Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Blessed is he that understands regarding the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt soften all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 ¶ My enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die and his name perish?
6 And if he came to see me, he spoke lies: his heart gathered iniquity to itself, and when he goes out, he tells it.
7 All that hate me congregate together and murmur against me; against me do they devise my hurt.
8 A disease of Belial, they say, cleaves fast unto him, and now that he lies he shall rise up no more.
9 Even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them.
11 In this I shall know that I have pleased thee, that my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou sustained me in my integrity and hast seated me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
To the Overcomer, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
1 ¶ Why dost thou boast of evil, O strong man? The mercy of God is day by day.
2 Thy tongue devises wickedness like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou dost love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou dost love all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise cast thee down for ever; he shall cut thee off and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 ¶ The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, saying:
7 Behold, this is the man that did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the eternal mercy of God for ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it, and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy merciful ones.
To the Overcomer for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
1 ¶ We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the Gentiles with thy hand and plant them in their place; how thou didst afflict the peoples and cast them out.
3 For they did not get the land in inheritance by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance because thy delight was in them.
4 Thou art my King, O God; command saving health unto Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies; through thy name will we tread under those that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put to shame those that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 ¶ But thou hast cast us off and put us to shame and doth not go forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, and we are spoiled by those who hate us.
11 Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for food and hast scattered us among the Gentiles.
12 Thou hast sold thy people for nothing and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to those that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,
16 for the voice of him that reproaches and blasphemes by reason of the enemy and of the avenger.
17 ¶ All this is come upon us; yet we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way
19 though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, do not cast us off for ever.
24 Why dost thou hide thy face and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaves unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help and ransom us for thy mercies’ sake.
24 ¶ And it came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
3 And he came to a flock of sheep by the way where there was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet, and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
4 Then the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thy enemy into thy hand that thou may do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose and silently cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe.
5 And it came to pass afterward that David’s heart smote him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
6 And he said unto his men, The LORD keep me from doing this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
7 So David stayed his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way.
8 David also arose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and worshipped.
9 ¶ And David said to Saul, Why hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeks thy hurt?
10 Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee today into my hand in the cave, and some bade me kill thee, but I forgave thee, and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.
11 Moreover, my father, see; see the skirt of thy robe is even in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and did not kill thee, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou doest hunt my life to take it.
12 The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee, but my hand shall not be upon thee.
13 As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon thee.
14 After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
15 The LORD, therefore, shall judge, and he shall judge between me and thee. Let him see and plead my cause, and defend me from thy hand.
16 ¶ And it came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
17 And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast repaid me with good, whereas I have repaid thee with evil.
18 And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me; forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thy hand, thou didst not kill me.
19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe and sound? The LORD reward thee with good for that which thou hast done unto me this day.
20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be firm and stable in thy hand.
21 Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.
22 Then David swore unto Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up unto the fortress.
44 And the next sabbath day almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.
45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spoke against that which Paul said, contradicting and blaspheming.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas speaking with freedom, said, It was necessary indeed that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou should be for saving health unto the ends of the earth.
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women and the principals of the city and raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their borders.
51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
4 ¶ And he began again to teach by the sea side, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
2 And he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine,
3 Hearken; Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4 and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth;
6 but when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8 And other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth: some thirty and some sixty and some a hundred.
9 And he said unto them, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, those that were close to him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto those that are without, all these things are done in parables,
12 that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? How then will ye understand all the parables?
14 The sower is he who sows the word.
15 And these are those by the way side, in whom the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And likewise these are those who are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness
17 but have no root in themselves and are temporal; afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are those who are sown among thorns, such as hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 And these are those who are sown in good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.
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