Evening Prayer

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: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

³ I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

⁴ Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

⁵ And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

⁶ For who in the heaven 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 them that are about him.

⁸ O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

⁹ Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

¹⁰ Thou hast broken Rahab 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: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

¹² The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

¹³ Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

¹⁴ Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

¹⁵ Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

¹⁶ In thy name shall they rejoice all the 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 defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

¹⁹ Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

²⁰ I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

²¹ With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

²² The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

²³ And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

²⁴ But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

²⁵ I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

²⁶ He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

²⁷ Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

²⁸ My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

²⁹ His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

³⁰ If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

³¹ If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

³² Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

³³ Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

³⁴ My covenant will I not break, 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, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

³⁹ Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: 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 turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

⁴⁴ Thou hast made his glory 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, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

⁴⁸ What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

⁴⁹ Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

⁵¹ Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

⁵² Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

¹ Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

² For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

³ I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

⁴ Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

⁵ I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

⁶ Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

⁷ They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

⁸ Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

⁹ For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹ For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

¹² Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

¹³ Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

¹⁴ All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

¹⁶ Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

¹⁷ Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

¹⁸ O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

¹⁹ Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

²⁰ Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

²¹ And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

²² There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.

¹ The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

² Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

³ Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

⁴ And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

⁵ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

⁹ Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

¹⁰ But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

¹¹ To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

¹² By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.

¹³ The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.

¹⁴ Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen