Book of Common Prayer

87 A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite.

² O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.

³ Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition.

⁴ For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell.

⁵ I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help,

⁶ Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cast off from thy hand.

⁷ They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in the shadow of death.

⁸ Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me.

⁹ Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:

¹⁰ My eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.

¹¹ Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?

¹² Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction?

¹³ Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness?

¹⁴ But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.

¹⁵ Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me?

¹⁶ I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled.

¹⁷ Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.

¹⁸ They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together.

¹⁹ Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.

90 The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.

² He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.

³ For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.

⁴ He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.

⁵ His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.

⁶ Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.

⁷ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.

⁸ But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge.

¹⁰ There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.

¹¹ For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways.

¹² In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

¹³ Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.

¹⁴ Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name.

¹⁵ He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.

¹⁶ I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my salvation.

136 Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion:

² On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.

³ For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.

⁴ How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

⁵ If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

⁶ Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.

⁹ Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.

¹⁵ And Nathan returned to his house. The Lord also struck the child which the wife of Urias had borne to David, and his life was despaired of.

¹⁶ And David besought the Lord for the child: and David kept a fast, and going in by himself lay upon the ground.

¹⁷ And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.

¹⁸ And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David feared to tell him, that the child was dead. For they said: Behold when the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hearken to our voice: how much more will he afflict himself if we tell him that the child is dead?

¹⁹ But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? They answered him: He is dead.

²⁰ Then David arose from the ground, and washed and anointed himself: and when he had changed his apparel, he went into the house of the Lord: and worshipped, and then he came into his own house, and he called for bread, and ate.

²¹ And his servants said to him: What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou didst rise up, and eat bread.

²² And he said: While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept for him: for I said: Who knoweth whether the Lord may not give him to me, and the child may live?

²³ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Shall I be able to bring him back any more? I shall go to him rather: but he shall not return to me.

²⁴ And David comforted Bethsabee his wife, and went in unto her, and slept with her: and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him.

²⁵ And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and called his name, Amiable to the Lord, because the Lord loved him.

²⁶ And Joab fought against Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and laid close siege to the royal city.

²⁷ And Joab sent messengers to David, saying: I have fought against Rabbath, and the city of waters is about to be taken.

²⁸ Now therefore gather thou the rest of the people together, and besiege the city and take it: lest when the city shall be wasted by me, the victory be ascribed to my name.

²⁹ Then David gathered all the people together, and went out against Rabbath: and after fighting, he took it.

³⁰ And he took the crown of their king from his head, the weight of which was a talent of gold, set with most precious stones, and it was put upon David's head, and the spoils of the city which were very great he carried away.

³¹ And bringing forth the people thereof he sawed them, and drove over them chariots armed with iron: and divided them with knives, and made them pass through brickkilns: so did he to all the cities of the children of Ammon: and David returned, with all the army to Jerusalem.

20 And after the tumult was ceased, Paul calling to him the disciples, and exhorting them, took his leave, and set forward to go into Macedonia.

² And when he had gone over those parts, and had exhorted them with many words, he came into Greece;

³ Where, when he had spent three months, the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria; so he took a resolution to return through Macedonia.

⁴ And there accompanied him Sopater the son of Pyrrhus, of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus, and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.

⁵ These going before, stayed for us at Troas.

⁶ But we sailed from Philippi after the days of the Azymes, and came to them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days.

⁷ And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow: and he continued his speech until midnight.

⁸ And there were a great number of lamps in the upper chamber where we were assembled.

⁹ And a certain young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window, being oppressed with a deep sleep, (as Paul was long preaching,) by occasion of his sleep fell from the third loft down, and was taken up dead.

¹⁰ To whom, when Paul had gone down, he laid himself upon him, and embracing him, said: Be not troubled, for his soul is in him.

¹¹ Then going up, and breaking bread and tasting, and having talked a long time to them, until daylight, so he departed.

¹² And they brought the youth alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³ But we, going aboard the ship, sailed to Assos, being there to take in Paul; for so he had appointed, himself purposing to travel by land.

¹⁴ And when he had met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵ And sailing thence, the day following we came over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus.

¹⁶ For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, lest he should be stayed any time in Asia. For he hasted, if it were possible for him, to keep the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem.

³⁰ And he taught his disciples, and said to them: The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day.

³¹ But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask him.

³² And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way?

³³ But they held their peace, for in the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest.

³⁴ And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all.

³⁵ And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them. Whom when he had embraced, he saith to them:

³⁶ Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

³⁷ John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him.

³⁸ But Jesus said: Do not forbid him. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and can soon speak ill of me.

³⁹ For he that is not against you, is for you.

⁴⁰ For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

⁴¹ And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.