Evening Prayer

¹ Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

² But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

³ For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

⁵ They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶ Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷ Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

⁸ They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

⁹ They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

¹¹ And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

¹² Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

¹³ Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

¹⁴ For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

¹⁶ When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

¹⁸ Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

¹⁹ How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰ As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

²¹ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

²² So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

²⁴ Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

²⁷ For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

¹ O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

² Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

³ Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

⁴ Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

⁵ A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

⁶ But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.

⁷ They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.

⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

⁹ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

¹⁰ O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

¹¹ Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

¹² For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

¹⁴ Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

¹⁵ Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.

¹⁶ The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

¹⁷ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

¹⁹ O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

²⁰ Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

²¹ O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

²² Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

²³ Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

¹ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

² Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

³ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

⁴ Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

⁵ For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

⁶ The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

⁷ The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

⁸ Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

⁹ With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

¹⁰ Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

¹¹ LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

¹² LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

¹³ O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

¹⁴ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

¹⁵ Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

¹⁶ LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

¹⁷ Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

¹⁸ We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

¹⁹ Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

²¹ For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

¹ Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

² As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

³ If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

⁴ To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

⁶ Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

⁷ Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

⁸ And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

¹⁰ Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

¹¹ Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

¹² Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

¹³ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

¹⁴ Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

¹⁵ For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

¹⁶ As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

¹⁷ Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

¹⁸ Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

¹⁹ For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

²⁰ For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

²¹ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

²² Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

²³ Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

²⁵ For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.