Book of Common Prayer
Supplication for deliverance, and grateful trust in God.
For the Chief Musician; set to [a]Jonath elem rehokim. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.
56 Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up:
All the day long he fighting oppresseth me.
2 [b]Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long;
For they are many that fight proudly against me.
3 What time I am afraid,
I will put my trust in thee.
4 In God (I will praise his word),
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can flesh do unto me?
5 All the day long they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
They mark my steps,
[c]Even as they have waited for my soul.
7 [d]Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 Thou numberest my wanderings:
Put thou my tears into thy bottle;
Are they not in thy [e]book?
9 Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call:
This I know, [f]that God is for me.
10 In God (I will praise his word),
In Jehovah (I will praise his word),
11 In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can man do unto me?
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God:
I will render thank-offerings unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death:
Hast thou not delivered my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of [g]the living?
Prayer for rescue from persecutors.
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
57 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me;
For my soul taketh refuge in thee:
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I take refuge,
Until these [h]calamities be overpast.
2 I will cry unto God Most High,
Unto God that performeth all things for me.
3 He will send from heaven, and save me,
When he that would swallow me up reproacheth; Selah
God will send forth his lovingkindness and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions;
I [i]lie among them that are set on fire,
Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let thy glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down:
They have digged a pit before me;
They are fallen into the midst thereof themselves. Selah
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:
I myself [j]will awake right early.
9 I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the peoples:
I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy lovingkindness is great unto the heavens,
And thy truth unto the skies.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let thy glory be above all the earth.
Prayer for the punishment of the wicked.
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.
[k]58 Do ye indeed [l]in silence speak righteousness?
Do ye [m]judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness;
Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of [n]charmers,
Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:
When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
8 Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away,
Like the untimely birth of a woman, [o]that hath not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns,
[p]He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 So that men shall say, Verily there is [q]a reward for the righteous:
Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Prayer for deliverance from secret enemies.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
64 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint:
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers,
From the [a]tumult of the workers of iniquity;
3 Who have whet their tongue like a sword,
And have aimed their arrows, even bitter words,
4 That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect:
Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose;
They commune of laying snares privily;
They say, Who will see them?
6 They search out iniquities;
[b]We have accomplished, say they, a diligent search:
And the inward thought and the heart of every one is deep.
7 But God will shoot at them;
With an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So [c]they shall be made to stumble, their own tongue being against them:
All that see them shall [d]wag the head.
9 And all men shall fear;
And they shall declare the work of God,
And shall wisely consider of his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall take refuge in him;
And all the upright in heart shall glory.
God’s abundant favor to earth and man.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm. A Song of David.
[e]65 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer,
Unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 [f]Iniquities prevail against me:
As for our transgressions, thou wilt [g]forgive them.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
Thy holy temple.
5 By terrible things thou wilt answer us in righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
Thou that art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And [h]of them that are afar off upon the sea:
6 Who by his strength setteth fast the mountains,
Being girded about with might;
7 Who stilleth the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens:
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,
Thou greatly enrichest it;
The river of God is full of water:
Thou providest them grain, [i]when thou hast so prepared [j]the earth.
10 Thou waterest its furrows abundantly;
Thou [k]settlest the ridges thereof:
Thou makest it soft with showers;
Thou blessest the springing thereof.
11 Thou crownest [l]the year with thy goodness;
And thy paths drop fatness.
12 [m]They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness;
And the hills are girded with joy.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered over with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.
21 And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it: or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3 And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. 4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? 6 And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. 7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thy heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8 So she wrote [a]letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth. 9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth [b]on high among the people: 10 and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst [c]curse God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him to death.
11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth [d]on high among the people. 13 And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and the base fellows bare witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did [e]curse God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. 14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes [a]our brother, 2 unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank [b]my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; 5 that in everything ye were enriched in him, in all [c]utterance and all knowledge; 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no [d]divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 [e]Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? 14 [f]I thank God that I baptized none of you, save Crispus and Gaius; 15 lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name. 16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to [g]preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
18 For the word of the cross is to them that [h]perish foolishness; but unto us who [i]are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
[j]I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought.
4 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. 3 And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become [a]bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, [b]Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the [c]pinnacle of the temple, 6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written,
[d]He shall give his angels charge concerning thee:
and,
On their hands they shall bear thee up,
Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, [e]Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and [f]worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, [g]Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
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