Book of Common Prayer

A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Judge me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity; I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

² Examine me, O LORD and prove me; melt my kidneys and my heart.

³ For thy mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in thy truth.

⁴ I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with hypocrites.

⁵ I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked.

⁶ ¶ I will wash my hands in innocency, so I will walk near unto thine altar, O LORD:

⁷ That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works.

⁸ LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place of the tabernacle of thy glory.

⁹ Gather not my soul with the sinners, nor my life with those who have blood on their hands:

¹⁰ In whose hands are wicked devices, and their right hand is full of bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; ransom me and be merciful unto me.

¹² I have walked uprightly; in the congregations I will bless the LORD.

A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent unto me lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like those that go down into the grave.

² Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward the oracle of thy holiness.

³ Do not catch me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, but evil is in their hearts.

⁴ Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render unto them their desert.

⁵ Because they do not regard the works of the LORD nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them and not build them up.

⁶ ¶ Blessed be the LORD because he has heard the voice of my supplications.

⁷ The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song I will praise him.

⁸ The LORD is the strength of his people, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

⁹ Save thy people and bless thine inheritance; feed them also and lift them up for ever.

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David the slave of the LORD.

¹ ¶ The rebellion of the wicked saith to my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

² For he flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquity is found to be hateful.

³ The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he has left off to be wise and to do good.

⁴ He devises iniquity upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.

⁵ ¶ Thy mercy, O LORD, reaches unto the heavens, and thy truth reaches unto the clouds.

⁶ Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God; thy judgments are a great deep; O LORD, thou dost preserve man and beast.

⁷ How excellent is thy mercy, O God! therefore the sons of Adam cover themselves in the shadow of thy wings.

⁸ They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

⁹ For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.

¹⁰ Extend thy mercy unto those that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

¹¹ Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

¹² There are the workers of iniquity fallen; they are cast down and shall not be able to rise.

To the Overcomer, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bit while the wicked is against me.

² I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

³ My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue,

⁴ LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how long I am to be of this world.

⁵ Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before thee; verily every man that lives is altogether vanity. Selah.

⁶ Surely man walks in darkness; surely they are disquieted in vain; they heap up riches not knowing who shall gather them.

⁷ ¶ And now, Lord, what shall I wait for? My hope is in thee.

⁸ Deliver me from all my rebellions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

⁹ I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because thou didst it.

¹⁰ Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

¹¹ When thou with chastening dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his greatness to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah.

¹² Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

¹³ O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go from here and be no more.

19 ¶ In the third month from when the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

² For they had departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the mount.

³ And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:

⁴ Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto myself.

⁵ Now therefore, if ye will give ear to hearken unto my voice and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a special treasure unto me above all peoples; for all the earth is mine.

⁶ And ye shall be my kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the sons of Israel.

⁷ Then Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

⁸ And all the people answered together and said, All that the LORD has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

⁹ ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, I come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

¹⁰ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes

¹¹ and be ready for the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

¹² And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mount shall surely die:

¹³ Not a hand shall touch it, but that he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the jubilee sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.

¹⁴ And Moses went down from the mount unto the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵ And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; come not at your women.

¹⁶ ¶ And it came to pass on the third day when the morning came, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the voice of the shofar {ram’s horn} exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled.

1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ ¶ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you

⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the charity which ye have toward all the saints,

⁵ for the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which ye have already heard by the word of the truth of the gospel,

⁶ which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day ye heard it and knew the grace of God in truth,

⁷ as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ,

⁸ who also declared unto us your charity in the Spirit.

⁹ ¶ For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, asking that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

¹⁰ that ye might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything, being fruitful in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God,

¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness,

¹² ¶ giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us worthy to participate in the inheritance of the saints in light,

¹³ who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,

¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins,

⁷ ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who taught you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance

⁹ and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father, for I say unto you that God is able to raise up children unto Abraham of these stones.

¹⁰ And now the axe is also laid unto the root of the trees; therefore, every tree which does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

¹¹ I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire,

¹² whose fan is in his hand; and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with fire that shall never be quenched.