Book of Common Prayer
56 To the Overseer. -- `On the Dumb Dove far off.' -- A secret treasure of David, in the Philistines' taking hold of him in Gath. Favour me, O God, for man swallowed me up, All the day fighting he oppresseth me,
2 Mine enemies have swallowed up all the day, For many [are] fighting against me, O most High,
3 The day I am afraid I am confident toward Thee.
4 In God I praise His word, in God I have trusted, I fear not what flesh doth to me.
5 All the day they wrest my words, Concerning me all their thoughts [are] for evil,
6 They assemble, they hide, they watch my heels, When they have expected my soul.
7 By iniquity they escape, In anger the peoples put down, O God.
8 My wandering Thou hast counted, Thou -- place Thou my tear in Thy bottle, Are they not in Thy book?
9 Then turn back do mine enemies in the day I call. This I have known, that God [is] for me.
10 In God I praise the word, In Jehovah I praise the word.
11 In God I trusted, I fear not what man doth to me,
12 On me, O God, [are] Thy vows, I repay thank-offerings to Thee.
13 For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Dost Thou not my feet from falling? To walk habitually before God in the light of the living!
57 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure of David, in his fleeing from the face of Saul into a cave. Favour me, O God, favour me, For in Thee is my soul trusting, And in the shadow of Thy wings I trust, Until the calamities pass over.
2 I call to God Most High, To God [who] is perfecting for me.
3 He sendeth from the heaven, and saveth me, He reproached -- who is panting after me. Selah. God sendeth forth His kindness and His truth.
4 My soul [is] in the midst of lions, I lie down [among] flames -- sons of men, Their teeth [are] a spear and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, Above all the earth Thine honour.
6 A net they have prepared for my steps, Bowed down hath my soul, They have digged before me a pit, They have fallen into its midst. Selah.
7 Prepared is my heart, O God, Prepared is my heart, I sing and praise.
8 Awake, mine honour, awake, psaltery and harp, I awake the morning dawn.
9 I thank Thee among the peoples, O Lord, I praise Thee among the nations.
10 For great unto the heavens [is] Thy kindness, And unto the clouds Thy truth.
11 Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God. Above all the earth Thine honour!
58 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?
2 Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
7 They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
8 As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
11 And man saith: `Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
64 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice, in my meditation, From the fear of an enemy Thou keepest my life,
2 Hidest me from the secret counsel of evil doers, From the tumult of workers of iniquity.
3 Who sharpened as a sword their tongue, They directed their arrow -- a bitter word.
4 To shoot in secret places the perfect, Suddenly they shoot him, and fear not.
5 They strengthen for themselves an evil thing, They recount of the hiding of snares, They have said, `Who doth look at it?'
6 They search out perverse things, `We perfected a searching search,' And the inward part of man, and the heart [are] deep.
7 And God doth shoot them [with] an arrow, Sudden have been their wounds,
8 And they cause him to stumble, Against them [is] their own tongue, Every looker on them fleeth away.
9 And all men fear, and declare the work of God, And His deed they have considered wisely.
10 The righteous doth rejoice in Jehovah, And hath trusted in Him, And boast themselves do all the upright of heart!
65 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. A Song. To Thee, silence -- praise, O God, [is] in Zion, And to Thee is a vow completed.
2 Hearer of prayer, to Thee all flesh cometh.
3 Matters of iniquities were mightier than I, Our transgressions -- Thou dost cover them.
4 O the happiness of [him whom] Thou choosest, And drawest near, he inhabiteth Thy courts, We are satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, Thy holy temple.
5 By fearful things in righteousness Thou answerest us, O God of our salvation, The confidence of all far off ends of earth and sea.
6 Establishing mountains by His power, He hath been girded with might,
7 Restraining the noise of seas, the noise of their billows, And the multitude of the peoples.
8 And the inhabitants of the uttermost parts From Thy signs are afraid, The outgoings of morning and evening Thou causest to sing.
9 Thou hast inspected the earth, and waterest it, Thou makest it very rich, the rivulet of God [is] full of water, Thou preparest their corn, When thus Thou dost prepare it,
10 Its ridges have been filled, Deepened hath been its furrow, With showers Thou dost soften it, Its springing up Thou blessest.
11 Thou hast crowned the year of Thy goodness, And Thy paths drop fatness.
12 Drop do the pastures of a wilderness, And joy of the heights Thou girdest on.
13 Clothed have lambs the flock, And valleys are covered with corn, They shout -- yea, they sing!
2 And it cometh to pass afterwards, that David asketh at Jehovah, saying, `Do I go up into one of the cities of Judah?' and Jehovah saith unto him, `Go up.' And David saith, `Whither do I go up?' and He saith, `To Hebron.'
2 And David goeth up thither, and also his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;
3 and his men who [are] with him hath David brought up -- a man and his household -- and they dwell in the cities of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah come, and anoint there David for king over the house of Judah; and they declare to David, saying, `The men of Jabesh-Gilead [are] they who buried Saul.'
5 And David sendeth messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and saith unto them, `Blessed [are] ye of Jehovah, in that ye have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that ye bury him.
6 `And, now, Jehovah doth with you kindness and truth, and also, I do with you this good because ye have done this thing;
7 and now, are your hands strong, and be ye for sons of valour, for your lord Saul. [is] dead, and also -- me have the house of Judah anointed for king over them.'
8 And Abner, son of Ner, head of the host which Saul hath, hath taken Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, and causeth him to pass over to Mahanaim,
9 and causeth him to reign over Gilead, and over the Ashurite, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over Israel -- all of it.
10 A son of forty years, [is] Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, in his reigning over Israel, and two years he hath reigned, only the house of Judah have been after David.
11 And the number of the days that David hath been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.
36 and after certain days, Paul said unto Barnabas, `Having turned back again, we may look after our brethren, in every city in which we have preached the word of the Lord -- how they are.'
37 And Barnabas counseled to take with [them] John called Mark,
38 and Paul was not thinking it good to take him with them who withdrew from them from Pamphylia, and did not go with them to the work;
39 there came, therefore, a sharp contention, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas having taken Mark, did sail to Cyprus,
40 and Paul having chosen Silas, went forth, having been given up to the grace of God by the brethren;
41 and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies.
16 And he came to Derbe and Lystra, and lo, a certain disciple was there, by name Timotheus son of a certain woman, a believing Jewess, but of a father, a Greek,
2 who was well testified to by the brethren in Lystra and Iconium;
3 this one did Paul wish to go forth with him, and having taken [him], he circumcised him, because of the Jews who are in those places, for they all knew his father -- that he was a Greek.
4 And as they were going on through the cities, they were delivering to them the decrees to keep, that have been judged by the apostles and the elders who [are] in Jerusalem,
5 then, indeed, were the assemblies established in the faith, and were abounding in number every day;
14 And the king Herod heard, (for his name became public,) and he said -- `John the Baptist out of the dead was raised, and because of this the mighty powers are working in him.'
15 Others said -- `It is Elijah,' and others said -- `It is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.'
16 And Herod having heard, said -- `He whom I did behead -- John -- this is he; he was raised out of the dead.'
17 For Herod himself, having sent forth, did lay hold on John, and bound him in the prison, because of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he married her,
18 for John said to Herod -- `It is not lawful to thee to have the wife of thy brother;'
19 and Herodias was having a quarrel with him, and was willing to kill him, and was not able,
20 for Herod was fearing John, knowing him a man righteous and holy, and was keeping watch over him, and having heard him, was doing many things, and hearing him gladly.
21 And a seasonable day having come, when Herod on his birthday was making a supper to his great men, and to the chiefs of thousands, and to the first men of Galilee,
22 and the daughter of that Herodias having come in, and having danced, and having pleased Herod and those reclining (at meat) with him, the king said to the damsel, `Ask of me whatever thou wilt, and I will give to thee,'
23 and he sware to her -- `Whatever thou mayest ask me, I will give to thee -- unto the half of my kingdom.'
24 And she, having gone forth, said to her mother, `What shall I ask for myself?' and she said, `The head of John the Baptist;'
25 and having come in immediately with haste unto the king, she asked, saying, `I will that thou mayest give me presently, upon a plate, the head of John the Baptist.'
26 And the king -- made very sorrowful -- because of the oaths and of those reclining (at meat) with him, would not put her away,
27 and immediately the king having sent a guardsman, did command his head to be brought,
28 and he having gone, beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head upon a plate, and did give it to the damsel, and the damsel did give it to her mother;
29 and having heard, his disciples came and took up his corpse, and laid it in the tomb.