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.
5 Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. 2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen [a]upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen [b]upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day.
6 But the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with [c]tumors, even Ashdod and the borders thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel thither. 9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great discomfiture: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors brake out upon them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it slay us not, and our people. For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men that died not were smitten with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
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.
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.
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