Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon Shoshannim (lilies), A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
2 I sink in deep mire where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 Those that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; those that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty; then I restored that which I did not take away.
5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my guiltiness is not hid from thee.
6 Do not let those that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of the hosts, be ashamed for my sake; do not let those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.
8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother’s sons.
9 For the zeal of thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
10 When I wept with fasting of my soul, thou hast been a reproach unto me.
11 I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb to them.
12 They that sat in the gate spoke against me, and I was the song of the drunkards.
13 ¶ But I corrected my prayer unto thee, O LORD, in the time of thy good pleasure; O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy saving health.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not drown; let me be delivered from those that hate me and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the violent force of the waters overcome me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O LORD, for thy mercy is perceptible, look upon me according to the multitude of thy acts of compassion
17 And hide not thy face from thy slave, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily.
18 Draw near unto my soul and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies.
19 Thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonour; my adversaries are all before thee.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there was no one, and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 ¶ Let their table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their prosperity, let it become a stumbling block.
23 Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their palace be desolate, and let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they boast that thou hast slain their enemies.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful; let thy saving health, O God, set me up on high.
30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with praises.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than the sacrifice of an ox or bullock that struggles with horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see this and be glad; seek God and thy heart shall live.
33 For the LORD hears the destitute and does not despise his prisoners.
34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moves in them.
35 For God will protect Zion and will rebuild the cities of Judah; they shall dwell there and inherit it.
36 The seed of his slaves shall inherit it, and those that love his name shall dwell therein.
1 ¶ Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost departed from the way; my steps had almost slipped.
3 For I became angry against the foolish when I saw the peace of the wicked.
4 Because there is no restraint that would bring about their death, but their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore they are crowned with pride; they cover themselves with violence as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness; they easily obtain the desires of their heart.
8 They are lawless and speak wickedly of doing violence; they speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore his people shall return here; and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How does God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold, these ungodly men, without being troubled by the world obtain riches.
13 Verily, in vain have I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocency
14 and been plagued all day long and chastened every morning:
15 ¶ If I should say, I will speak as they do; behold, I should deny the generation of thy sons.
16 I shall meditate that I might understand this; it is very hard for me to see.
17 When I come into the sanctuary of God, then I shall understand their end.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; in desolation thou shalt cause them to fall.
19 How they are brought into desolation, as in a moment! They have come to an end; they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As the dream of one who awakes; so, O Lord, when thou shalt rise up, thou shalt despise their appearances.
21 ¶ Truly my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my kidneys.
22 But I was ignorant and did not understand; I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I was continually with thee; thou hast apprehended me by my right hand.
24 Thou hast guided me with thy counsel, and afterward thou shalt receive me unto glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? And apart from thee there is nothing upon the earth that I desire.
26 My flesh and my heart fail; the strength of my heart is that God is my portion for ever.
27 For, behold, those that stray from thee shall perish; thou dost cut off all those that go a whoring from thee.
28 But as for me, to draw near to God is good; I have put my hope in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
6 And Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation.
7 And the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 ¶ Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.
9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10 Now, therefore, let us be wise concerning him, that he not multiply and it come to pass that when war comes, he shall also join with our enemies and fight against us and so leave the land.
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built the supply cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, so much that they loathed the sons of Israel.
13 And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve with rigor,
14 and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, making mortar and brick and in all manner of service in the field; all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor.
15 ¶ And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and another named Puah;
16 and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see the sex, if it is a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them but gave the men children their lives.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing and have given the men children their lives?
19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered before the midwives come in unto them.
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.
21 And it came to pass because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
22 Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall give them their lives.
12 ¶ For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also the Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Greeks, whether we are slaves or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
18 But now God has set the members each one of them in the body, as it has pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now they are indeed many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 For those members of the body, which seem to be weaker, are much more necessary;
23 and those members of the body which we think to be more vile, these we dress with more abundant honour; and those in us who are more indecent have more honesty.
24 For those in us who are more honest need nothing, but God has ordered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that one which lacked,
25 that there should be no contradiction in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer together; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice together.
27 ¶ And Jesus and his disciples went out into the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am?
28 And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, One of the prophets.
29 Then he said unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said unto him, Thou art the Christ!
30 And he commanded them that they should tell no one of this regarding him.
31 And he began to teach them that it was convenient that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the princes of the priests and of the scribes, and be killed and after three days rise again.
32 And he spoke this word clearly. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him.
33 And he, turning about and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, Get thyself from me, Satan, for thou knowest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.
34 And calling the multitude unto him with his disciples, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross {Gr. stauros – stake} and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
9 ¶ He also said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there are some of those who are here who shall not taste of death until they have seen the kingdom of God which comes with power.
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