Book of Common Prayer
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 ¶ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens; in them thou shalt establish thy truth.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my slave, saying,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5 ¶ And the heavens shall praise thy wonder, O LORD, thy truth also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heavens can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him.
8 O LORD God of the hosts, who is like unto thee? Strong JAH, compassed about with thy truth.
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, thou dost still them.
10 Thou hast broken Egypt in pieces as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: the world and its fullness, thou didst found.
12 Thou hast created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon shall sing in thy name.
13 The mighty arm is thine; strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Thy throne is composed of righteousness and judgment; mercy and truth go before thy face.
15 ¶ Happy are the people that know how to enter into joy; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name shall they rejoice each day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the LORD is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 ¶ Then thou didst speak in vision to thy holy one and didst say, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of my people.
20 I have found David my slave; I anointed him with the oil of my holiness,
21 with whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not overcome him, nor the son of iniquity break him down.
23 But I will break down his foes before his face and smite those that hate him.
24 But my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 In the same manner I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall call me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my saving health.
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 I will also make his seed to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments,
31 if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will visit their rebellion with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
33 Nevertheless I will not take my mercy from him, neither will I falsify my truth.
34 I will not profane my covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me.
37 It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
38 ¶ But thou hast cast off and abhorred thine anointed; thou hast been wroth with him.
39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy slave; thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way spoil him; he is a reproach to his neighbours.
42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Thou hast also blunted the edge of his sword and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his clarity to cease and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, O LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is; why hast thou made all men subject to vanity?
48 What man is he that lives and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah.
49 Lord, where are thy former mercies, which thou didst sware unto David in thy truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy slaves; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of many peoples,
51 because thine enemies have dishonoured, O LORD; they have dishonoured the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be the LORD for ever. Amen and Amen.
49 ¶ And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, principal in dignity, and the principal in power.
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not be principal because thou didst go up to thy father’s bed; then thou became defiled, going up to my couch.
5 ¶ Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of injustice are their weapons.
6 Let my soul not enter into their secret; nor let my honour join their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their own will they dug down a wall.
7 Cursed be their anger, which is strong, and their wrath, which is hard; I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
8 ¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up; he stooped down, he couched as a lion and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass’s colt unto the choice roots; he washed his garments in wine and his covering in the blood of grapes;
12 His eyes red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 ¶ Zebulun shall dwell at the port of the sea; and he shall be for a port of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens;
15 and he saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute.
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for thy saving health, O LORD.
19 Gad, an army shall invade him, but he shall invade at the last.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield delight unto the king.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose, who shall give forth a good word.
22 ¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a fountain, whose daughters run over the wall.
23 The arches have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him;
24 but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty one of Jacob; from there did the stone of Israel shepherd,
25 by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the deep that lies under, with blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of thy father were greater than the blessings of my progenitors; unto the borders of the eternal hills they shall be upon the head of Joseph and on the crown of the Nazarite of his brethren.
27 Benjamin, ravening wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil.
28 ¶ All these were the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke unto them and blessed them; each one according to his blessing he blessed them.
14 Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 ¶ I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of the Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of the Christ?
17 For one loaf of bread means that many are one body, for we are all partakers of that one loaf.
18 Behold Israel after the flesh: are not those who eat of the sacrifices participants of the altar?
19 What do I say then? that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?
20 But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I would not that ye should be participants of demons.
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; ye cannot be participants of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.
22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
23 ¶ All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify.
24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of the other.
25 Whatever is sold in the market, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake;
26 for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.
27 If any of those that do not believe bid you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake.
28 But if anyone says unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, do not eat it for the sake of him that disclosed it and for conscience sake; for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof:
29 conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other, for why should my liberty be judged by another man’s conscience?
30 For if I by grace am a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?
31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatever ye do, do everything for the glory of God.
32 Be without offense, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God;
33 even as I please everyone in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
11 ¶ Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
24 ¶ And from there he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entering into a house, desired that no man know of it; but he could not be hid.
25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him and came and fell at his feet;
26 the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation, and she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and to cast it unto the dogs.
28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
29 And he said unto her, For this word go; the demon has gone out of thy daughter.
30 And when she came to her house, she found that the demon had gone out, and the daughter lay upon the bed.
31 ¶ And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre, he came by Sidon unto the sea of Galilee through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.
32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
33 And taking him aside from the multitude, he put his fingers into the man’s ears; and spitting, he touched the man’s tongue with the saliva;
34 and looking up to heaven, he cried out, and said, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35 And straightway his ears were opened, and that which bound his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.
36 And he charged them that they should tell no one; but the more he commanded them, so much more and more they published it
37 and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He has done all things well: he makes both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.
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