Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Judge me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity; I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O LORD and prove me; melt my kidneys and my heart.
3 For thy mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in thy truth.
4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with hypocrites.
5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked.
6 ¶ I will wash my hands in innocency, so I will walk near unto thine altar, O LORD:
7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works.
8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place of the tabernacle of thy glory.
9 Gather not my soul with the sinners, nor my life with those who have blood on their hands:
10 In whose hands are wicked devices, and their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; ransom me and be merciful unto me.
12 I have walked uprightly; in the congregations I will bless the LORD.
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent unto me lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like those that go down into the grave.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward the oracle of thy holiness.
3 Do not catch me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, but evil is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render unto them their desert.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them and not build them up.
6 ¶ Blessed be the LORD because he has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song I will praise him.
8 The LORD is the strength of his people, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people and bless thine inheritance; feed them also and lift them up for ever.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David the slave of the LORD.
1 ¶ The rebellion of the wicked saith to my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquity is found to be hateful.
3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he has left off to be wise and to do good.
4 He devises iniquity upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.
5 ¶ Thy mercy, O LORD, reaches unto the heavens, and thy truth reaches unto the clouds.
6 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God; thy judgments are a great deep; O LORD, thou dost preserve man and beast.
7 How excellent is thy mercy, O God! therefore the sons of Adam cover themselves in the shadow of thy wings.
8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt 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 Extend thy mercy unto those 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 remove me.
12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen; they are cast down and shall not be able to rise.
To the Overcomer, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bit while the wicked is against me.
2 I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue,
4 LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how long I am to be of this world.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before thee; verily every man that lives is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely man walks in darkness; surely they are disquieted in vain; they heap up riches not knowing who shall gather them.
7 ¶ And now, Lord, what shall I wait for? My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my rebellions; do not make me 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 blow of thine hand.
11 When thou with chastening dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his greatness to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go from here and be no more.
19 ¶ And Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his slaves that they should kill David.
2 But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David, and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul, my father, seeks to kill thee: now, therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself.
3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will speak with my father of thee, and what I see, that I will tell thee.
4 And Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul, his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his slave David, for he has not sinned against thee; on the other hand his works have been very good for thee,
5 for he put his soul in his hand and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel. Thou didst see it and rejoice. Why then wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause?
6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As the LORD lives, he shall not be slain.
7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.
8 ¶ And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him.
9 And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David played with his hand.
10 And Saul sought to smite David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, who smote the spear into the wall; and David fled and escaped that night.
11 ¶ Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house to watch him and to slay him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be dead.
12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped.
13 Then Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at his head and covered it with a cloth.
14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed that I may slay him.
16 And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow of goats’ hair at his head.
17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so and sent away my enemy that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; if not, I shall kill thee.
18 ¶ So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel in Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.
12 ¶ Now at that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to mistreat certain of the congregation. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}
2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after the Passover to bring him forth to the people.
5 ¶ Peter therefore was kept in the prison, and the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} made prayer without unto God for him.
6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the guards before the door that kept the prison.
7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shone in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, Arise quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast thy garment about thee and follow me.
9 And he went out and followed him and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leads unto the city, which opened to them of its own accord, and they went out and passed on through one street, and then the angel departed from him.
11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the people of the Jews who waited for me.
12 And considering this, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the patio, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.
14 And when she recognized Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood at the gate.
15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then they said, It is his angel.
16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
17 But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to be silent, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go make these things known unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went to another place.
2 ¶ And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house.
2 And soon many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door; and he preached the word unto them.
3 And they came unto him, bringing a paralytic, carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof of the house where he was; and when they had broken it open, they let down the bed in which the paralytic lay.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the paralytic, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.
6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and thinking in their hearts,
7 Why does this fellow so blaspheme? Who can forgive sins but God only?
8 And Jesus, knowing afterward in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said unto them, Why think ye these things in your hearts?
9 What is easier to say to the paralytic, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and take up thy bed and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins (he spoke to the sick of the palsy),
11 I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy bed and go to thy house.
12 And by and by he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like unto this.
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