Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Blessed is he that understands regarding the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt soften all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 ¶ My enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die and his name perish?
6 And if he came to see me, he spoke lies: his heart gathered iniquity to itself, and when he goes out, he tells it.
7 All that hate me congregate together and murmur against me; against me do they devise my hurt.
8 A disease of Belial, they say, cleaves fast unto him, and now that he lies he shall rise up no more.
9 Even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them.
11 In this I shall know that I have pleased thee, that my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou sustained me in my integrity and hast seated me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
To the Overcomer, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
1 ¶ Why dost thou boast of evil, O strong man? The mercy of God is day by day.
2 Thy tongue devises wickedness like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou dost love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou dost love all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise cast thee down for ever; he shall cut thee off and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 ¶ The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, saying:
7 Behold, this is the man that did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the eternal mercy of God for ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it, and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy merciful ones.
To the Overcomer for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
1 ¶ We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the Gentiles with thy hand and plant them in their place; how thou didst afflict the peoples and cast them out.
3 For they did not get the land in inheritance by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance because thy delight was in them.
4 Thou art my King, O God; command saving health unto Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies; through thy name will we tread under those that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put to shame those that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 ¶ But thou hast cast us off and put us to shame and doth not go forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, and we are spoiled by those who hate us.
11 Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for food and hast scattered us among the Gentiles.
12 Thou hast sold thy people for nothing and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to those that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,
16 for the voice of him that reproaches and blasphemes by reason of the enemy and of the avenger.
17 ¶ All this is come upon us; yet we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way
19 though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, do not cast us off for ever.
24 Why dost thou hide thy face and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaves unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help and ransom us for thy mercies’ sake.
2 ¶ I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy good things; and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What does it do?
3 I proposed in my heart to regale my flesh with wine and that my heart would walk in wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
4 I made myself great works; I built myself houses; I planted myself vineyards;
5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits;
6 I made myself pools of water, to water with them the forest that brings forth trees;
7 I got myself slaves and maidens and had sons born in my house; also I had great possessions of cattle and sheep above all that were in Jerusalem before me;
8 I gathered unto myself also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I obtained men singers and women singers and all the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments, and those of all sorts.
9 So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, and more than that, my wisdom remained with me.
10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour, and this was my portion of all my labour.
11 At last I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do; and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 ¶ And I turned myself to behold wisdom and those who are mad, and folly; for what can the man do that comes after the king? even that which has already been done.
13 And I have seen that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.
14 The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness: And I myself also understood that one event happens to the one and to the other.
15 Then I said in my heart, As it shall happen to the fool, so it shall happen even to me. Why have I worked until now to make myself wiser? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
1 ¶ Paul, apostle (not from men neither through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead)
2 and all the brethren who are with me, unto the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of Galatia:
3 Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 unto whom be the glory for the ages of the ages. Amen.
6 ¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel,
7 for there is not another; but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of the Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, were to preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema.
9 As we said before, so do I say now again, If anyone preaches any other gospel unto you than what ye have received, let him be anathema.
10 ¶ For do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the slave of Christ.
11 But I make known unto you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not according to man.
12 For I did not receive it nor learn it from man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in Judaism, how that beyond measure I was persecuting and destroying the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God
14 And profited in Judaism above many of my equals in my own nation, being exceedingly more zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace,
16 to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood,
17 neither did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus.
44 ¶ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto treasure hid in the field, which when found, a man hides it and, for the joy thereof, goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,
46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind of fish,
48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just
50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They answered unto him, Yes, Lord.
52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a husband of a house, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
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