Book of Common Prayer
Jehovah’s covenant with David, and Israel’s afflictions.
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the lovingkindness of Jehovah for ever:
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever;
Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish in the very heavens.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen,
I have sworn unto David my servant:
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever,
And build up thy throne to all generations. Selah
5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Jehovah;
Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared unto Jehovah?
Who among the [a]sons of the [b]mighty is like unto Jehovah,
7 A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones,
And to be feared above all them that are round about him?
8 O Jehovah God of hosts,
Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O [c]Jehovah?
And thy faithfulness is round about thee.
9 Thou rulest the pride of the sea:
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou hast broken [d]Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain;
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:
The world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south, thou hast created them:
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy name.
13 Thou hast [e]a mighty arm;
Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne:
Lovingkindness and truth go before thy face.
15 Blessed is the people that know the [f]joyful sound:
They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name do they rejoice all the day;
And in thy righteousness are they exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength;
And in thy favor [g]our horn shall be exalted.
18 For our shield belongeth unto Jehovah;
[h]And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy [i]saints,
And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
With my holy oil have I anointed him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established;
Mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not [j]exact from him,
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his adversaries before him,
And smite them that hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be with him;
And in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
And his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 I also will make him my first-born,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My lovingkindness will I keep for him for evermore;
And my covenant shall [k]stand fast with him.
29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
And walk not in mine ordinances;
31 If they [l]break my statutes,
And keep not my commandments;
32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33 But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him,
Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant will I not [m]break,
Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 [n]Once have I sworn by my holiness:
I will not lie unto David:
36 His seed shall endure for ever,
And his throne as the sun before me.
37 [o]It shall be established for ever as the moon,
[p]And as the faithful witness in the sky. Selah
38 But thou hast cast off and rejected,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant:
Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges;
Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way rob him:
He is become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword,
And hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his brightness to cease,
And cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened:
Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou hide thyself for ever?
How long shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Oh remember how short my time is:
For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
48 What man is he that shall live and not see death,
That shall deliver his soul from the [q]power of Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses,
Which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants;
How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the [r]mighty peoples,
51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah,
Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore.
Amen, and Amen.
12 And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed [a]northward; and they said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thy house upon thee with fire. 2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye saved me not out of their hand. 3 And when I saw that ye saved me not, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Jehovah delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and in the midst of Manasseh. 5 And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan [b]against the Ephraimites. And it was so, that, when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6 then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right: then they laid hold on him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty and two thousand.
7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people: and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s [a]porch. 13 But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them; 14 [b]and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women: 15 insomuch that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and [c]couches, that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some one of them. 16 And there also came together the multitude from the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folk, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
17 But the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy, 18 and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward. 19 But an angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them out, and said, 20 Go ye, and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life. 21 And when they heard this, they entered into the temple about daybreak, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison-house to have them brought. 22 But the officers that came found them not in the prison; and they returned, and told, 23 saying, The prison-house we found shut in all safety, and the keepers standing at the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within. 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were much perplexed concerning them whereunto this would grow. 25 And there came one and told them, Behold, the men whom ye put in the prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people. 26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them, but without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned.
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born [a]anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born [b]anew. 8 [c]The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, [d]who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; 15 that whosoever [e]believeth may in him have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that [f]doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be [g]reproved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, [h]that they have been wrought in God.
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