Book of Common Prayer
89 An instruction, by Ethan the Ezrahite. Of the kind acts of Jehovah, to the age I sing, To all generations I make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth,
2 For I said, `To the age is kindness built, The heavens! Thou dost establish Thy faithfulness in them.'
3 I have made a covenant for My chosen, I have sworn to David My servant:
4 `Even to the age do I establish thy seed, And have built to generation and generation thy throne. Selah.
5 and the heavens confess Thy wonders, O Jehovah, Thy faithfulness also [is] in an assembly of holy ones.
6 For who in the sky, Compareth himself to Jehovah? Is like to Jehovah among sons of the mighty?
7 God is very terrible, In the secret counsel of His holy ones, And fearful over all surrounding Him.
8 O Jehovah, God of Hosts, Who [is] like Thee -- a strong Jah? And Thy faithfulness [is] round about Thee.
9 Thou [art] ruler over the pride of the sea, In the lifting up of its billows Thou dost restrain them.
10 Thou hast bruised Rahab, as one wounded. With the arm of Thy strength Thou hast scattered Thine enemies.
11 Thine [are] the heavens -- the earth also [is] Thine, The habitable world and its fulness, Thou hast founded them.
12 North and south Thou hast appointed them, Tabor and Hermon in Thy name do sing.
13 Thou hast an arm with might, Strong is Thy hand -- high Thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and judgment [Are] the fixed place of Thy throne, Kindness and truth go before Thy face.
15 O the happiness of the people knowing the shout, O Jehovah, in the light of Thy face they walk habitually.
16 In Thy name they rejoice all the day, And in Thy righteousness they are exalted,
17 For the beauty of their strength [art] Thou, And in Thy good will is our horn exalted,
18 For of Jehovah [is] our shield, And of the Holy One of Israel our king.
19 Then Thou hast spoken in vision, To Thy saint, yea, Thou sayest, I have placed help upon a mighty one, Exalted a chosen one out of the people,
20 I have found David My servant, With My holy oil I have anointed him.
21 With whom My hand is established, My arm also doth strengthen him.
22 An enemy exacteth not upon him, And a son of perverseness afflicteth him not.
23 And I have beaten down before him his adversaries, And those hating him I plague,
24 And My faithfulness and kindness [are] with him, And in My name is his horn exalted.
25 And I have set on the sea his hand, And on the rivers his right hand.
26 He proclaimeth me: `Thou [art] my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'
27 I also first-born do appoint him, Highest of the kings of the earth.
28 To the age I keep for him My kindness, And My covenant [is] stedfast with him.
29 And I have set his seed for ever, And his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake My law, And in My judgments do not walk;
31 If My statutes they pollute, And My commands do not keep,
32 I have looked after with a rod their transgression, And with strokes their iniquity,
33 And My kindness I break not from him, Nor do I deal falsely in My faithfulness.
34 I profane not My covenant, And that which is going forth from My lips I change not.
35 Once I have sworn by My holiness, I lie not to David,
36 His seed is to the age, And his throne [is] as the sun before Me,
37 As the moon it is established -- to the age, And the witness in the sky is stedfast. Selah.
38 And Thou, Thou hast cast off, and dost reject, Thou hast shown Thyself wroth With Thine anointed,
39 Hast rejected the covenant of Thy servant, Thou hast polluted to the earth his crown,
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges, Thou hast made his fenced places a ruin.
41 Spoiled him have all passing by the way, He hath been a reproach to his neighbours,
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries, Thou hast caused all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Also -- Thou turnest back the sharpness of his sword, And hast not established him in battle,
44 Hast caused [him] to cease from his brightness, And his throne to the earth hast cast down.
45 Thou hast shortened the days of his youth, Hast covered him over [with] shame. Selah.
46 Till when, O Jehovah, art Thou hidden? For ever doth Thy fury burn as fire?
47 Remember, I pray Thee, what [is] life-time? Wherefore in vain hast Thou created All the sons of men?
48 Who [is] the man that liveth, and doth not see death? He delivereth his soul from the hand of Sheol. Selah.
49 Where [are] Thy former kindnesses, O Lord. Thou hast sworn to David in Thy faithfulness,
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, I have borne in my bosom all the strivings of the peoples,
51 Wherewith Thine enemies reproached, O Jehovah, Wherewith they have reproached The steps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed [is] Jehovah to the age. Amen, and amen!
24 And the king of Asshur bringeth in from Babylon and from Cutha, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and causeth [them] to dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they possess Samaria, and dwell in its cities;
25 and it cometh to pass, at the commencement of their dwelling there, they have not feared Jehovah, and Jehovah doth send among them the lions, and they are destroying among them.
26 And they speak to the king of Asshur, saying, `The nations that thou hast removed, and dost place in the cities of Samaria, have not known the custom of the God of the land, and He sendeth among them the lions, and lo, they are destroying them, as they do not know the custom of the God of the land.'
27 And the king of Asshur commandeth, saying, `Cause to go thither one of the priests whom ye removed thence, and they go and dwell there, and he doth teach them the custom of the God of the land.'
28 And one of the priests whom they removed from Samaria cometh in, and dwelleth in Beth-El, and he is teaching them how they do fear Jehovah,
29 and they are making each nation its gods, and place [them] in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans have made, each nation in their cities where they are dwelling.
30 And the men of Babylon have made Succoth-Benoth, and the men of Cuth have made Nergal, and the men of Hamath have made Ashima,
31 and the Avites have made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites are burning their sons with fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, gods of Sepharvim.
32 And they are fearing Jehovah, and make to themselves from their extremities priests of high places, and they are acting for them in the house of the high places.
33 Jehovah they are fearing, and their gods they are serving, according to the custom of the nations whence they removed them.
34 Unto this day they are doing according to the former customs -- they are not fearing Jehovah, and are not doing according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the law, and according to the command, that Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob whose name He made Israel,
35 and Jehovah maketh with them a covenant, and chargeth them, saying, `Ye do not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,
36 but Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a stretched-out arm, Him ye do fear, and to Him ye bow yourselves, and to Him ye do sacrifice;
37 and the statutes, and the judgments, and the law, and the command, that He wrote for you, ye observe to do all the days, and ye do not fear other gods;
38 and the covenant that I have made with you ye do not forget, and ye do not fear other gods;
39 but Jehovah your God ye do fear, and He doth deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies;'
40 and they have not hearkened, but according to their former custom they are doing,
41 and these nations are fearing Jehovah, and their graven images they have served, both their sons and their sons' sons; as their fathers did, they are doing unto this day.
25 And concerning the virgins, a command of the Lord I have not; and I give judgment as having obtained kindness from the Lord to be faithful:
26 I suppose, therefore, this to be good because of the present necessity, that [it is] good for a man that the matter be thus: --
27 Hast thou been bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; hast thou been loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
28 But and if thou mayest marry, thou didst not sin; and if the virgin may marry, she did not sin; and such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I spare you.
29 And this I say, brethren, the time henceforth is having been shortened -- that both those having wives may be as not having;
30 and those weeping, as not weeping; and those rejoicing, as not rejoicing; and those buying, as not possessing;
31 and those using this world, as not using [it] up; for passing away is the fashion of this world.
25 `Because of this I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat, and what ye may drink, nor for your body, what ye may put on. Is not the life more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing?
26 look to the fowls of the heaven, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and your heavenly Father doth nourish them; are not ye much better than they?
27 `And who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?
28 and about clothing why are ye anxious? consider well the lilies of the field; how do they grow? they do not labour, nor do they spin;
29 and I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.
30 `And if the herb of the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast to the furnace, God doth so clothe -- not much more you, O ye of little faith?
31 therefore ye may not be anxious, saying, What may we eat? or, What may we drink? or, What may we put round?
32 for all these do the nations seek for, for your heavenly Father doth know that ye have need of all these;
33 but seek ye first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you.
34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow shall be anxious for its own things; sufficient for the day [is] the evil of it.