Book of Common Prayer

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I waited patiently for the LORD, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of the pit of hopelessness, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and straightened my steps.

³ And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear and shall wait on the LORD.

⁴ Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁵ Thou hast increased, O LORD my God, thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts regarding us; they are beyond our ability to express, declare, or speak; they cannot be told.

⁶ ¶ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.

⁷ Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me,

⁸ I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my bowels.

⁹ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

¹⁰ I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy truth and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ ¶ Do not withhold thy tender mercies from me, O LORD; let thy mercy and thy truth continually preserve me.

¹² For innumerable evils have compassed me about; my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to see; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me.

¹³ Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.

¹⁴ Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my life to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

¹⁵ Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

¹⁶ Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

¹⁷ When I am poor and needy; the Lord will remember me; thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

To the Overcomer on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Does David not hide himself with us?

¹ ¶ Save me, O God, in thy name and defend me by thy valour.

² Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.

³ For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Selah.

⁴ ¶ Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is with those that uphold my soul.

⁵ He shall reward evil unto my enemies; cut them off in thy truth.

⁶ I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.

⁷ For he has delivered me out of all trouble, and my eye has seen his desire upon my enemies.

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

¹ ¶ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy mercy; according unto the multitude of thy compassion eradicate my rebellion.

² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my rebellion; and my sin is ever before me.

⁴ Against thee, against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou be declared just in thy word and pure in thy judgment.

⁵ Behold, the pain of my iniquity has caused me to writhe; my mother conceived me so that sin might be removed from me.

⁶ Behold, thou dost desire truth in the inward parts, and in the secret things thou hast made me to know wisdom.

⁷ ¶ Remove the sin in me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

⁹ Hide thy face from my sins and eradicate all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy saving health, and thy spirit of liberty shall uphold me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

¹⁴ ¶ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

¹⁶ For thou dost not desire sacrifice or else would I give it; thou dost not delight in burnt offering.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

¹⁸ Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then thou shalt be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, the burnt offering, the offering that has been totally consumed by the fire; then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

26 ¶ And it shall be when thou art come in unto the land, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance and possess it and dwell therein,

² thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God gives thee, and shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell.

³ And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days and say unto him, I declare today unto the LORD thy God that I have entered into the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.

⁵ Then thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, My father, the Syrian, perishing of hunger went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a nation, great, mighty, and many;

⁶ and the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage.

⁷ And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labour and our oppression.

⁸ And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terribleness and with signs and with wonders;

⁹ and he has brought us into this place and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁰ And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God and worship before the LORD thy God.

¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God has given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you.

¹⁶ ¶ But thanks be to God, who put the same diligence into the heart of Titus for you.

¹⁷ For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, of his own accord he went unto you.

¹⁸ And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the congregations, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

¹⁹ and not that only, but who was also ordained by the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and declaration of your ready desire,

²⁰ avoiding that anyone should blame us regarding this abundance which is ministered by us,

²¹ providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

²² And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which we have in you.

²³ Regarding Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you; or regarding our brethren, they are the apostles of the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and the glory of Christ.

²⁴ Therefore show ye unto them before the congregations, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} the proof of your charity and of our glorying regarding you.

⁹ ¶ And he spoke this parable unto some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others:

¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

¹² I fast two meals every sabbath; I give tithes of all that I possess.

¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, reconcile me, a sinner.

¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for anyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.