Book of Common Prayer

[A Psalm] of David.

26 Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in mine integrity, and I have confided in Jehovah: I shall not slip.

² Prove me, Jehovah, and test me; try my reins and my heart:

³ For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth.

⁴ I have not sat with vain persons, neither have I gone in with dissemblers;

⁵ I have hated the congregation of evil-doers, and I have not sat with the wicked.

⁶ I will wash my hands in innocency, and will encompass thine altar, O Jehovah,

⁷ That I may cause the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and declare all thy marvellous works.

⁸ Jehovah, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth.

⁹ Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with men of blood;

¹⁰ In whose hands are evil devices, and their right hand is full of bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me, and be gracious unto me.

¹² My foot standeth in an even place; in the congregations will I bless Jehovah.

[A Psalm] of David.

28 Unto thee, Jehovah, do I call; my rock, be not silent unto me, lest, [if] thou keep silence toward me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

² Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward the oracle of thy holiness.

³ Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, and mischief is in their heart.

⁴ Give them according to their doing, and according to the wickedness of their deeds; give them after the work of their hands, render to them their desert.

⁵ For they regard not the deeds of Jehovah, nor the work of his hands: he will destroy them, and not build them up.

⁶ Blessed be Jehovah, for he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

⁷ Jehovah is my strength and my shield; my heart confided in him, and I was helped: therefore my heart exulteth, and with my song will I praise him.

⁸ Jehovah is their strength; and he is the stronghold of salvation to his anointed one.

⁹ Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance; and feed them, and lift them up for ever.

To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the servant of Jehovah; of David.

36 The transgression of the wicked uttereth within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes.

² For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, [even] when his iniquity is found to be hateful.

³ The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, to do good.

⁴ He deviseth wickedness up on his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good: he abhorreth not evil.

⁵ Jehovah, thy loving-kindness is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness [reacheth] unto the clouds.

⁶ Thy righteousness is like the high mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: thou, Jehovah, preservest man and beast.

⁷ How precious is thy loving-kindness, O God! So the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.

⁸ They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

⁹ For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

¹⁰ Continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart;

¹¹ Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹² There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and are not able to rise.

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked is before me.

² I was dumb with silence, I held my peace from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

³ My heart burned within me; the fire was kindled in my musing: I spoke with my tongue,

⁴ Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am.

⁵ Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.

⁶ Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.

⁷ And now, what wait I for, Lord? my hope is in thee.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.

⁹ I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; for *thou* hast done [it].

¹⁰ Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.

¹¹ When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely, every man is vanity. Selah.

¹² Hear my prayer, Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; be not silent at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, like all my fathers.

¹³ Look away from me, and let me recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.

19 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David.

² But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill thee; and now, I pray thee, take heed to thyself in the morning, and abide in a secret place and hide thyself;

³ and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and will speak of thee with my father: and see what it is, and tell thee.

⁴ And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against thee; for also what he did was very advantageous to thee;

⁵ for he put his life in hand, and smote the Philistine, and Jehovah wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou didst see [it], and didst rejoice; why then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, in slaying David without cause?

⁶ And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, [As] Jehovah liveth, he shall not be put to death!

⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan declared to him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as previously.

⁸ And there was war again; and David went forth and fought with the Philistines, and smote them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.

⁹ And an evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul. And he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David played with his hand.

¹⁰ And Saul sought to smite David and the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped that night.

¹¹ And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death.

¹² And Michal let David down through a window; and he went, and fled and escaped.

¹³ And Michal took the image, and laid it in the bed, and put the net of goats' [hair] at its head, and covered it with the coverlet.

¹⁴ And Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, He is sick.

¹⁵ And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may put him to death.

¹⁶ And the messengers came in, and behold, the image was in the bed, and the net of goats' [hair] at its head.

¹⁷ Then Saul said to Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I slay thee?

¹⁸ And David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

12 At that time Herod the king laid his hands on some of those of the assembly to do them hurt,

² and slew James, the brother of John, with the sword.

³ And seeing that it was pleasing to the Jews, he went on to take Peter also: (and they were the days of unleavened bread:)

⁴ whom having seized he put in prison, having delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep, purposing after the passover to bring him out to the people.

⁵ Peter therefore was kept in the prison; but unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him.

⁶ And when Herod was going to bring him forth, that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door kept the prison.

⁷ And lo, an angel of [the] Lord came there, and a light shone in the prison: and having smitten the side of Peter, he roused him up, saying, Rise up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands.

⁸ And the angel said to him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And he did so. And he says to him, Cast thine upper garment about thee and follow me.

⁹ And going forth he followed [him] and did not know that what was happening by means of the angel was real, but supposed he saw a vision.

¹⁰ And having passed through a first and second guard, they came to the iron gate which leads into the city, which opened to them of itself; and going forth they went down one street, and immediately the angel left him.

¹¹ And Peter, being come to himself, said, Now I know certainly that [the] Lord has sent forth his angel and has taken me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

¹² And having become clearly conscious [in himself], he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark, where were many gathered together and praying.

¹³ And when he had knocked at the door of the entry, a maid came to listen, by name Rhoda;

¹⁴ and having recognised the voice of Peter, through joy did not open the entry, but running in, reported that Peter was standing before the entry.

¹⁵ And they said to her, Thou art mad. But she maintained that it was so. And they said, It is his angel.

¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking: and having opened, they saw him and were astonished.

¹⁷ And having made a sign to them with his hand to be silent, he related [to them] how the Lord had brought him out of prison; and he said, Report these things to James and to the brethren. And he went out and went to another place.

2 And he entered again into Capernaum after [several] days, and it was reported that he was at [the] house;

² and straightway many were gathered together, so that there was no longer any room, not even at the door; and he spoke the word to them.

³ And there come to him [men] bringing a paralytic, borne by four;

⁴ and, not being able to get near to him on account of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was, and having dug [it] up they let down the couch on which the paralytic lay.

⁵ But Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic, Child, thy sins are forgiven [thee].

⁶ But certain of the scribes were there sitting, and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷ Why does this [man] thus speak? he blasphemes. Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?

⁸ And straightway Jesus, knowing in his spirit that they are reasoning thus within themselves, said to them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

⁹ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, [Thy] sins are forgiven [thee]; or to say, Arise, and take up thy couch and walk?

¹⁰ But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, he says to the paralytic,

¹¹ To thee I say, Arise, take up thy couch and go to thine house.

¹² And he rose up straightway, and, having taken up his couch, went out before [them] all, so that all were amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it thus.