Book of Common Prayer
Michtam of David.
1 ¶ Preserve me, O God: for in thee I have put my trust.
2 I said unto the LORD, Thou art my goodness: I have no goodness apart from thee;
3 to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent: all my delight is towards them.
4 The sorrows of those that hasten after another god shall be multiplied; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; thou dost maintain my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I will bless the LORD, who gives me counsel: my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because when he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thy Merciful One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
A Prayer of David.
1 ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.
3 Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.
5 Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.
6 I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.
7 Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.
8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,
9 from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth
12 like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;
14 from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
To the Overcomer upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my cry?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest in the midst of the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee and were delivered: they trusted in thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people.
7 All those that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 Turn him over to the LORD, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou hast made me wait upon thee since I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 ¶ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.
13 They opened their mouth upon me as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may count all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the unicorns.
22 ¶ I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the poor in spirit; neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before those that fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied: those that seek him shall praise the LORD; your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD; and all the families of the Gentiles shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s, and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles.
29 All those that are fat upon earth shall eat and worship; all those that go down to the dust shall bow before him; and no one can keep his own soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this.
8 ¶ Doth not wisdom cry, and give her voice to intelligence?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way at the crossroads of the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O ye simple, understand prudence; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing perverse or twisted in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands and right to those that have found wisdom.
10 Receive my chastening and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than precious stones; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 ¶ I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I invent the knowledge of giving counsel.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.
14 With me is counsel, and existence; I am understanding; strength belongs to me.
15 By me the kings reign, and the princes decree justice.
16 By me the princes rule, and all of the governors judge the earth.
17 I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than precious stones, and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I shall lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 that I may cause my friends to inherit existence and I will fill their treasures.
1 ¶ The elder unto the chosen lady and her sons, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all those that have known the truth,
2 for the truth’s sake, which abides in us and shall be with us for ever.
3 Grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and charity.
4 I have rejoiced greatly, for I have found of thy sons that they walk in the truth, as we have received the commandment from the Father.
5 ¶ And now I beseech thee, lady, (not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning) that we love one another.
6 And this is charity, that we walk after his commandment. And this is the commandment, That ye walk in him, as ye have heard from the beginning.
7 ¶ For many deceivers are entered into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in flesh. This same is a deceiver and antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we not lose those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a fulfilled reward.
9 Whosoever rebels and does not abide in the doctrine of the Christ, does not have God. He that abides in the doctrine of the Christ, the same has the Father and the Son.
10 ¶ If anyone comes unto you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house neither say unto him, Welcome:
11 For he that says unto him, Welcome, is partaker of his evil deeds.
12 ¶ Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
13 The sons of thy chosen sister greet thee. Amen.
12 ¶ At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the planted fields, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of grain and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, and those that were with him, when he was hungry,
4 how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath and are blameless?
6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
7 But if ye knew what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not condemn the innocent.
8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
9 And when he was departed from there, he went into their synagogue;
10 and, behold, there was a man who had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out?
12 Therefore, how much more is a man worth than a sheep? So that it is lawful to do good on the sabbath days.
13 Then he said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like the other.
14 ¶ Then the Pharisees went out and took council against him that they might destroy him.
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