Morning Prayer
Psalm 71. In te, Domine, speravi.
1 IN thee, O LORD, have I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion, * but rid me and deliver me in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
2 Be thou my stronghold, whereunto I may alway resort: * thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.
3 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, * out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
4 For thou, O Lord GOD, art the thing that I long for: * thou art my hope, even from my youth.
5 Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: * thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb: my praise shall be alway of thee.
6 I am become as it were a monster unto many, * but my sure trust is in thee.
7 O let my mouth be filled with thy praise, * that I may sing of thy glory and honour all the day long.
8 Cast me not away in the time of age; * forsake me not when my strength faileth me.
9 For mine enemies speak against me; * and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying,
10 God hath forsaken him; * persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him.
11 Go not far from me, O God; * my God, haste thee to help me.
12 Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul; * let them be covered with shame and dishonour that seek to do me evil.
13 As for me, I will patiently abide alway, * and will praise thee more and more.
14 My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation; * for I know no end thereof.
15 I will go forth in the strength of the Lord GOD, * and will make mention of thy righteousness only.
16 Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now; * therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works.
17 Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed, * until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come.
18 Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, * and great things are they that thou hast done: O God, who is like unto thee!
19 O what great troubles and adversities hast thou showed me ! and yet didst thou turn and refresh me; * yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again.
20 Thou hast brought me to great honour, * and comforted me on every side:
21 Therefore will I praise thee, and thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an instrument of music: * unto thee will I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
22 My lips will be glad when I sing unto thee; * and so will my soul whom thou hast delivered.
23 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long; * for they are confounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil.
First Lesson:
Joshua 14:6
6)Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. 7)Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 8)Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. 9)And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. 10)And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. 11)As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. 12)Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. 13)And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. 14)Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel. 15)And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.
Second Lesson:
Luke 6:12-26
12)And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13)And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 14)Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15)Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, 16)And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 17)And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; 18)And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19)And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. 20)And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 21)Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22)Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23)Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. 24)But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 25)Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 26)Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Evening Prayer
Psalm 77. Voce mea ad Dominum.
1 I WILL cry unto God with my voice; * even unto God will I cry with my voice, and he shall hearken unto me.
2 In the time of my trouble I sought the Lord: * I stretched forth my hands unto him, and ceased not in the night season; my soul refused comfort.
3 When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God; * when my heart is vexed, I will complain.
4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: * I am so feeble that I cannot speak.
5 I have considered the days of old, * and the years that are past.
6 I call to remembrance my song, * and in the night I commune with mine own heart, and search out my spirit.
7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever? * and will he be no more intreated?
8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? * and is his promise come utterly to an end for evermore?
9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? * and will he shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure?
10 And I said, It is mine own infirmity; * but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most Highest.
11 I will remember the works of the LORD, * and call to mind thy wonders of old time.
12 I will think also of all thy works, * and my talking shall be of thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is holy: * who is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders, * and hast declared thy power among the peoples.
15 Thou hast mightily delivered thy people, * even the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and were afraid; * the depths also were troubled.
17 The clouds poured out water, the air thundered, * and thine arrows went abroad.
18 The voice of thy thunder was heard round about: * the lightnings shone upon the ground; the earth was moved, and shook withal.
19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters, * and thy footsteps are not known.
20 Thou leddest thy people like sheep, * by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
First Lesson:
Neh. 2:9
9)Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10)When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11)So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12)And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. 13)And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. 14)Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15)Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. 16)And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. 17)Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18)Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. 19)But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? 20)Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.
Second Lesson:
Acts 13:13-25
13)Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. 14)But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15)And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 16)Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 17)The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. 18)And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. 19)And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. 20)And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21)And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. 22)And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 23)Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: 24)When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25)And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.