Book of Common Prayer
140 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O Jehovah, from an evil man, From one of violence Thou keepest me.
2 Who have devised evils in the heart, All the day they assemble [for] wars.
3 They sharpened their tongue as a serpent, Poison of an adder [is] under their lips. Selah.
4 Preserve me, Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked, From one of violence Thou keepest me, Who have devised to overthrow my steps.
5 The proud hid a snare for me -- and cords, They spread a net by the side of the path, Snares they have set for me. Selah.
6 I have said to Jehovah, `My God [art] Thou, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of my supplications.'
7 O Jehovah, my Lord, strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of armour.
8 Grant not, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked, His wicked device bring not forth, They are high. Selah.
9 The chief of my surrounders, The perverseness of their lips covereth them.
10 They cause to fall on themselves burning coals, Into fire He doth cast them, Into deep pits -- they arise not.
11 A talkative man is not established in the earth, One of violence -- evil hunteth to overflowing.
12 I have known that Jehovah doth execute The judgment of the afflicted, The judgment of the needy.
13 Only -- the righteous give thanks to Thy name, The upright do dwell with Thy presence!
142 An Instruction of David, a Prayer when he is in the cave. My voice [is] unto Jehovah, I cry, My voice [is] unto Jehovah, I entreat grace.
2 I pour forth before Him my meditation, My distress before Him I declare.
3 When my spirit hath been feeble in me, Then Thou hast known my path; In the way [in] which I walk, They have hid a snare for me.
4 Looking on the right hand -- and seeing, And I have none recognizing; Perished hath refuge from me, There is none inquiring for my soul.
5 I have cried unto thee, O Jehovah, I have said, `Thou [art] my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.'
6 Attend Thou unto my loud cry, For I have become very low, Deliver Thou me from my pursuers, For they have been stronger than I.
7 Bring forth from prison my soul to confess Thy name, The righteous do compass me about, When Thou conferrest benefits upon me!
141 A Psalm, by David. O Jehovah, I have called Thee, haste to me, Give ear [to] my voice when I call to Thee.
2 My prayer is prepared -- incense before Thee, The lifting up of my hands -- the evening present.
3 Set, O Jehovah, a watch for my mouth, Watch Thou over the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to an evil thing, To do habitually actions in wickedness, With men working iniquity, Yea, I eat not of their pleasant things.
5 The righteous doth beat me [in] kindness. And doth reprove me, Oil of the head my head disalloweth not, For still my prayer [is] about their vexations.
6 Their judges have been released by the sides of a rock, And they have heard my sayings, For they have been pleasant.
7 As one tilling and ripping up in the land, Have our bones been scattered at the command of Saul.
8 But to Thee, O Jehovah, my Lord, [are] mine eyes, In Thee I have trusted, Make not bare my soul.
9 Keep me from the gin they laid for me, Even snares of workers of iniquity.
10 The wicked fall in their nets together, till I pass over!
143 A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, hear my prayer, Give ear unto my supplications, In Thy faithfulness answer me -- in Thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with Thy servant, For no one living is justified before Thee.
3 For an enemy hath pursued my soul, He hath bruised to the earth my life, He hath caused me to dwell in dark places, As the dead of old.
4 And my spirit in me is become feeble, Within me is my heart become desolate.
5 I have remembered days of old, I have meditated on all Thine acts, On the work of Thy hand I muse.
6 I have spread forth my hands unto Thee, My soul [is] as a weary land for Thee. Selah.
7 Haste, answer me, O Jehovah, My spirit hath been consumed, Hide not Thou Thy face from me, Or I have been compared with those going down [to] the pit.
8 Cause me to hear in the morning Thy kindness, For in Thee I have trusted, Cause me to know the way that I go, For unto Thee I have lifted up my soul.
9 Deliver me from mine enemies, O Jehovah, Near Thee I am covered.
10 Teach me to do Thy good pleasure, For Thou [art] my God -- Thy Spirit [is] good, Lead me into a land of uprightness.
11 For Thy name's sake O Jehovah, Thou dost quicken me, In Thy righteousness, Thou bringest out from distress my soul,
12 And in Thy kindness cuttest off mine enemies, And hast destroyed all the adversaries of my soul, For I [am] Thy servant!
19 And an artificer is not found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, `Lest the Hebrews make sword or spear;'
20 and all Israel go down to the Philistines, to sharpen each his ploughshare, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock;
21 and there hath been the file for mattocks, and for coulters, and for three-pronged rakes, and for the axes, and to set up the goads.
22 And it hath been, in the day of battle, that there hath not been found sword and spear in the hand of any of the people who [are] with Saul and with Jonathan -- and there is found to Saul and to Jonathan his son.
23 And the station of the Philistines goeth out unto the passage of Michmash.
14 And the day cometh that Jonathan son of Saul saith unto the young man bearing his weapons, `Come, and we pass over unto the station of the Philistines, which [is] on the other side of this;' and to his father he hath not declared [it].
2 And Saul is abiding at the extremity of Gibeah, under the pomegranate which [is] in Migron, and the people who [are] with him, about six hundred men,
3 and Ahiah, son of Ahitub, brother of I-Chabod, son of Phinehas son of Eli priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, bearing an ephod; and the people knew not that Jonathan hath gone.
4 And between the passages where Jonathan sought to pass over unto the station of the Philistines [is] the edge of a rock on the one side, and the edge of a rock on the other side, and the name of the one is Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The one edge [is] fixed on the north over-against Michmash, and the one on the south over-against Gibeah.
6 And Jonathan saith unto the young man bearing his weapons, `Come, and we pass over unto the station of these uncircumcised; it may be Jehovah doth work for us, for there is no restraint to Jehovah to save by many or by few.'
7 And the bearer of his weapons saith to him, `Do all that [is] in thy heart; turn for thee; lo, I [am] with thee, as thine own heart.'
8 And Jonathan saith, `Lo, we are passing over unto the men, and are revealed unto them;
9 if thus they say unto us, `Stand still till we have come unto you,' then we have stood in our place, and do not go up unto them;
10 and if thus they say, `Come up against us,' then we have gone up, for Jehovah hath given them into our hand, and this to us [is] the sign.
11 And revealed are both of them unto the station of the Philistines, and the Philistines say, `Lo, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hid themselves.'
12 And the men of the station answer Jonathan, and the bearer of his weapons, and say, `Come up unto us, and we cause you to know something.' And Jonathan saith unto the bearer of his weapons, `Come up after me, for Jehovah hath given them into the hand of Israel.'
13 And Jonathan goeth up on his hands, and on his feet, and the bearer of his weapons after him; and they fall before Jonathan, and the bearer of his weapons is putting to death after him.
14 And the first smiting which Jonathan and the bearer of his weapons have smitten is of about twenty men, in about half a furrow of a yoke of a field,
15 and there is a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people, the station and the destroyers have trembled -- even they, and the earth shaketh, and it becometh a trembling of God.
9 And Saul, yet breathing of threatening and slaughter to the disciples of the Lord, having gone to the chief priest,
2 did ask from him letters to Damascus, unto the synagogues, that if he may find any being of the way, both men and women, he may bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 And in the going, he came nigh to Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from the heaven,
4 and having fallen upon the earth, he heard a voice saying to him, `Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?'
5 And he said, `Who art thou, Lord?' and the Lord said, `I am Jesus whom thou dost persecute; hard for thee at the pricks to kick;'
6 trembling also, and astonished, he said, `Lord, what dost thou wish me to do?' and the Lord [said] unto him, `Arise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what it behoveth thee to do.'
7 And the men who are journeying with him stood speechless, hearing indeed the voice but seeing no one,
8 and Saul arose from the earth, and his eyes having been opened, he beheld no one, and leading him by the hand they brought him to Damascus,
9 and he was three days without seeing, and he did neither eat nor drink.
26 And as they led him away, having taken hold on Simon, a certain Cyrenian, coming from the field, they put on him the cross, to bear [it] behind Jesus.
27 And there was following him a great multitude of the people, and of women, who also were beating themselves and lamenting him,
28 and Jesus having turned unto them, said, `Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves weep ye, and for your children;
29 for, lo, days do come, in which they shall say, Happy the barren, and wombs that did not bare, and paps that did not give suck;
30 then they shall begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us; --
31 for, if in the green tree they do these things -- in the dry what may happen?'