Book of Common Prayer
88 O LORD, God of My Salvation, I cry day and night before You.
2 Let my prayer enter into Your presence. Incline Your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is filled with evils and my life draws near to the grave.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; and am as a man without strength,
5 Free among the dead, like the fatally wounded laying in the grave when You remember no more; and they are cut off from Your hand.
6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deep.
7 Your indignation lies upon me; and You have troubled me with all Your waves. Selah.
8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me and made me to be abhorred by them. I am shut up and cannot get out.
9 My eye is sorrowful through my affliction. LORD, I call daily upon You. I stretch out my hands to You.
10 Will You show a miracle to the dead? Or shall the dead rise and praise You? Selah.
11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or Your faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall Your wondrous works be known in the dark; and Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
13 But to You I have cried, O LORD, and my prayer shall come before You early.
14 LORD, why do You reject my soul and hide Your face from me?
15 I am afflicted and at the point of death. From youth I have doubted, suffering Your terrors.
16 Your indignations go over me and Your fear has cut me off.
17 They came all around me daily like water and encircled me altogether.
18 You have put away my lovers and friends from me. My acquaintances hid themselves. A Psalm to give instruction, of Ethan the Ezrahite
91 Whoever dwells in the secret of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the LORD, “O my Hope, and my Fortress! My God!” In Him will I trust.
3 Surely, He will deliver you from the snare of the hunter, from the calamitous pestilence.
4 He will cover you under His wings. And you shall be sure under his feathers. His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the fear of the night; of the arrow that flies by day;
6 of the pestilence that walks in the darkness; of the plague that destroys at noon day.
7 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. But it shall not come near you.
8 Doubtless, with your eyes you shall behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 For you have said, “The LORD is my hope.” You have set the Most High for your refuge.
10 No evil shall come to you. Nor shall any plague come near your house.
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.
12 They shall hold you in their hands, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You shall walk upon the lion and asp. The young lion and the dragon you shall tread underfoot.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore will I deliver him. I will exalt him because he has known My Name.
15 “He shall call upon Me, and I will hear him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and glorify him.
16 “I will satisfy him with long life and show him my salvation.” A Psalm, or song, for the Sabbath day
92 It is a good thing to praise the LORD, and to sing to Your Name, O Most High,
2 to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your truth in the night,
3 upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the viol, with the song upon the harp.
4 For You, LORD, have made me glad by Your works; and I will rejoice in the works of Your hands.
5 O LORD, how glorious are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.
6 An unwise man does not know it; and a fool does not understand this:
7 that when the wicked grow as the grass and all the workers of wickedness flourish, they shall be destroyed forever.
8 But You, O LORD, are Most High forevermore.
9 For lo, Your enemies, O LORD. For lo, Your enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall be destroyed.
10 But You shall exalt my horn, like the unicorns, and I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
11 Also, my eye shall see my desire against my enemies; and my ears shall hear my wish against the wicked who rise up against me.
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Such as are planted in the House of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in their old age. They shall be fat and flourishing,
15 to declare that the LORD my Rock is righteous and that no iniquity is in Him.
8 That same day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther. And Mordecai came before the king (for Esther had told him what he was to her).
2 And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3 And Esther spoke to the king again and fell down at his feet, weeping, and begged him to reverse the wickedness of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had imagined against the Jews.
4 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. Then Esther arose and stood before the king,
5 And said, “If it please the king —and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing is acceptable before the king, and I please him —let it be written that the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces, may be revoked.
6 “For how can I suffer and see the evil that shall come to my people? Or how can I suffer and see the destruction of my kindred?”
7 And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, whom they have hanged upon the tree, because he laid hands upon the Jews.
8 “Also, write for the Jews as you like, in the King’s name; and seal it with the King’s ring.” (for the writings written in the King’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may not be revoked)
15 And Mordecai went out from the king in royal apparel of blue, and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
16 And to the Jews came light and joy and gladness, and honor.
17 Also, in all and every province, and in all and every city and place where the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was joy and gladness to the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.
21 Now when these things were completed, Paul purposed by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia, and to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
22 So he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia. But he remained in Asia for a while.
23 And about that time there arose no small trouble about the Way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius (a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana) brought great gains to the craftsmen.
25 He called them together, along with workmen of similar things, and said, “Sirs, you know that by this trade we have wealth.
26 “Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that things which are made with hands are not Gods.
27 “So that not only is our trade in danger of disrepute, but also the shrine of the great goddess Diana may be despised, causing her magnificence (which all Asia and the world worships) to be destroyed!”
28 Now when they heard it, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
29 And the whole city was full of confusion. And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus (men of Macedonia, and Paul’s companions on his journey), they rushed into the theatre with one mind.
30 And when Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples did not allow him.
31 Then, some of the rulers of Asia who were his friends sent word to him, begging him not to show himself in the theatre.
32 Therefore some cried one thing, and some another. For the assembly was out of order, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
33 And they brought Alexander out, the Jews thrusting him forward. Alexander then beckoned with his hand, wanting to make a defense to the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, they all began chanting for almost two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
35 Then the town clerk, after he had silenced the people, said, “Men of Ephesus, what man does not know that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which came down from heaven?
36 “Seeing, then, that these things are indisputable, you should calm down, and do nothing rashly.
37 “For you have brought these men here who have committed neither sacrilege nor blasphemy of your goddess.
38 “Therefore, if indeed Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the law is open. And there are proconsuls. Let them accuse one another.
39 “But, if you inquire about other matters, that shall be settled in a lawful assembly.
40 “For we are also in danger of being accused of sedition today, because there is no reason we may give for this riotous multitude.”
41 And after he had said this, he let the assembly depart.
31 and came down into Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them there on the Sabbath days.
32 And they were astonished at His doctrine. For His Word was with authority.
33 And there was a man in the synagogue who had a spirit of an unclean demon, which cried with a loud voice,
34 saying, “Oh, what have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?! Have You come to destroy us?! I know who You are - The Holy One of God!”
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet! And come out of him!” Then the demon, throwing him in the midst of them, came out of him and did not hurt him.
36 So fear came upon them all. And they spoke among themselves, saying, “What thing is this? For He commands the foul spirits with authority and power, and they come out!”
37 And His fame spread throughout all the places of the surrounding countryside.
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