Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ I waited patiently for the LORD, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of the pit of hopelessness, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and straightened my steps.
3 And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear and shall wait on the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Thou hast increased, O LORD my God, thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts regarding us; they are beyond our ability to express, declare, or speak; they cannot be told.
6 ¶ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.
7 Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my bowels.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy truth and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 ¶ Do not withhold thy tender mercies from me, O LORD; let thy mercy and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about; my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to see; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my life to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
17 When I am poor and needy; the Lord will remember me; thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
To the Overcomer on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Does David not hide himself with us?
1 ¶ Save me, O God, in thy name and defend me by thy valour.
2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Selah.
4 ¶ Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is with those that uphold my soul.
5 He shall reward evil unto my enemies; cut them off in thy truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me out of all trouble, and my eye has seen his desire upon my enemies.
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 ¶ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy mercy; according unto the multitude of thy compassion eradicate my rebellion.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my rebellion; and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou be declared just in thy word and pure in thy judgment.
5 Behold, the pain of my iniquity has caused me to writhe; my mother conceived me so that sin might be removed from me.
6 Behold, thou dost desire truth in the inward parts, and in the secret things thou hast made me to know wisdom.
7 ¶ Remove the sin in me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins and eradicate all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy saving health, and thy spirit of liberty shall uphold me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 ¶ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
16 For thou dost not desire sacrifice or else would I give it; thou dost not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then thou shalt be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, the burnt offering, the offering that has been totally consumed by the fire; then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
18 ¶ The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou didst come out from Egypt.
19 All that opens the womb is mine; and every firstborn among thy livestock, whether of cow or of sheep, that is male.
20 But the firstborn of an ass thou shalt ransom with a lamb, and if thou ransom him not, then shalt thou cut off his head. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt ransom, and none shall appear before me empty.
21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt cease; in ploughing time and in harvest thou shalt cease.
22 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of the reaping of the wheat, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the GOD who is Lord of all, the God of Israel.
24 For I will cast the Gentiles out of thy presence and enlarge thy borders; neither shall anyone covet thy land when thou shalt go up to be seen before the LORD thy God three times a year.
25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon anything leavened; neither shall any of the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother’s milk.
27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words; for according to these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
28 ¶ And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29 And it came to pass, as Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, while he came down from the mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone after he had talked with him.
30 And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
31 And Moses called them, and Aaron and all the princes of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them.
32 And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out. And as he came out, he would speak unto the sons of Israel that which he was commanded.
35 And the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses that the skin of Moses’ face shone, and Moses would put the veil upon his face again until he would go in to speak with him.
3 ¶ Therefore when we could wait no longer, we agreed to remain in Athens alone
2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of the Christ, to confirm you and to exhort you in your faith,
3 that no one should be moved in these tribulations, for you know that we are appointed for this.
4 For even when we were with you, we told you in advance that we must pass through tribulations, even as it has come to pass, and ye know.
5 For this cause I, also, not waiting any longer, have sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter has tempted you and our labour is in vain.
6 ¶ But now when Timothy came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.
7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our tribulation and need by your faith;
8 for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy with which we joy for your sakes before our God,
10 night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might complete that which is lacking in your faith?
11 ¶ Now may God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you.
12 And the Lord make you to multiply and make charity to abound among you and toward all men, even as it is with us toward you,
13 that your hearts may be confirmed in holiness, irreprehensible before God, even our Father, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not commit adultery;
28 but I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 Therefore if thy right eye should bring thee occasion to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand should bring thee occasion to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 It was also said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce;
32 but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.
33 ¶ Again, ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not perjure thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths;
34 but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is God’s throne,
35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no; for whatsoever is more than this comes of evil.
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