Book of Common Prayer
33 ¶ He turned rivers into a wilderness and the watersprings into dry ground;
34 the fruitful land into salt flats, because of the wickedness of those that dwell therein.
35 He turns the wilderness into reservoirs of water and dry ground into watersprings.
36 And there he makes the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation
37 and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly and suffers not their cattle to decrease.
39 Again, they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
40 He pours contempt upon princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
41 Yet he sets the poor on high from affliction and makes his families like a flock.
42 The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
43 Who is wise and will observe these things and shall understand the mercies of the LORD?
A Song or Psalm of David.
1 ¶ O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise; this is my glory.
2 Awake, psaltery and harp; I will awake the dawn.
3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reaches unto the heavens.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth;
6 ¶ that thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.
7 God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead shall be mine; Manasseh shall be mine; Ephraim also shall be the strength of my head; Judah shall be my lawgiver;
9 Moab shall be my washpot; over Edom I will cast my shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.
10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
11 Surely thou, O God, who had cast us off and did not, O God, go forth with our hosts.
12 Give us help from trouble; for the salvation of man is deception.
13 Through God we shall do valiantly, for he shall tread down our enemies again.
1 ¶ Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous, for to the upright praise is beautiful.
2 Celebrate unto the LORD with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing unto him a new song; play unto excellence with joy.
4 For the word of the LORD is right, and all his works are done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; he lays up the deeps for treasures.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it came into being.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the Gentiles to nought; he makes the devices of the peoples of no effect.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 ¶ Blessed is the people whose God is the LORD; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The LORD looked from heaven; he saw all the sons of Adam.
14 From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioned all of their hearts; he considers all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the multitude of the army; the mighty man does not escape by much strength.
17 A horse is a vain thing for salvation; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those that fear him, upon those that wait for his mercy
19 to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in the famine.
20 Our soul waited for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
21 Therefore our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in the name of his holiness.
22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have waited upon thee.
16 ¶ And when David was a little past the top of the mountain, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of asses saddled and upon them two hundred loaves of bread and one hundred bunches of raisins and one hundred of summer fruits and a bottle of wine.
2 And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses are for the king’s household to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit for the servants to eat, and the wine that those that become weary in the wilderness may drink.
3 And the king said, And where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem, for he said, Today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
4 Then the king said to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba bowed down and said, Let me find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.
5 ¶ And when King David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of the house of Saul came forth, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came forth cursing
6 and casting stones at David and at all the slaves of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial;
8 the LORD has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, thy son; and, behold, thou art taken in thy evil because thou art a bloody man.
9 Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse, my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.
10 And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the LORD has said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why hast thou done so?
11 And David said to Abishai, and to all his slaves, Behold, my son, who came forth of my bowels, seeks my life; how much more now a son of Jemini? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has bidden him.
12 It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.
13 And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the side of the mountain over against him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and cast dust.
14 And the king and all the people that were with him arrived weary and refreshed themselves there.
15 ¶ And Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.
16 And it came to pass when Hushai the Archite, David’s special companion, came unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, Long live the king, Long live the king.
17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy mercy to thy friend? Why didst thou not go with thy friend?
18 And Hushai said unto Absalom, No, but whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.
19 And again, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in thy father’s presence, so will I be in thy presence.
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong.
22 So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house, and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23 And the counseled of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the word of God: so was all the counseled of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
17 And it came to pass that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a rapture of understanding
18 and saw him saying unto me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and in every synagogue beat those that believed on thee;
20 and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of those that slew him.
21 And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far from here unto the Gentiles.
22 ¶ And they gave him audience unto this word and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live.
23 And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air,
24 the tribunal commanded him to be brought into the fortress and bade that he should be examined by scourging that he might know why they cried out so against him.
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the tribunal, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman.
27 Then the tribunal came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yes.
28 And the tribunal answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
29 Then straightway those who should have tormented him departed from him, and the tribunal was also afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman and because he had bound him.
11 ¶ And when they came near to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at the mount of Olives, he sends forth two of his disciples
2 and said unto them, Go to the place which is before you; and as soon as ye are entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, upon which no man ever sat; loose him and bring him.
3 And if anyone says unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord has need of him, and straightway he will send him here.
4 And they went and found the colt tied by the door outside between two ways, and they loosed him.
5 And some of those that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
6 Then they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him, and he sat upon him.
8 And many spread their garments in the way, and others cut down leaves off the trees and spread them in the way.
9 And those that went before and those that followed cried out, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord;
10 blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
11 And the Lord entered into Jerusalem and into the temple; and when he had looked around upon all things, and it being now late, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
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