Book of Common Prayer
128 Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.
2 Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.
3 The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.
4 The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners:
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.
6 Let them be as grass on the tops of houses: which withered before it be plucked up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth sheaves his bosom.
8 And they that have passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.
129 Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
3 If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
4 For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word:
5 My soul hath hoped in the Lord.
6 From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
7 Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
130 Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.
2 If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.
3 Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.
2 Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.
2 And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
4 In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?
5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.
7 The house of Jacob saith: Is the spirit of the Lord straitened, or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?
8 But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war.
9 You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise for ever from their children.
10 Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.
11 Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.
12 I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as the sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.
13 For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide, and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.
23 Then having called two centurions, he said to them: Make ready two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen for the third hour of the night:
24 And provide beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe to Felix the governor.
25 (For he feared lest perhaps the Jews might take him away by force and kill him, and he should afterwards be slandered, as if he was to take money.) And he wrote a letter after this manner:
26 Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor, Felix, greeting.
27 This man being taken by the Jews, and ready to be killed by them, I rescued coming in with an army, understanding that he is a Roman:
28 And meaning to know the cause which they objected unto him, I brought him forth into their council.
29 Whom I found to be accused concerning questions of their law; but having nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bands.
30 And when I was told of ambushes that they had prepared for him, I sent him to thee, signifying also to his accusers to plead before thee. Farewell.
31 Then the soldiers, according as it was commanded them, taking Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris.
32 And the next day, leaving the horsemen to go with him, they returned to the castle.
33 Who, when they were come to Caesarea, and had delivered the letter to the governor, did also present Paul before him.
34 And when he had read it, and had asked of what province he was, and understood that he was of Cilicia;
35 I will hear thee, said he, when thy accusers come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall.
18 And John's disciples told him of all these things.
19 And John called to him two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, saying: Art thou he that art to come; or look we for another?
20 And when the men were come unto him, they said: John the Baptist hath sent us to thee, saying: Art thou he that art to come; or look we for another?
21 (And in that same hour, he cured many of their diseases, and hurts, and evil spirits: and to many that were blind he gave sight.)
22 And answering, he said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the gospel is preached:
23 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized in me.
24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John. What went ye out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind?
25 But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings.
26 But what went you out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
28 For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he.
29 And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John's baptism.
30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.
31 And the Lord said: Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
32 They are like to children sitting in the marketplace, and speaking one to another, and saying: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have mourned, and you have not wept.
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say: He hath a devil.
34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking: and you say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners.
35 And wisdom is justified by all her children.
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