Book of Common Prayer

A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.

Aleph

¹ ¶ I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Beth

² My soul shall glory in the LORD; the meek shall hear of this, and be glad.

Gimel

³ O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Daleth

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

He

⁵ They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.

Vau

⁶ This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Zain

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps round about those that fear him and delivers them.

Cheth

⁸ O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that shall trust in him.

Teth

⁹ O fear the LORD, ye his saints; for those that fear him lack nothing.

Jod

¹⁰ The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those that seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Caph

¹¹ ¶ Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Lamed

¹² Who is the man that desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Mem

¹³ Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Nun

¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Samech

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

Ain

¹⁶ The anger of the LORD is against those that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Pe

¹⁷ The righteous cried out, and the LORD heard and delivered them out of all their troubles.

Tzaddi

¹⁸ The LORD is near unto those that are of a broken heart and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

Koph

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD shall deliver him out of them all,

Resh

²⁰ keeping all his bones; not one of them shall be broken.

Schin

²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked; and those that hate the righteous shall be declared guilty.

Tau

²² The LORD ransoms the soul of his slaves, and none of those that trust in him shall be declared guilty.

¹ ¶ Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous, for to the upright praise is beautiful.

² Celebrate unto the LORD with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

³ Sing unto him a new song; play unto excellence with joy.

⁴ For the word of the LORD is right, and all his works are done in truth.

⁵ He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.

⁶ By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; he lays up the deeps for treasures.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

⁹ For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it came into being.

¹⁰ The LORD brings the counsel of the Gentiles to nought; he makes the devices of the peoples of no effect.

¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

¹² ¶ Blessed is the people whose God is the LORD; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

¹³ The LORD looked from heaven; he saw all the sons of Adam.

¹⁴ From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

¹⁵ He fashioned all of their hearts; he considers all their works.

¹⁶ The king is not saved by the multitude of the army; the mighty man does not escape by much strength.

¹⁷ A horse is a vain thing for salvation; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those that fear him, upon those that wait for his mercy

¹⁹ to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in the famine.

²⁰ Our soul waited for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

²¹ Therefore our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in the name of his holiness.

²² Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have waited upon thee.

19 ¶ And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and of how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

² Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if by tomorrow at this time I have not made thy person as one of them.

³ And when he saw that, he arose and departed to save his life and came to Beersheba, which is in Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and desiring to die, he said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.

⁵ And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat.

⁶ Then he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank and went back to sleep.

⁷ And the angel of the LORD came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for there is a great journey before thee.

⁸ And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God.

4 ¶ I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation with which ye are called,

² ¶ with all humility and meekness, with tolerance, forbearing one another in love,

³ being diligent to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling,

⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all.

⁷ But unto each one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ.

⁸ Therefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

⁹ (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰ He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all the heavens, that he might fulfill all things.)

¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers,

¹² for the perfecting of the saints in the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of the Christ

¹³ until we all come forth in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the coming of age of the Christ:

¹⁴ That we no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive,

¹⁵ but following the truth in charity, let us grow up into him in all things, who is the head, the Christ:

¹⁶ From whom the whole body fitly joined together and well tied together among itself by the nourishment that every connecting bond supplies, by the operation of each member according to measure they have received, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity.

6 ¶ After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

² And a great multitude followed him because they saw his signs which he did on the sick.

³ And Jesus went up into a mountain, and he sat there with his disciples.

⁴ And the passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

⁵ Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him; he said unto Philip, From where shall we buy bread that these may eat?

⁶ But he said this to prove him, for he knew what he would do.

⁷ Philip answered him, Two hundred denarius of bread is not sufficient for them, that each one of them may take a little.

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said unto him,

⁹ There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?

¹⁰ Then Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

¹¹ And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to those that were sitting down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they desired.

¹² When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost.

¹³ Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over from those that had eaten.

¹⁴ Then those men, as they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth the prophet that was to come into the world.