Book of Common Prayer
89 An instruction, by Ethan the Ezrahite. Of the kind acts of Jehovah, to the age I sing, To all generations I make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth,
2 For I said, `To the age is kindness built, The heavens! Thou dost establish Thy faithfulness in them.'
3 I have made a covenant for My chosen, I have sworn to David My servant:
4 `Even to the age do I establish thy seed, And have built to generation and generation thy throne. Selah.
5 and the heavens confess Thy wonders, O Jehovah, Thy faithfulness also [is] in an assembly of holy ones.
6 For who in the sky, Compareth himself to Jehovah? Is like to Jehovah among sons of the mighty?
7 God is very terrible, In the secret counsel of His holy ones, And fearful over all surrounding Him.
8 O Jehovah, God of Hosts, Who [is] like Thee -- a strong Jah? And Thy faithfulness [is] round about Thee.
9 Thou [art] ruler over the pride of the sea, In the lifting up of its billows Thou dost restrain them.
10 Thou hast bruised Rahab, as one wounded. With the arm of Thy strength Thou hast scattered Thine enemies.
11 Thine [are] the heavens -- the earth also [is] Thine, The habitable world and its fulness, Thou hast founded them.
12 North and south Thou hast appointed them, Tabor and Hermon in Thy name do sing.
13 Thou hast an arm with might, Strong is Thy hand -- high Thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and judgment [Are] the fixed place of Thy throne, Kindness and truth go before Thy face.
15 O the happiness of the people knowing the shout, O Jehovah, in the light of Thy face they walk habitually.
16 In Thy name they rejoice all the day, And in Thy righteousness they are exalted,
17 For the beauty of their strength [art] Thou, And in Thy good will is our horn exalted,
18 For of Jehovah [is] our shield, And of the Holy One of Israel our king.
19 Then Thou hast spoken in vision, To Thy saint, yea, Thou sayest, I have placed help upon a mighty one, Exalted a chosen one out of the people,
20 I have found David My servant, With My holy oil I have anointed him.
21 With whom My hand is established, My arm also doth strengthen him.
22 An enemy exacteth not upon him, And a son of perverseness afflicteth him not.
23 And I have beaten down before him his adversaries, And those hating him I plague,
24 And My faithfulness and kindness [are] with him, And in My name is his horn exalted.
25 And I have set on the sea his hand, And on the rivers his right hand.
26 He proclaimeth me: `Thou [art] my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'
27 I also first-born do appoint him, Highest of the kings of the earth.
28 To the age I keep for him My kindness, And My covenant [is] stedfast with him.
29 And I have set his seed for ever, And his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake My law, And in My judgments do not walk;
31 If My statutes they pollute, And My commands do not keep,
32 I have looked after with a rod their transgression, And with strokes their iniquity,
33 And My kindness I break not from him, Nor do I deal falsely in My faithfulness.
34 I profane not My covenant, And that which is going forth from My lips I change not.
35 Once I have sworn by My holiness, I lie not to David,
36 His seed is to the age, And his throne [is] as the sun before Me,
37 As the moon it is established -- to the age, And the witness in the sky is stedfast. Selah.
38 And Thou, Thou hast cast off, and dost reject, Thou hast shown Thyself wroth With Thine anointed,
39 Hast rejected the covenant of Thy servant, Thou hast polluted to the earth his crown,
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges, Thou hast made his fenced places a ruin.
41 Spoiled him have all passing by the way, He hath been a reproach to his neighbours,
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries, Thou hast caused all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Also -- Thou turnest back the sharpness of his sword, And hast not established him in battle,
44 Hast caused [him] to cease from his brightness, And his throne to the earth hast cast down.
45 Thou hast shortened the days of his youth, Hast covered him over [with] shame. Selah.
46 Till when, O Jehovah, art Thou hidden? For ever doth Thy fury burn as fire?
47 Remember, I pray Thee, what [is] life-time? Wherefore in vain hast Thou created All the sons of men?
48 Who [is] the man that liveth, and doth not see death? He delivereth his soul from the hand of Sheol. Selah.
49 Where [are] Thy former kindnesses, O Lord. Thou hast sworn to David in Thy faithfulness,
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, I have borne in my bosom all the strivings of the peoples,
51 Wherewith Thine enemies reproached, O Jehovah, Wherewith they have reproached The steps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed [is] Jehovah to the age. Amen, and amen!
4 `And thou, son of man, take to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city -- Jerusalem,
2 and hast placed against it a siege, and builded against it a fortification, and poured out against it a mount, and placed against it camps, yea, set thou against it battering-rams round about.
3 And thou, take to thee an iron pan, and thou hast made it a wall of iron between thee and the city; and thou hast prepared thy face against it, and it hath been in a siege, yea, thou hast laid siege against it. A sign it [is] to the house of Israel.
4 `And thou, lie on thy left side, and thou hast placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that thou liest on it, thou bearest their iniquity.
5 And I -- I have laid on thee the years of their iniquity, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou hast borne the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And thou hast completed these, and hast lain on thy right side, a second time, and hast borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days -- a day for a year -- a day for a year I have appointed to thee.
7 `And unto the siege of Jerusalem thou dost prepare thy face, and thine arm [is] uncovered, and thou hast prophesied concerning it.
8 And lo, I have put on thee thick bands, and thou dost not turn from side to side till thy completing the days of thy siege.
9 `And thou, take to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and thou hast put them in one vessel, and made them to thee for bread; the number of the days that thou art lying on thy side -- three hundred and ninety days -- thou dost eat it.
10 And thy food that thou dost eat [is] by weight, twenty shekels daily; from time to time thou dost eat it.
11 `And water by measure thou dost drink, a sixth part of the hin; from time to time thou dost drink [it].
12 A barley-cake thou dost eat it, and it with dung -- the filth of man -- thou dost bake before their eyes.
13 And Jehovah saith, `Thus do the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations whither I drive them.'
14 And I say, `Ah, Lord Jehovah, lo, my soul is not defiled, and carcase, and torn thing, I have not eaten from my youth, even till now; nor come into my mouth hath abominable flesh.'
15 And He saith unto me, `See, I have given to thee bullock's dung instead of man's dung, and thou hast made thy bread by it.'
16 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, lo, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they do drink;
17 so that they lack bread and water, and have been astonished one with another, and been consumed in their iniquity.
6 Wherefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Christ, unto the perfection we may advance, not again a foundation laying of reformation from dead works, and of faith on God,
2 of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on also of hands, of rising again also of the dead, and of judgment age-during,
3 and this we will do, if God may permit,
4 for [it is] impossible for those once enlightened, having tasted also of the heavenly gift, and partakers having became of the Holy Spirit,
5 and did taste the good saying of God, the powers also of the coming age,
6 and having fallen away, again to renew [them] to reformation, having crucified again to themselves the Son of God, and exposed to public shame.
7 For earth, that is drinking in the rain many times coming upon it, and is bringing forth herbs fit for those because of whom also it is dressed, doth partake of blessing from God,
8 and that which is bearing thorns and briers [is] disapproved of, and nigh to cursing, whose end [is] for burning;
9 and we are persuaded, concerning you, beloved, the things that are better, and accompanying salvation, though even thus we speak,
10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the labour of the love, that ye shewed to His name, having ministered to the saints and ministering;
11 and we desire each one of you the same diligence to shew, unto the full assurance of the hope unto the end,
12 that ye may not become slothful, but followers of those who through faith and patient endurance are inheriting the promises.
51 And it came to pass, in the completing of the days of his being taken up, that he fixed his face to go on to Jerusalem,
52 and he sent messengers before his face, and having gone on, they went into a village of Samaritans, to make ready for him,
53 and they did not receive him, because his face was going on to Jerusalem.
54 And his disciples James and John having seen, said, `Sir, wilt thou [that] we may command fire to come down from the heaven, and to consume them, as also Elijah did?'
55 and having turned, he rebuked them, and said, `Ye have not known of what spirit ye are;
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save;' and they went on to another village.
57 And it came to pass, as they are going on in the way, a certain one said unto him, `I will follow thee wherever thou mayest go, sir;'
58 and Jesus said to him, `The foxes have holes, and the fowls of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may recline the head.'
59 And he said unto another, `Be following me;' and he said, `Sir, permit me, having gone away, first to bury my father;'
60 and Jesus said to him, `Suffer the dead to bury their own dead, and thou, having gone away, publish the reign of God.'
61 And another also said, `I will follow thee, sir, but first permit me to take leave of those in my house;'
62 and Jesus said unto him, `No one having put his hand on a plough, and looking back, is fit for the reign of God.'