Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my meditation.
2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto thee will I pray.
3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; early will I present myself unto thee and wait.
4 For thou art not a God that loves wickedness; neither shall one who is evil dwell with thee.
5 The foolish (those who are governed by carnal thoughts or desires) shall not stand in thy sight; thou dost hate all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy those that speak lies: the LORD will abominate the bloody and deceitful man.
7 ¶ But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear I will worship toward thy holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
9 For there is no uprightness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
10 Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out for the multitude of their rebellions; for they have rebelled against thee.
11 And all those that put their trust in thee shall rejoice: they shall ever be in jubilee, for thou shalt cover them; and all that love thy name shall be joyful in thee.
12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
To the Overcomer in Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul is also greatly troubled; but thou, O LORD, how long?
4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in Sheol who shall give thee thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night I flood my bed; I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxes old because of all mine enemies.
8 ¶ Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD has received my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed; they shall be sorely troubled: they shall turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
1 ¶ Why dost thou stand afar off, O LORD? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire and blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, does not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he puffs at them.
6 He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places he murders the innocent: his eyes are secretly set against the poor.
9 He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 He crouches and hides himself, and many are those who fall under his power.
11 He has said in his heart, God has forgotten; he hides his face; he will never see it.
12 ¶ Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand; forget not the humble.
13 In what does the wicked irritate God? He has said in his heart, Thou wilt not require accountability.
14 Thou hast seen it, for thou dost behold mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand: the poor commits himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until thou find none.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the Gentiles are perished out of his land.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 to judge the fatherless and the oppressed that the man of the earth may no longer oppress.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ I put my trust in the LORD: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?
2 For, behold, the wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart.
3 The foundations shall be destroyed. What has the righteous done?
4 ¶ The LORD is in the temple of his holiness, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.
5 The LORD tries the righteous, but the wicked and he that loves violence his soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, with winds of whirlwinds: this shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the righteous LORD loves righteousness; his countenance beholds the upright.
3 ¶ Now the serpent was more astute than all the animals of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Has God indeed said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman answered unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 Then the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God knows that in the day ye eat of it then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 ¶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was desirable to the eyes, and a tree of covetousness to understand, she took of its fruit and ate and gave also unto her husband with her; and he ate.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves girdles.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 ¶ And the LORD God called unto the man and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he replied, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 ¶ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee not to eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.
13 Then the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.
14 ¶ And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all beasts and above every animal of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;
15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; that seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 ¶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth sons; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 ¶ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the grass of the field;
19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20 ¶ And the man called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living.
21 ¶ Then the LORD God made coats of skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 ¶ And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever,
23 therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
2 ¶ Therefore, it is necessary that we with more diligence keep the things which we have heard, so that we do not fall.
2 For if the word spoken by the ministry of angels was steadfast and every rebellion and disobedience received a just recompense of reward,
3 how shall we escape, if we belittle such great saving health? Which, having begun to be published by the Lord, has been confirmed unto us by those that heard him,
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributing them according to his own will.
5 ¶ For unto the angels he has not subjected the world to come, of which we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou dost visit him?
7 Thou didst make him a little lower than the angels; thou didst crown him with glory and honour and didst set him over the works of thy hands.
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not see yet that all things are put under him.
9 But we see this same Jesus, crowned with glory and honour, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 ¶ For it was expedient that he, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, preparing to bring forth many sons in his glory, should perfect the author of their saving health through sufferings.
19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
20 And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.
22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.
24 And those who were sent were of the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him and said unto him, Why dost thou baptize then if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?
26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you, whom ye know not;
27 he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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