Book of Common Prayer
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the Overcomer: to sing upon Mahalath, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 ¶ O LORD God of my saving health, I cry day and night before Thee;
2 let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry;
3 for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near unto Sheol.
4 I am counted with those that go down into the pit; I am as a man that has no strength:
5 Freed among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou dost remember no more; and they are cut off from thy hand.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Thy wrath lies hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them; I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9 My eye mourns by reason of affliction; LORD, I have called daily upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10 ¶ Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy mercy be declared in the grave? or thy truth in hell?
12 Shall thy wonder be known in darkness? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee.
14 LORD, why dost thou cast off my soul? why dost thou hide thy face from me?
15 I am afflicted and destitute; from my youth up I have feared thee and been in awe of thee.
16 Thy fierce wrath goes over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18 Thou hast put lover and friend far from me, and placed my acquaintances into darkness.
1 ¶ He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my hope and my fortress: my God; in him will I secure myself.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the mortal pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings thou shalt be secure: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 Thousands shall fall at thy side and ten thousands at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee.
8 Surely with thine eyes thou shalt behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 ¶ Because thou hast made the LORD, who is my hope, even the most High, thy habitation,
10 no evil shall befall thee, neither shall any plague come near thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thy foot stumble against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he has set his will upon me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and glorify him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my saving health.
A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.
1 ¶ It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2 To show forth thy mercy in the morning and thy faithfulness every night
3 upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery, upon the harp with a pleasant sound.
4 For thou, O LORD, hast made me glad with thy work; I will delight in the works of thy hands.
5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
6 A carnal man does not know, neither does a fool understand this:
7 ¶ The wicked spring forth as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity blossom, so that they shall be destroyed for ever:
8 But thou, O LORD, art most high for evermore.
9 For, behold, thine enemies, O LORD, for behold, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn; I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
11 And my eye saw my desire on my enemies, and my ears heard my desire of those that rose up against me, of the wicked.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be vigorous and flourishing
15 to show that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
12 ¶ And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many sheep and cows,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children; it ate of his own food and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And a traveller came unto the rich man, who did not wish to take of his own sheep and of his own cows to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man that had come to him.
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the LORD lives, the man that has done this thing is worthy of death,
6 and he shall pay for the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.
7 Then Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus hath said the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul,
8 and I gave thee thy master’s house and thy master’s wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that is too little, I shall add unto thee such and such things.
9 Why, therefore, hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah, the Hittite, with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife and hast slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.
10 Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be thy wife.
11 Thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For thou hast done it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.
13 Then David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also has taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 However, because by this deed, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme; the son that is born unto thee shall surely die.
21 ¶ After these things were ended, Paul purposed by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, After I have been there, it behooves me to see Rome also.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of those that ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about the way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen,
25 whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Sirs, ye know that by this gain we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands
27 so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
31 And certain of the chief persons of Asia, who were his friends, sent unto him, asking him that he not present himself in the theatre.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused; and most of them did not know why they were come together.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
35 Then the town scribe, appeasing the people, said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that does not know how the city of the Ephesians is honored of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly.
37 For ye have brought here these men, who are neither guilty of sacrilege, nor blasphemers of your goddess.
38 Therefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another.
39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
40 For we are in danger of being accused of sedition for this day’s uproar, there being no cause by which we may give an account of this concourse.
41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
14 ¶ And as he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude about them and scribes that disputed with them.
15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
16 And he asked the scribes, What dispute ye with them?
17 And one of the multitude answering, said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, who has a dumb spirit;
18 and wherever he takes him, he tears him, and he foams and gnashes with his teeth and pines away; and I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.
19 Answering, he said unto him, O unfaithful generation, how long shall I be with you? How long must I suffer you? Bring him unto me.
20 And they brought him unto him; and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tore him; and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming.
21 And Jesus asked his father, How long ago is it since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to kill him, but if thou canst do any thing, help us, having mercy on us.
23 And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe this, all things are possible to him that believes.
24 And straightway the father of the child crying out with tears, said, Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the multitude concurred, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him and enter no more into him.
26 Then the spirit, crying out and rending him sore, came out; and he remained as one dead, insomuch that many said that he was dead.
27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, straightened him up; and he arose.
28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
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