Book of Common Prayer
119 [Aleph.] O the happiness of those perfect in the way, They are walking in the law of Jehovah,
2 O the happiness of those keeping His testimonies, With the whole heart they seek Him.
3 Yea, they have not done iniquity, In His ways they have walked.
4 Thou hast commanded us Thy precepts to keep diligently,
5 O that my ways were prepared to keep Thy statutes,
6 Then I am not ashamed In my looking unto all Thy commands.
7 I confess Thee with uprightness of heart, In my learning the judgments of Thy righteousness.
8 Thy statutes I keep, leave me not utterly!
9 [Beth.] With what doth a young man purify his path? To observe -- according to Thy word.
10 With all my heart I have sought Thee, Let me not err from Thy commands.
11 In my heart I have hid Thy saying, That I sin not before Thee.
12 Blessed [art] Thou, O Jehovah, teach me Thy statutes.
13 With my lips I have recounted All the judgments of Thy mouth.
14 In the way of Thy testimonies I have joyed, As over all wealth.
15 In Thy precepts I meditate, And I behold attentively Thy paths.
16 In Thy statutes I delight myself, I do not forget Thy word.
17 [Gimel.] Confer benefits on Thy servant, I live, and I keep Thy word.
18 Uncover mine eyes, and I behold wonders out of Thy law.
19 A sojourner I [am] on earth, Hide not from me Thy commands.
20 Broken hath my soul for desire Unto Thy judgments at all times.
21 Thou hast rebuked the cursed proud, Who are erring from Thy commands.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt, For Thy testimonies I have kept.
23 Princes also sat -- against me they spoke, Thy servant doth meditate in Thy statutes,
24 Thy testimonies also [are] my delight, The men of my counsel!
12 To the Overseer, on the octave. -- A Psalm of David. Save, Jehovah, for the saintly hath failed, For the stedfast have ceased From the sons of men:
2 Vanity they speak each with his neighbour, Lip of flattery! With heart and heart they speak.
3 Jehovah doth cut off all lips of flattery, A tongue speaking great things,
4 Who said, `By our tongue we do mightily: Our lips [are] our own; who [is] lord over us?'
5 Because of the spoiling of the poor, Because of the groaning of the needy, Now do I arise, saith Jehovah, I set in safety [him who] doth breathe for it.
6 Sayings of Jehovah [are] pure sayings; Silver tried in a furnace of earth refined sevenfold.
7 Thou, O Jehovah, dost preserve them, Thou keepest us from this generation to the age.
8 Around the wicked walk continually, According as vileness is exalted by sons of men!
13 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Till when, O Jehovah, Dost Thou forget me? -- for ever? Till when dost Thou hide Thy face from me?
2 Till when do I set counsels in my soul? Sorrow inn my heart daily? Till when is mine enemy exalted over me?
3 Look attentively; Answer me, O Jehovah, my God, Enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death,
4 Lest mine enemy say, `I overcame him,' Mine adversaries joy when I am moved.
5 And I, in Thy kindness I have trusted, Rejoice doth my heart in Thy salvation.
6 I do sing to Jehovah, For He hath conferred benefits upon me!
14 To the Overseer. -- By David. A fool hath said in his heart, `God is not;' They have done corruptly, They have done abominable actions, There is not a doer of good.
2 Jehovah from the heavens Hath looked on the sons of men, To see if there is a wise one -- seeking God.
3 The whole have turned aside, Together they have been filthy: There is not a doer of good, not even one.
4 Have all working iniquity not known? Those consuming my people have eaten bread, Jehovah they have not called.
5 There they have feared a fear, For God [is] in the generation of the righteous.
6 The counsel of the poor ye cause to stink, Because Jehovah [is] his refuge.
7 `Who doth give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When Jehovah doth turn back [To] a captivity of His people, Jacob doth rejoice -- Israel is glad!
3 And Zedekiah the king sendeth Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying, `Pray, we beseech thee, for us unto Jehovah our God.'
4 And Jeremiah is coming in and going out in the midst of the people, (and they have not put him in the prison-house),
5 and the force of Pharaoh hath come out of Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who are laying siege against Jerusalem, hear their report, and go up from off Jerusalem.
6 And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
7 `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Thus do ye say unto the king of Judah, who is sending you unto Me, to seek Me: Lo, the force of Pharaoh that is coming out to you for help hath turned back to its land, to Egypt,
8 and the Chaldeans have turned back, and fought against this city, and captured it, and burnt it with fire.
9 `Thus said Jehovah: Lift not up your souls saying, The Chaldeans surely go from off us, for they do not go;
10 for though ye had smitten all the force of the Chaldeans who are fighting with you, and there were left of them wounded men -- each in his tent -- they rise, and have burnt this city with fire.'
11 And it hath come to pass, in the going up of the force of the Chaldeans from off Jerusalem, because of the force of Pharaoh,
12 that Jeremiah goeth out from Jerusalem to go [to] the land of Benjamin, to receive a portion thence in the midst of the people.
13 And it cometh to pass, he is at the gate of Benjamin, and there [is] a master of the ward -- and his name is Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah -- and he catcheth Jeremiah the prophet, saying, `Unto the Chaldeans thou art falling.'
14 And Jeremiah saith, `Falsehood -- I am not falling unto the Chaldeans;' and he hath not hearkened unto him, and Irijah layeth hold on Jeremiah, and bringeth him in unto the heads,
15 and the heads are wroth against Jeremiah, and have smitten him, and put him in the prison-house -- the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it they had made for a prison-house.
16 When Jeremiah hath entered into the house of the dungeon, and unto the cells, then Jeremiah dwelleth there many days,
17 and the king Zedekiah sendeth, and taketh him, and the king asketh him in his house in secret, and saith, `Is there a word from Jehovah?' And Jeremiah saith, `There is,' and he saith, `Into the hand of the king of Babylon thou art given.'
18 And Jeremiah saith unto the king Zedekiah, `What have I sinned against thee, and against thy servants, and against this people, that ye have given me unto a prison-house?
19 And where [are] your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon doth not come in against you, and against this land?
20 And now, hearken, I pray thee, my lord, O king, let my supplication fall, I pray thee, before thee, and cause me not to return [to] the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I die not there.'
21 And the king Zedekiah commandeth, and they commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, also to give to him a cake of bread daily from the bakers' street, till the consumption of all the bread of the city, and Jeremiah dwelleth in the court of the prison.
13 wherefore he who is speaking in an [unknown] tongue -- let him pray that he may interpret;
14 for if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit doth pray, and my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What then is it? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the understanding; I will sing psalms with the spirit, and I will sing psalms also with the understanding;
16 since, if thou mayest bless with the spirit, he who is filling the place of the unlearned, how shall he say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, since what thou dost say he hath not known?
17 for thou, indeed, dost give thanks well, but the other is not built up!
18 I give thanks to my God -- more than you all with tongues speaking --
19 but in an assembly I wish to speak five words through my understanding, that others also I may instruct, rather than myriads of words in an [unknown] tongue.
20 Brethren, become not children in the understanding, but in the evil be ye babes, and in the understanding become ye perfect;
21 in the law it hath been written, that, `With other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they hear Me, saith the Lord;'
22 so that the tongues are for a sign, not to the believing, but to the unbelieving; and the prophesy [is] not for the unbelieving, but for the believing,
23 If, therefore, the whole assembly may come together, to the same place, and all may speak with tongues, and there may come in unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
24 and if all may prophecy, and any one may come in, an unbeliever or unlearned, he is convicted by all, he is discerned by all,
25 and so the secrets of his heart become manifest, and so having fallen upon [his] face, he will bow before God, declaring that God really is among you.
24 `A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his lord;
25 sufficient to the disciple that he may be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord; if the master of the house they did call Beelzeboul, how much more those of his household?
26 `Ye may not, therefore, fear them, for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known;
27 that which I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and that which you hear at the ear, proclaim on the house-tops.
28 `And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna.
29 `Are not two sparrows sold for an assar? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father;
30 and of you -- even the hairs of the head are all numbered;
31 be not therefore afraid, than many sparrows ye are better.
32 `Every one, therefore, who shall confess in me before men, I also will confess in him before my Father who is in the heavens;
33 and whoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in the heavens.