Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon Shoshannim, {lilies} A testimony of Asaph: A Psalm.
1 ¶ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the presence of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us.
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of the hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou dost feed them with the bread of tears and give them tears to drink in great measure.
6 Thou dost make us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies laugh at us among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of the hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
8 ¶ Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
9 Thou didst prepare room before it and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the earth.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and its boughs were like the cedars of God.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all those who pass by the way pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of the hosts: look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine
15 and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted and the branch that thou didst make strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire; it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou didst make strong for thyself,
18 so we will not go back from thee. Thou shalt quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of the hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
To the Overcomer, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore bled in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
4 Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak.
5 I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages.
6 I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.
7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
8 Is his mercy gone for ever? does his word fail from generation to generation?
9 Has God forgotten to have mercy? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
10 And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
11 ¶ I remembered the works of JAH; therefore I shall remember thy wonders of old.
12 I meditated also on all thy works and spoke of thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is in holiness; who is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the peoples.
15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled.
17 The clouds poured out floods of waters; the heavens thundered; thy bolts of lightning also went forth.
18 The voice of thy thunder was all around; the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way was in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps were not known.
20 Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily meet us on the way, for we are very poor.
9 Help us, O God, our saving health, for the honor of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Why should the Gentiles say, Where is their God? let him be known among the Gentiles in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy slaves which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve those that are appointed to die
12 and render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: from generation to generation we will sing thy praises.
25 ¶ And it came to pass the same night that the LORD said unto him, Take a bullock of thy father’s house and a second bullock seven years old and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father has and cut down the grove that is by it
26 and build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, according to due order, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice upon the wood of the grove which thou shall have cut down.
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his slaves and did as the LORD had said unto him. But he feared to do it by day because of his father’s family and the men of the city, so he did it by night.
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
29 And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing.
30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son that he may die because he has cast down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the grove that was by it.
31 And Joash replied unto all that stood against him, Will ye contend for Baal? Will ye save him? Whoever will contend for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning; if he is God, let him contend for himself with the one who has cast down his altar.
32 Therefore, on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him because he has thrown down his altar.
33 ¶ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east gathered themselves together as one and went over and pitched camp in the valley of Jezreel.
34 And the Spirit of the LORD clothed himself in Gideon, who when he had blown the shofar, Abiezer joined with him.
35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh who also joined with him; likewise he sent messengers unto Asher and unto Zebulun and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
36 And Gideon said unto God, Wilt thou save Israel by my hand as thou hast said?
37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the threshing floor; and if the dew is on the fleece only and it is dry upon all the earth beside it, then I shall know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand as thou hast said.
38 And it was so, for he rose up early in the morning, and wringing the fleece, he took the dew out of it, a bowl full of water.
39 But Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me if I speak again on this occasion; only let me prove again now with the fleece. I pray thee, let it be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized each one of you into the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.
41 So that those who gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 ¶ And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together and had all things common
45 and sold their possessions and property and distributed them to everyone, as each one had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food together with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 praising God and having grace with all the people. And the Lord added to the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} daily such as should be saved.
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with the God.
3 All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 ¶ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light.
9 That Word was the true Light, which lightens every man that comes into this world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
13 who are not born of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.
15 ¶ John bore witness of him and cried, saying, This is he of whom I spoke, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me.
16 And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but the grace and the truth of God came through Jesus, the Christ.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
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