Book of Common Prayer
50 A Psalm of Asaph. The God of gods -- Jehovah -- hath spoken, And He calleth to the earth From the rising of the sun unto its going in.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shone.
3 Our God cometh, and is not silent, Fire before Him doth devour, And round about him it hath been very tempestuous.
4 He doth call unto the heavens from above, And unto the earth, to judge His people.
5 Gather ye to Me My saints, Making covenant with Me over a sacrifice.
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself [is] judge. Selah.
7 Hear, O My people, and I speak, O Israel, and I testify against thee, God, thy God [am] I.
8 Not for thy sacrifices do I reprove thee, Yea, thy burnt-offerings [Are] before Me continually.
9 I take not from thy house a bullock, From thy folds he goats.
10 For Mine [is] every beast of the forest, The cattle on the hills of oxen.
11 I have known every fowl of the mountains, And the wild beast of the field [is] with Me.
12 If I am hungry I tell not to thee, For Mine [is] the world and its fulness.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, And drink the blood of he-goats?
14 Sacrifice to God confession, And complete to the Most High thy vows.
15 And call Me in a day of adversity, I deliver thee, and thou honourest Me.
16 And to the wicked hath God said: What to thee -- to recount My statutes? That thou liftest up My covenant on thy mouth?
17 Yea, thou hast hated instruction, And dost cast My words behind thee.
18 If thou hast seen a thief, Then thou art pleased with him, And with adulterers [is] thy portion.
19 Thy mouth thou hast sent forth with evil, And thy tongue joineth deceit together,
20 Thou sittest, against thy brother thou speakest, Against a son of thy mother givest slander.
21 These thou didst, and I kept silent, Thou hast thought that I am like thee, I reprove thee, and set in array before thine eyes.
22 Understand this, I pray you, Ye who are forgetting God, Lest I tear, and there is no deliverer.
23 He who is sacrificing praise honoureth Me, As to him who maketh a way, I cause him to look on the salvation of God!
59 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not,' by David. -- A secret treasure, in Saul's sending, and they watch the house to put him to death. Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God, From my withstanders set me on high.
2 Deliver me from workers of iniquity, And from men of blood save me.
3 For, lo, they laid wait for my soul, Assembled against me are strong ones, Not my transgression nor my sin, O Jehovah.
4 Without punishment they run and prepare themselves, Stir up to meet me, and see.
5 And Thou, Jehovah, God of Hosts, God of Israel, Awake to inspect all the nations. Favour not any treacherous dealers of iniquity. Selah.
6 They turn back at evening, They make a noise like a dog, And go round about the city.
7 Lo, they belch out with their mouths, Swords [are] in their lips, for `Who heareth?'
8 And Thou, O Jehovah dost laugh at them, Thou dost mock at all the nations.
9 O my Strength, unto Thee I take heed, For God [is] my tower -- the God of my kindness.
10 God doth go before me, He causeth me to look on mine enemies.
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget, Shake them by Thy strength, And bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 The sin of their mouth [is] a word of their lips, And they are captured in their pride, And from the curse and lying they recount.
13 Consume in fury, consume and they are not, And they know that God is ruling in Jacob, To the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 And they turn back at evening, They make a noise like a dog, And they go round about the city.
15 They -- they wander for food, If they are not satisfied -- then they murmur.
16 And I -- I sing [of] Thy strength, And I sing at morn [of] Thy kindness, For thou hast been a tower to me, And a refuge for me in a day of adversity.
17 O my Strength, unto Thee I sing praise, For God [is] my tower, the God of my kindness!
60 To the Overseer. -- `Concerning the Lily of Testimony,' a secret treasure of David, to teach, in his striving with Aram-Naharaim, and with Aram-Zobah, and Joab turneth back and smiteth Edom in the valley of Salt -- twelve thousand. O God, Thou hadst cast us off, Thou hadst broken us -- hadst been angry! -- Thou dost turn back to us.
2 Thou hast caused the land to tremble, Thou hast broken it, Heal its breaches, for it hath moved.
3 Thou hast shewn Thy people a hard thing, Thou hast caused us to drink wine of trembling.
4 Thou hast given to those fearing thee an ensign. To be lifted up as an ensign Because of truth. Selah.
5 That Thy beloved ones may be drawn out, Save [with] Thy right hand, and answer us.
6 God hath spoken in His holiness: I exult -- I apportion Shechem, And the valley of Succoth I measure,
7 Mine [is] Gilead, and mine [is] Manasseh, And Ephraim [is] the strength of my head, Judah [is] my lawgiver,
8 Moab [is] my pot for washing, over Edom I cast my shoe, Shout, concerning me, O Philistia.
9 Who doth bring me [to] a city of bulwarks? Who hath led me unto Edom?
10 Is it not Thou, O God? hast Thou cast us off? And dost Thou not go forth, O God, with our hosts!
11 Give to us help from adversity, And vain [is] the deliverance of man.
12 In God we do mightily, And He treadeth down our adversaries!
93 Jehovah hath reigned, Excellency He hath put on, Jehovah put on strength, He girded Himself, Also -- established is the world, unmoved.
2 Established is Thy throne since then, From the age Thou [art].
3 Floods have lifted up, O Jehovah, Floods have lifted up their voice, Floods lift up their breakers.
4 Than the voices of many mighty waters, Breakers of a sea, mighty on high [is] Jehovah,
5 Thy testimonies have been very stedfast, To Thy house comely [is] holiness, O Jehovah, for length of days!
96 Sing to Jehovah a new song, Sing to Jehovah all the earth.
2 Sing to Jehovah, bless His name, Proclaim from day to day His salvation.
3 Declare among nations His honour, Among all the peoples His wonders.
4 For great [is] Jehovah, and praised greatly, Fearful He [is] over all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples [are] nought, And Jehovah made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty [are] before Him, Strength and beauty in His sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to Jehovah, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength.
8 Ascribe to Jehovah the honour of His name, Lift up a present and come in to His courts.
9 Bow yourselves to Jehovah, In the honour of holiness, Be afraid of His presence, all the earth.
10 Say among nations, `Jehovah hath reigned, Also -- established is the world, unmoved, He judgeth the peoples in uprightness.'
11 The heavens joy, and the earth is joyful, The sea and its fulness roar.
12 The field exulteth, and all that [is] in it, Then sing do all trees of the forest,
13 Before Jehovah, for He hath come, For He hath come to judge the earth. He judgeth the world in righteousness, And the peoples in His faithfulness!
18 And the days are many, and the word of Jehovah hath been unto Elijah in the third year, saying, `Go, appear unto Ahab, and I give rain on the face of the ground;'
2 and Elijah goeth to appear unto Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria,
3 and Ahab calleth unto Obadiah, who [is] over the house -- and Obadiah hath been fearing Jehovah greatly,
4 and it cometh to pass, in Jezebel's cutting off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah taketh a hundred prophets, and hideth them, fifty men in a cave, and hath sustained them with bread and water --
5 and Ahab saith unto Obadiah, `Go through the land, unto all fountains of waters, and unto all the brooks, if so be we find hay, and keep alive horse and mule, and do not cut off any of the cattle.'
6 And they apportion to themselves the land, to pass over into it; Ahab hath gone in one way by himself, and Obadiah hath gone in another way by himself;
7 and Obadiah [is] in the way, and lo, Elijah -- to meet him; and he discerneth him, and falleth on his face, and saith, `Art thou he -- my lord Elijah?'
8 And he saith to him, `I [am]; go, say to thy lord, Lo, Elijah.'
9 And he saith, `What have I sinned, that thou art giving thy servant into the hand of Ahab -- to put me to death?
10 Jehovah thy God liveth, if there is a nation and kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee; and they said, He is not, then he caused the kingdom and the nation to swear, that it doth not find thee;
11 and now, thou art saying, Go, say to thy lord, Lo, Elijah;
12 and it hath been, I go from thee, and the Spirit of Jehovah doth lift thee up, whither I know not, and I have come to declare to Ahab, and he doth not find thee, and he hath slain me; and thy servant is fearing Jehovah from my youth.
13 `Hath it not been declared to my lord that which I have done in Jezebel's slaying the prophets of Jehovah, that I hide of the prophets of Jehovah a hundred men, fifty by fifty in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water?
14 and now thou art saying, Go, say to my lord, Lo, Elijah -- and he hath slain me!'
15 And Elijah saith, `Jehovah of Hosts liveth, before whom I have stood, surely to-day I appear unto him.'
16 And Obadiah goeth to meet Ahab, and declareth [it] to him, and Ahab goeth to meet Elijah,
17 and it cometh to pass at Ahab's seeing Elijah, that Ahab saith unto him, `Art thou he -- the troubler of Israel?'
18 And he saith, `I have not troubled Israel, but thou and the house of thy father, in your forsaking the commands of Jehovah, and thou goest after the Baalim;
19 and now, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto the mount of Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the shrine, four hundred -- eating at the table of Jezebel.'
12 So that, my beloved, as ye always obey, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling your own salvation work out,
13 for God it is who is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
14 All things do without murmurings and reasonings,
15 that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God, unblemished in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse, among whom ye do appear as luminaries in the world,
16 the word of life holding forth, for rejoicing to me in regard to a day of Christ, that not in vain did I run, nor in vain did I labour;
17 but if also I am poured forth upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and joy with you all,
18 because of this do ye also rejoice and joy with me.
19 And I hope, in the Lord Jesus, Timotheus to send quickly to you, that I also may be of good spirit, having known the things concerning you,
20 for I have no one like-minded, who sincerely for the things concerning you will care,
21 for the whole seek their own things, not the things of the Christ Jesus,
22 and the proof of him ye know, that as a child [serveth] a father, with me he did serve in regard to the good news;
23 him, indeed, therefore, I hope to send, when I may see through the things concerning me -- immediately;
24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall quickly come.
25 And I thought [it] necessary Epaphroditus -- my brother, and fellow-workman, and fellow-soldier, and your apostle and servant to my need -- to send unto you,
26 seeing he was longing after you all, and in heaviness, because ye heard that he ailed,
27 for he also ailed nigh to death, but God did deal kindly with him, and not with him only, but also with me, that sorrow upon sorrow I might not have.
28 The more eagerly, therefore, I did send him, that having seen him again ye may rejoice, and I may be the less sorrowful;
29 receive him, therefore, in the Lord, with all joy, and hold such in honour,
30 because on account of the work of the Christ he drew near to death, having hazarded the life that he might fill up your deficiency of service unto me.
13 And on their having withdrawn, lo, a messenger of the Lord doth appear in a dream to Joseph, saying, `Having risen, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and be thou there till I may speak to thee, for Herod is about to seek the child to destroy him.'
14 And he, having risen, took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt,
15 and he was there till the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, `Out of Egypt I did call My Son.'
16 Then Herod, having seen that he was deceived by the mages, was very wroth, and having sent forth, he slew all the male children in Beth-Lehem, and in all its borders, from two years and under, according to the time that he inquired exactly from the mages.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
18 `A voice in Ramah was heard -- lamentation and weeping and much mourning -- Rachel weeping [for] her children, and she would not be comforted because they are not.'
19 And Herod having died, lo, a messenger of the Lord in a dream doth appear to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, `Having risen, take the child and his mother, and be going to the land of Israel, for they have died -- those seeking the life of the child.'
21 And he, having risen, took the child and his mother, and came to the land of Israel,
22 and having heard that Archelaus doth reign over Judea instead of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither, and having been divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew to the parts of Galilee,
23 and coming, he dwelt in a city named Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through the prophets, that `A Nazarene he shall be called.'