Book of Common Prayer
Protestation of integrity, and prayer for protection.
A Psalm of David.
26 Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in mine integrity:
I have trusted also in Jehovah [a]without wavering.
2 Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me;
Try my [b]heart and my mind.
3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes;
And I have walked in thy truth.
4 I have not sat with men of falsehood;
Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
5 I hate the assembly of evil-doers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocency:
So will I compass thine altar, O Jehovah;
7 That I may [c]make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard,
And tell of all thy wondrous works.
8 Jehovah, I love the habitation of thy house,
And the place [d]where thy glory dwelleth.
9 [e]Gather not my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with men of blood;
10 In whose hands is wickedness,
And their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity:
Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
12 My foot standeth in an even place:
In the congregations will I bless Jehovah.
A prayer for help, and praise for its answer.
A Psalm of David.
28 Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call:
My rock, be not thou deaf unto me;
Lest, if thou be silent unto me,
I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee,
When I lift up my hands [a]toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked,
And with the workers of iniquity;
That speak peace with their neighbors,
But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings:
Give them after the operation of their hands;
Render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of Jehovah,
Nor the operation of his hands,
He will break them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be Jehovah,
Because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah is my strength and my shield;
My heart hath trusted in him, and I am helped:
Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth;
And with my song will I praise him.
8 Jehovah is their strength,
And he is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance:
Be their shepherd also, and bear them up for ever.
Wickedness of men and lovingkindness of God.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah.
[a]36 The transgression of the wicked [b]saith within my heart,
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For [c]he flattereth himself in his own eyes,
[d]That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.
3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:
He hath ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 He deviseth iniquity upon his bed;
He setteth himself in a way that is not good;
He abhorreth not evil.
5 Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, is in the heavens;
Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.
6 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Thy judgments are a great deep:
O Jehovah, thou preservest man and beast.
7 How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.
8 They shall be [e]abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house;
And thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9 For with thee is the fountain of life:
In thy light shall we see light.
10 Oh continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee,
And thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen:
They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.
The vanity of life.
For the Chief Musician, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, I will take heed to my ways,
That I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep [b]my mouth with a bridle,
While the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, [c]even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then spake I with my tongue:
4 Jehovah, make me to know mine end,
And the measure of my days, what it is;
Let me know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths;
And my life-time is as nothing before thee:
Surely every man [d]at his best estate is altogether [e]vanity. Selah
6 Surely every man walketh [f]in a vain show;
Surely they are disquieted [g]in vain:
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for?
My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions:
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me:
I am consumed by the [h]blow of thy hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou [i]makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
Surely every man is [j]vanity. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry;
Hold not thy peace at my tears:
For I am a stranger with thee,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Oh [k]spare me, that I may [l]recover strength,
Before I go hence, and be no more.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and [a]their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst. 14 Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their [b]pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend into it. 15 And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled: 16 but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 17 Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall [c]wanderers eat.
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the [a]law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
12 But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all. 15 See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all. 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward. 19 Quench not the Spirit; 20 despise not prophesyings; 21 [a]prove all things; hold fast that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the [b]coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us[c].
26 Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27 I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the [d]brethren.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
29 And he spake to them a parable: Behold the fig tree, and all the trees: 30 when they now shoot forth, ye see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now nigh. 31 Even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all things be accomplished. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
34 But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: 35 for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
37 And every day he was teaching in the temple; and every night he went out, and lodged in the mount that is called Olivet. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him.
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