Book of Common Prayer
40 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. I have diligently expected Jehovah, And He inclineth to me, and heareth my cry,
2 And He doth cause me to come up From a pit of desolation -- from mire of mud, And He raiseth up on a rock my feet, He is establishing my steps.
3 And He putteth in my mouth a new song, `Praise to our God.' Many do see and fear, and trust in Jehovah.
4 O the happiness of the man Who hath made Jehovah his trust, And hath not turned unto the proud, And those turning aside to lies.
5 Much hast Thou done, Jehovah my God; Thy wonders and Thy thoughts toward us, There is none to arrange unto Thee, I declare and speak: They have been more than to be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and present Thou hast not desired, Ears Thou hast prepared for me, Burnt and sin-offering Thou hast not asked.
7 Then said I, `Lo, I have come,' In the roll of the book it is written of me,
8 To do Thy pleasure, my God, I have delighted, And Thy law [is] within my heart.
9 I have proclaimed tidings of righteousness In the great assembly, lo, my lips I restrain not, O Jehovah, Thou hast known.
10 Thy righteousness I have not concealed In the midst of my heart, Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation I have told, I have not hidden Thy kindness and Thy truth, To the great assembly.
11 Thou, O Jehovah, restrainest not Thy mercies from me, Thy kindness and Thy truth do continually keep me.
12 For compassed me have evils innumerable, Overtaken me have mine iniquities, And I have not been able to see; They have been more than the hairs of my head, And my heart hath forsaken me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me, O Jehovah, for my help make haste.
14 They are ashamed and confounded together, Who are seeking my soul to destroy it, They are turned backward, And are ashamed, who are desiring my evil.
15 They are desolate because of their shame, Who are saying to me, `Aha, aha.'
16 All seeking Thee rejoice and are glad in Thee, Those loving Thy salvation say continually, `Jehovah is magnified.'
17 And I [am] poor and needy, The Lord doth devise for me. My help and my deliverer [art] Thou, O my God, tarry Thou not.
54 To the Overseer with stringed instruments. -- An instruction, by David, in the coming in of the Ziphim, and they say to Saul, `Is not David hiding himself with us?' O God, by Thy name save me, and by Thy might judge me.
2 O God, hear my prayer, Give ear to the sayings of my mouth,
3 For strangers have risen up against me And terrible ones have sought my soul, They have not set God before them. Selah.
4 Lo, God [is] a helper to me, The Lord [is] with those supporting my soul,
5 Turn back doth the evil thing to mine enemies, In Thy truth cut them off.
6 With a free will-offering I sacrifice to Thee, I thank Thy name, O Jehovah, for [it is] good,
7 For, from all adversity He delivered me, And on mine enemies hath mine eye looked!
51 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David, in the coming inn unto him of Nathan the prophet, when he hath gone in unto Bath-Sheba. Favour me, O God, according to Thy kindness, According to the abundance of Thy mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Thoroughly wash me from mine iniquity, And from my sin cleanse me,
3 For my transgressions I do know, And my sin [is] before me continually.
4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done the evil thing in Thine eyes, So that Thou art righteous in Thy words, Thou art pure in Thy judging.
5 Lo, in iniquity I have been brought forth, And in sin doth my mother conceive me.
6 Lo, truth Thou hast desired in the inward parts, And in the hidden part Wisdom Thou causest me to know.
7 Thou cleansest me with hyssop and I am clean, Washest me, and than snow I am whiter.
8 Thou causest me to hear joy and gladness, Thou makest joyful bones Thou hast bruised.
9 Hide Thy face from my sin. And all mine iniquities blot out.
10 A clean heart prepare for me, O God, And a right spirit renew within me.
11 Cast me not forth from Thy presence, And Thy Holy Spirit take not from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, And a willing spirit doth sustain me.
13 I teach transgressors Thy ways, And sinners unto Thee do return.
14 Deliver me from blood, O God, God of my salvation, My tongue singeth of Thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, my lips thou dost open, And my mouth declareth Thy praise.
16 For Thou desirest not sacrifice, or I give [it], Burnt-offering Thou acceptest not.
17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit, A heart broken and bruised, O God, Thou dost not despise.
18 Do good in Thy good pleasure with Zion, Thou dost build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then Thou desirest sacrifices of righteousness, Burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering, Then they offer bullocks on thine altar!
5 Wo [to] Asshur, a rod of Mine anger, And a staff in their hand [is] Mine indignation.
6 Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.
7 And he -- he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For -- to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.
8 For he saith, `Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand hath got to the kingdoms of a worthless thing, and their graven images, [Greater] than Jerusalem and than Samaria,
11 Do I not -- as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?
12 And it hath come to pass, When the Lord doth fulfil all His work In mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur. And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.
13 For he hath said, `By the power of my hand I have wrought, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And their chief ones I have spoiled, And I put down as a mighty one the inhabitants,
14 And my hand as to a nest Getteth to the wealth of the peoples, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs All the earth I -- I have gathered, And there hath not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.'
15 -- Doth the axe glorify itself Against him who is hewing with it? Doth the saw magnify itself Against him who is shaking it? As a rod waving those lifting it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not wood!
16 Therefore doth the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his honour He kindleth a burning As the burning of a fire.
17 And the light of Israel hath been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it hath burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier in one day.
18 And the honour of his forest, and his fruitful field, From soul even unto flesh He doth consume, And it hath been as the fainting of a standard-bearer.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest [are] few, And a youth doth write them.
17 These are wells without water, and clouds by a tempest driven, to whom the thick gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept;
18 for overswellings of vanity speaking, they do entice in desires of the flesh -- lasciviousnesses, those who had truly escaped from those conducting themselves in error,
19 liberty to them promising, themselves being servants of the corruption, for by whom any one hath been overcome, to this one also he hath been brought to servitude,
20 for, if having escaped from the pollutions of the world, in the acknowledging of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and by these again being entangled, they have been overcome, become to them hath the last things worse than the first,
21 for it were better to them not to have acknowledged the way of the righteousness, than having acknowledged [it], to turn back from the holy command delivered to them,
22 and happened to them hath that of the true similitude; `A dog did turn back upon his own vomit,' and, `A sow having bathed herself -- to rolling in mire.'
2 And John having heard in the prison the works of the Christ, having sent two of his disciples,
3 said to him, `Art thou He who is coming, or for another do we look?'
4 And Jesus answering said to them, `Having gone, declare to John the things that ye hear and see,
5 blind receive sight, and lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear, dead are raised, and poor have good news proclaimed,
6 and happy is he who may not be stumbled in me.'
7 And as they are going, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, `What went ye out to the wilderness to view? -- a reed shaken by the wind?
8 `But what went ye out to see? -- a man clothed in soft garments? lo, those wearing the soft things are in the kings' houses.
9 `But what went ye out to see? -- a prophet? yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet,
10 for this is he of whom it hath been written, Lo, I do send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
11 Verily I say to you, there hath not risen, among those born of women, a greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the reign of the heavens is greater than he.
12 `And, from the days of John the Baptist till now, the reign of the heavens doth suffer violence, and violent men do take it by force,
13 for all the prophets and the law till John did prophesy,
14 and if ye are willing to receive [it], he is Elijah who was about to come;
15 he who is having ears to hear -- let him hear.