Book of Common Prayer
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 ¶ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens; in them thou shalt establish thy truth.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my slave, saying,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5 ¶ And the heavens shall praise thy wonder, O LORD, thy truth also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heavens can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him.
8 O LORD God of the hosts, who is like unto thee? Strong JAH, compassed about with thy truth.
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, thou dost still them.
10 Thou hast broken Egypt in pieces as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: the world and its fullness, thou didst found.
12 Thou hast created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon shall sing in thy name.
13 The mighty arm is thine; strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Thy throne is composed of righteousness and judgment; mercy and truth go before thy face.
15 ¶ Happy are the people that know how to enter into joy; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In thy name shall they rejoice each day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the LORD is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 ¶ Then thou didst speak in vision to thy holy one and didst say, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of my people.
20 I have found David my slave; I anointed him with the oil of my holiness,
21 with whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not overcome him, nor the son of iniquity break him down.
23 But I will break down his foes before his face and smite those that hate him.
24 But my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 In the same manner I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall call me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my saving health.
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 I will also make his seed to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments,
31 if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will visit their rebellion with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
33 Nevertheless I will not take my mercy from him, neither will I falsify my truth.
34 I will not profane my covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me.
37 It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
38 ¶ But thou hast cast off and abhorred thine anointed; thou hast been wroth with him.
39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy slave; thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way spoil him; he is a reproach to his neighbours.
42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Thou hast also blunted the edge of his sword and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his clarity to cease and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, O LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is; why hast thou made all men subject to vanity?
48 What man is he that lives and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah.
49 Lord, where are thy former mercies, which thou didst sware unto David in thy truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy slaves; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of many peoples,
51 because thine enemies have dishonoured, O LORD; they have dishonoured the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be the LORD for ever. Amen and Amen.
4 ¶ Thou also, son of man, take a tile and lay it before thee and portray upon it the city of Jerusalem
2 and lay siege against it and build a fort against it and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 And take an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it and it shall be for an encompassment, and thou shalt lay siege against the city. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Thou shalt sleep upon thy left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have summed up for thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt sleep on thy right side this second time, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: a day for a year; I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against her.
8 And, behold, I laced bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn from one side to another until thou hast ended the days appointed thee upon thy sides.
9 ¶ Take also unto thee wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and fitches and put them in one vessel and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10 And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt also drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from time to time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat barley cakes baked under the ashes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul is not defiled: for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither has abominable flesh come into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Behold, I give thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with it.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I break the sustenance of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anguish; and they shall drink water by measure, and with terror.
17 For they shall lack bread and water, and terrorize one another, and faint because of their iniquity.
6 ¶ Therefore, leaving now the word of the beginning of the establishment of the Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from works of death, and of faith in God,
2 of the doctrine of the baptisms, and of the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this we will indeed do, if God permits.
4 For it is impossible that those who once received the light and tasted of that heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit
5 and likewise have tasted the good word of God and the virtue of the age to come,
6 and have backslidden, be renewed again by repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and putting him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes often upon it and brings forth herbs in season for those by whom it is dressed receives blessing from God;
8 but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected and is near unto cursing, whose end shall be by fire.
9 ¶ But, beloved, we expect better things than these of you, things near unto saving health, though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of charity which ye have showed in his name, having helped the saints and helping them.
11 But we desire that each one of you show the same diligence until the end for the fulfillment of your hope,
12 that ye not become slothful, but imitators of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises.
51 ¶ And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem
52 and sent messengers before his face; and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him.
53 And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?
55 But he turned and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56 For the Son of man is not come to lose men’s souls, but to save them. And they went to another village.
57 ¶ And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.
59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.
60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and declare the kingdom of God.
61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid farewell those who are at home at my house.
62 And Jesus said unto him, No one having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
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