Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon: The silent dove in a distant land, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
1 ¶ Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up; he oppresses me fighting me daily.
2 My enemies would daily swallow me up, for they are many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 When I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day my life is filled with sorrow; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 ¶ Thou tellest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies be turned back; in this I know that God is for me.
10 In God I will praise his word; in the LORD I will praise his word.
11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me.
12 Thy promises are upon me, O God; I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my life from death; thou hast kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, Michtam of David, when he fled from the presence of Saul in the cave.
1 ¶ Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in thee; and in the shadow of thy wings I will make my refuge until these calamities are overpast.
2 I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performs all things for me.
3 He shall send from the heavens and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions, and I lie even among those that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me, into the midst of which they are fallen themselves. Selah.
7 ¶ My heart is ready, O God, my heart is willing; I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will arise early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, Michtam of David.
1 ¶ Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of Adam?
2 Yea, in heart ye work iniquity; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear,
5 which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 ¶ Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually; when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melts, let them pass away, like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the fire of the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judges in the earth.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer; preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
3 Who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect; suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they attempt to hide the snares; they say, Who shall see them?
6 They search out iniquities; they perfect and put into effect that which they have invented in the inward thought of each one of them and that which they have devised in their heart.
7 ¶ But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So they shall make their own council and agreements to fall upon themselves; all that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God, for they shall understand his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD and shall become secure in him, and all the upright in heart shall glory in him.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm and Song of David.
1 ¶ Praise doth rest in thee, O God, in Sion and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Words of iniquity overwhelmed me, but thou shalt purge away our rebellion.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou dost choose and cause to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple.
5 With tremendous things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our saving health, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those that are afar off upon the sea:
6 ¶ Thou art he who doth establish the mountains by thy strength, being girded with valour:
7 He who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves and the tumult of the Gentiles.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy wonders; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou dost visit the earth, and when thou hast caused it to want, thou dost greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water; thou dost prepare their grain, according to thy will.
10 Thou dost water its rows abundantly; thou dost settle its furrows; thou dost make it soft with showers of rain; thou dost bless its sprouting.
11 Thou dost crown the year with thy goodness, and thy clouds distill fatness.
12 They fall upon the habitations of the wilderness; and the hills gird themselves with happiness.
13 The plains clothe themselves with sheep, and the valleys cover themselves with grain; they give shouts of triumph, they even sing.
2 ¶ And it came to pass after this that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Where shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
2 So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
3 And David brought up his men that were with him, each one with his household, and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, The men of Jabeshgilead buried Saul.
5 And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead and said unto them, Blessed shall ye be of the LORD that ye have showed this mercy unto your lord, even unto Saul and have buried him.
6 And now the LORD show mercy and truth unto you; and I also will requite you this kindness because ye have done this thing.
7 Therefore, now let your hands be strengthened and be ye valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.
8 ¶ But Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim
9 and made him king over Gilead and over the Ashurites and over Jezreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin and over all Israel.
10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel and reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David.
11 And the number of days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
36 ¶ And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.
37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
38 But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and did not go with them to the work.
39 And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus;
40 and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}
16 ¶ Then he came to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman, who was faithful, but his father was a Gentile,
2 of whom the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium gave good witness.
3 Paul desired to have him go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those quarters, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they asked them to keep the decrees that had been determined by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
5 And so the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} were established in the faith and increased in number daily.
14 ¶ And king Herod heard of him (for his name was spread abroad), and he said, John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and therefore virtues operate in him.
15 Others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is the prophet or one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, This is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.
18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him, but she could not;
20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and respected him; and when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly.
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his princes and tribunes and to the principal people of Galilee;
22 and when the daughter of Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod and those that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it unto thee.
23 And he swore unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it unto thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I will that thou give me immediately in a platter the head of John the Baptist.
26 And the king was exceeding sorry, yet for his oath’s sake and for the sakes of those who sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And straightway the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison
28 and brought his head in a platter and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
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