love one another with a pure heart fervently,
23 being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever.
24 ¶ For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
25 but the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
13 ¶ Then were there brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them.
14 But Jesus said, Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens.
15 And he laid his hands on them and departed from there.
16 ¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why dost thou call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God, but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He said unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt not murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man said unto him, All these things I have kept from my youth up; what do I lack?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou desire to be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that word, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
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