Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18
To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
1 I love You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength.
2 The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower.(A)
3 I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.(B)
4 The cords or bands of death surrounded me, and the streams of ungodliness and the torrents of ruin terrified me.
5 The cords of Sheol (the place of the dead) surrounded me; the snares of death confronted and came upon me.
6 In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry.
8 There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet.
10 And He rode upon a cherub [a storm] and flew [swiftly]; yes, He sped on with the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret hiding place; as His pavilion (His canopy) round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 Out of the brightness before Him there broke forth through His thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout.
15 Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He reached from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted and came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay and support.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; He was delivering me because He was pleased with me and delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness (my conscious integrity and sincerity with Him); according to the cleanness of my hands has He recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His ordinances were before me, and I put not away His statutes from me.
23 I was upright before Him and blameless with Him, ever [on guard] to keep myself free from my sin and guilt.
24 Therefore has the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness (my uprightness and right standing with Him), according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25 With the kind and merciful You will show Yourself kind and merciful, with an upright man You will show Yourself upright,
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure, and with the perverse You will show Yourself contrary.
27 For You deliver an afflicted and humble people but will bring down those with haughty looks.
28 For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness.
29 For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, His way is perfect! The word of the Lord is tested and tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him.
31 For who is God except the Lord? Or who is the Rock save our God,
32 The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect?
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up; Your gentleness and condescension have made me great.
36 You have given plenty of room for my steps under me, that my feet would not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I smote them so that they were not able to rise; they fell wounded under my feet.
39 For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me and caused to bow down those who rose up against me.
40 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.
41 They cried [for help], but there was none to deliver—even unto the Lord, but He answered them not.
42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the dirt and mire of the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You made me the head of the nations; a people I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me; foreigners submitted themselves cringingly and yielded feigned obedience to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their caves or strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted,
47 The God Who avenges me and subdues peoples under me,
48 Who delivers me from my enemies; yes, You lift me up above those who rise up against me; You deliver me from the man of violence.
49 Therefore will I give thanks and extol You, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to Your name.(C)
50 Great deliverances and triumphs gives He to His king; and He shows mercy and steadfast love to His anointed, to David and his offspring forever.(D)
14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented and troubled him.
15 Saul’s servants said to him, Behold, an evil spirit from God torments you.
16 Let our lord now command your servants here before you to find a man who plays skillfully on the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.
17 Saul told his servants, Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me.
18 One of the young men said, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who plays skillfully, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech and eloquent, an attractive person; and the Lord is with him.
19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.
20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid and sent them by David his son to Saul.
21 And David came to Saul and served him. Saul became very fond of him, and he became his armor-bearer.
22 Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he pleases me.
23 And when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took a lyre and played it; so Saul was refreshed and became well, and the evil spirit left him.
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and were assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.
2 Saul and the men of Israel were encamped in the Valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.
4 And a champion went out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [almost ten feet].
5 And he had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of mail, and the coat weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze.
6 He had bronze shin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin across his shoulders.
7 And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; his spear’s head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And a shield bearer went before him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.
9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.
10 And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
17 Now Peter was still inwardly perplexed and doubted as to what the vision which he had seen could mean, when [just then] behold the messengers that were sent by Cornelius, who had made inquiry for Simon’s house, stopped and stood before the gate.
18 And they called out to inquire whether Simon who was surnamed Peter was staying there.
19 And while Peter was [a]earnestly revolving the vision in his mind and meditating on it, the [Holy] Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you!
20 Get up and go below and accompany them without any doubt [about its legality] or any discrimination or hesitation, for I have sent them.
21 Then Peter went down to the men and said, I am the man you seek; what is the purpose of your coming?
22 And they said, Cornelius, a centurion (captain) who is just and upright and in right standing with God, being God-fearing and obedient and well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, has been instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house; and he [b]has received in answer [to prayer] a warning to listen to and act upon what you have to say.
23 So Peter invited them in to be his guests [for the night]. The next day he arose and went away with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for and expecting them, and he had invited together his relatives and his intimate friends.
25 As Peter arrived, Cornelius met him, and falling down at his feet he made obeisance and paid worshipful reverence to him.
26 But Peter raised him up, saying, Get up; I myself am also a man.
27 And as [Peter] spoke with him, he entered the house and found a large group of persons assembled;
28 And he said to them, You yourselves are aware how it is not lawful or permissible for a Jew to keep company with or to visit or [even] to come near or to speak first to anyone of another nationality, but God has shown and taught me by words that I should not call any human being common or unhallowed or [ceremonially] unclean.
29 Therefore when I was sent for, I came without hesitation or objection or misgivings. So now I ask for what reason you sent for me.
30 And Cornelius said, This is now the fourth day since about this time I was observing the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) of prayer in my lodging place; [suddenly] a man stood before me in dazzling apparel,
31 And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and harkened to, and your donations to the poor have been known and [c]preserved before God [so that He heeds and is about to help you].
32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is surnamed Peter; he is staying in the house of Simon the tanner by the seaside.
33 So at once I sent for you, and you [being a Jew] have done a kind and [d]courteous and handsome thing in coming. Now then, we are all present in the sight of God to listen to all that you have been instructed by the Lord to say.
36 Now while they were talking about this, Jesus Himself took His stand among them and said to them, Peace ([a]freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin) be to you!
37 But they were so startled and terrified that they thought they saw a spirit.
38 And He said to them, Why are you disturbed and troubled, and why do such doubts and questionings arise in your hearts?
39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Feel and handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
41 And while [since] they still could not believe it for sheer joy and marveled, He said to them, Have you anything here to eat?
42 They gave Him a piece of broiled fish,
43 And He took [it] and ate [it] before them.
44 Then He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything which is written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
45 Then He [thoroughly] opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 And said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer and on the third day rise from ([b] among) the dead,(A)
47 And that repentance [with a view to and as the condition of] forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised; but remain in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high.
50 Then He conducted them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He invoked a blessing on them.
51 And it occurred that while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was taken up into heaven.
52 And they, worshiping Him, went back to Jerusalem with great joy;
53 And they were continually in the temple celebrating with praises and blessing and extolling God. Amen (so be it).
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