Book of Common Prayer
Maschil of Asaph.
1 ¶ Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter enigmas of old,
3 which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their sons, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their sons:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the sons which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their sons
7 that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments
8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9 ¶ The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law
11 and forgot his works and his wonders that he had showed them.
12 He did marvellous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and he made the waters to stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire.
15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking for food according to the desires of their soul.
19 And they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore the LORD heard this and was wroth, so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel
22 because they had not believed God, nor had they trusted in his saving health;
23 and he commanded the clouds of above and opened the doors of the heavens
24 and caused manna to rain upon them to eat and gave them wheat of the heavens.
25 Man did eat the food of the strong; he sent them food to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven, and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire;
30 they were not estranged from their lust. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31 the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them and smote down the chosen of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still and did not give him credit for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore he consumed their days in vanity and their years in tribulation.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and enquired early after God.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock and the high God their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh: a wind that passes away and does not come again.
40 ¶ How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert!
41 And they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he ransomed them from anguish.
43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan
44 and had turned their rivers into blood and their floods, that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their fruits unto the caterpillar and their works unto the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their wild fig trees with stones.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts of fire.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation and trouble by sending evil angels among them.
50 He made a way to his anger; he did not spare their soul from death but gave their life over to the pestilence
51 and smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham:
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them into the borders of his holiness, into this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
55 He cast out the Gentiles also before them and divided them an inheritance by line and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their habitations.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God and did not keep his testimonies:
57 But turned back and rebelled like their fathers; they became like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 God heard this and was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel:
60 For this reason he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent in which he dwelt among men
61 and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their virgins were not honored in marriage songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep and like a mighty man that shouts by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts; he put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary in preeminence like the earth which he has established for ever.
70 He chose David also his slave and took him from the sheepfolds,
71 from following the ewes great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance.
72 So he fed them out of the integrity of his heart and guided them by the intelligence of his hands.
11 Keep thyself, that thou forget not the LORD thy God, to not fulfill his commandments and his rights and his statutes, which I command thee this day,
12 lest peradventure when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein,
13 and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied,
14 then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery,
15 who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness of burning serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint,
16 who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, a food which thy fathers knew not, afflicting thee and proving thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 and thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God, for it is he that gives thee the power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, I protest against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
20 As the Gentiles which the LORD shall destroy before your face, so shall ye perish because ye would not attend to the voice of the LORD your God.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning.
18 He, of his own will, has begotten us with the word of truth, that we should be the firstfruits of his creatures.
19 ¶ Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.
21 So then, leave all uncleanness and remains of malice and receive with meekness the word ingested within you, which is able to cause your souls to be saved.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if anyone hears the word and does not put it into practice, this same is like unto the man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 For he considered himself and went his way and in one hour forgot what he was like.
25 But whosoever has looked attentively into the perfect law of liberty and has persevered in it, not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, the same shall be blessed in their deed.
26 If anyone among you thinks to be religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion is vain.
27 The pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep thyself unspotted from this world.
11 ¶ And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father who art in the heavens, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also in the earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?
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