Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments: an instruction. Of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me, and answer me: I wander about in my plaint, and I moan aloud,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy; because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in anger they persecute me.
4 My heart is writhing within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away, and be at rest;
7 Behold, I would flee afar off, I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah;
8 I would hasten my escape from the stormy wind, from the tempest.
9 Swallow [them] up, Lord; divide their tongue: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; and iniquity and mischief are in the midst of it.
11 Perversities are in the midst thereof; and oppression and deceit depart not from its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy that hath reproached me—then could I have borne it; neither is it he that hateth me that hath magnified [himself] against me—then would I have hidden myself from him;
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, mine intimate, my familiar friend. …
14 We who held sweet intercourse together. To the house of God we walked amid the throng.
15 Let death seize upon them, let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwellings, in their midst.
16 As for me, unto God will I call; and Jehovah will save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and moan aloud; and he will hear my voice.
18 He hath redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me: for there were many about me.
19 God will hear, and afflict them: he that is seated of old, (Selah) … because there is no change in them, and they fear not God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as are at peace with him; he hath profaned his covenant.
21 Smooth were the milky [words] of his mouth, but his heart was war; his words were softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and *he* will sustain thee: he will never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 And thou, O God, wilt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. But as for me, I will confide in thee.
[A Psalm] of David.
138 I will give thee thanks with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing psalms of thee.
2 I will bow down toward the temple of thy holiness, and celebrate thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
3 In the day when I called thou answeredst me; thou didst encourage me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall celebrate thee, Jehovah, when they have heard the words of thy mouth;
5 And they shall sing in the ways of Jehovah, for great is the glory of Jehovah.
6 For Jehovah is high; but he looketh upon the lowly, and the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the anger of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 Jehovah will perfect what concerneth me: thy loving-kindness, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known [me].
2 *Thou* knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off;
3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways;
4 For there is not yet a word on my tongue, [but] lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.
6 O knowledge too wonderful for me! it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into the heavens thou art there; or if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou [art there];
9 [If] I take the wings of the dawn [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 And if I say, Surely darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night;
12 Even darkness hideth not from thee, and the night shineth as the day: the darkness is as the light.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins; thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.
15 My bones were not hidden from thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my unformed substance, and in thy book all [my members] were written; [during many] days were they fashioned, when [as yet] there was none of them.
17 But how precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 [If] I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O +God! And ye men of blood, depart from me.
20 For they speak of thee wickedly, they take [thy name] in vain, thine enemies.
21 Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? and do not I loathe them that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I account them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts;
9 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, that were in the day that the foundation of the house of Jehovah of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
10 For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; and there was no peace for him that went out or that came in, because of the distress: for I let loose all men, every one against his neighbour.
11 But now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days, saith Jehovah of hosts;
12 for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these [things].
13 And it shall come to pass, like as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear ye not, let your hands be strong.
14 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Like as I thought to do you evil when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented not;
15 so again have I thought in these days to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
16 These are the things that ye shall do: Speak truth every one with his neighbour; execute truth and the judgment of peace in your gates;
17 and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are [things] that I hate, saith Jehovah.
6 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as a voice of thunder, Come [and see].
2 And I saw: and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon it having a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and that he might conquer.
3 And when it opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come [and see].
4 And another, a red horse, went forth; and to him that sat upon it, to him it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
5 And when it opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come [and see]. And I saw: and behold, a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a balance in his hand.
6 And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius: and do not injure the oil and the wine.
7 And when it opened the fourth seal, I heard [the voice of] the fourth living creature saying, Come [and see].
8 And I saw: and behold, a pale horse, and he that sat upon it, his name [was] Death, and hades followed with him; and authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
9 And when it opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held;
10 and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O sovereign Ruler, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?
11 And there was given to them, to each one a white robe; and it was said to them that they should rest yet a little while, until both their fellow-bondmen and their brethren, who were about to be killed as they, should be fulfilled.
12 And I saw when it opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as hair sackcloth, and the whole moon became as blood,
13 and the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, as a fig tree, shaken by a great wind, casts its unseasonable figs.
14 And the heaven was removed as a book rolled up, and every mountain and island were removed out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great, and the chiliarchs, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and have us hidden from [the] face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;
17 because the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand?
31 But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit down upon his throne of glory,
32 and all the nations shall be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33 and he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on [his] left.
34 Then shall the King say to those on his right hand, Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from [the] world's foundation:
35 for I hungered, and ye gave me to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in;
36 naked, and ye clothed me; I was ill, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, and nourished thee; or thirsting, and gave thee to drink?
38 and when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in; or naked, and clothed thee?
39 and when saw we thee ill, or in prison, and came to thee?
40 And the King answering shall say to them, Verily, I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me.
41 Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 for I hungered, and ye gave me not to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me not to drink;
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye did not clothe me; ill, and in prison, and ye did not visit me.
44 Then shall *they* also answer saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or ill, or in prison, and have not ministered to thee?
45 Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it to one of these least, neither have ye done it to me.
46 And these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.
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