Book of Common Prayer
Michtam of David.
1 ¶ Preserve me, O God: for in thee I have put my trust.
2 I said unto the LORD, Thou art my goodness: I have no goodness apart from thee;
3 to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent: all my delight is towards them.
4 The sorrows of those that hasten after another god shall be multiplied; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; thou dost maintain my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I will bless the LORD, who gives me counsel: my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because when he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thy Merciful One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
A Prayer of David.
1 ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.
3 Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.
5 Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.
6 I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.
7 Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.
8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,
9 from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth
12 like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;
14 from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
To the Overcomer upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my cry?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest in the midst of the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee and were delivered: they trusted in thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people.
7 All those that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 Turn him over to the LORD, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou hast made me wait upon thee since I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 ¶ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.
13 They opened their mouth upon me as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may count all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the unicorns.
22 ¶ I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the poor in spirit; neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before those that fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied: those that seek him shall praise the LORD; your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD; and all the families of the Gentiles shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s, and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles.
29 All those that are fat upon earth shall eat and worship; all those that go down to the dust shall bow before him; and no one can keep his own soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this.
17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren
18 and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge.
19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
20 And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went with his burden as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth in battle array, and they had already sounded the alarm for the battle.
21 For Israel and the Philistines had ordered the battle, army against army.
22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and asked about his brethren, if they were well.
23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up that man, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, speaking the same words, and David heard them.
24 And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and feared greatly.
25 And each one of the men of Israel were saying, Have ye seen this man that is come up? He is come up to dishonour Israel. It shall be that the king will enrich the man who overcomes him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.
26 Then David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that overcomes this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should dishonour the armies of the living God?
27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that overcomes him.
28 And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke unto the men, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why didst thou come down here? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the malice of thy heart, for thou art come down that thou might see the battle.
29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
30 And he turned from him toward another and spoke after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner.
34 ¶ Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons;
35 but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
36 The word which God sent unto the sons of Israel, preaching the gospel: peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
37 that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached,
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of Judea and in Jerusalem, whom they slew hanging him on a tree.
40 This same one God raised up the third day and showed him openly,
41 not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of living and dead.
43 Unto him all the prophets give witness, that whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins through his name.
44 ¶ While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word.
45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that also on the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered,
47 Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they begged him to tarry certain days.
1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus, the Christ, Son of God,
2 as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.
4 John baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea and those of Jerusalem and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey
7 and preached, saying, There comes one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
9 ¶ And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth a city of Galilee and was baptized of John in the Jordan.
10 And as soon as he was come out of the water, John saw the heavens opened and the Spirit like a dove descending and resting upon him;
11 and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my dear Son, in whom I delight.
12 And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness.
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days and forty nights and was tempted of Satan and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International