Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
Delight in God’s Word
א Aleph
1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless,(A)
who walk according to the Lord’s instruction!(B)
2 Happy are those who keep his decrees(C)
and seek him with all their heart.(D)
3 They do nothing wrong;(E)
they walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded that your precepts(F)
be diligently kept.
5 If only my ways were committed
to keeping your statutes!(G)
6 Then I would not be ashamed(H)
when I think about all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart(I)
when I learn your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep your statutes;
never abandon me.(J)
ב Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping your[b] word.(K)
10 I have sought you with all my heart;(L)
don’t let me wander from your commands.(M)
11 I have treasured your word in my heart(N)
so that I may not sin against you.
12 Lord, may you be blessed;
teach me your statutes.(O)
13 With my lips I proclaim
all the judgments from your mouth.(P)
14 I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees(Q)
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts(R)
and think about your ways.(S)
16 I will delight in your statutes;(T)
I will not forget your word.
ג Gimel
17 Deal generously with your servant(U)
so that I might live;
then I will keep your word.
18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate
wondrous things from your instruction.
19 I am a resident alien on earth;(V)
do not hide your commands from me.
20 I am continually overcome
with longing for your judgments.(W)
21 You rebuke the arrogant,
the ones under a curse,(X)
who wander from your commands.(Y)
22 Take insult and contempt away from me,(Z)
for I have kept your decrees.
23 Though princes sit together speaking against me,(AA)
your servant will think about your statutes;(AB)
24 your decrees are my delight
and my counselors.(AC)
Psalm 12
Oppression by the Wicked
For the choir director: according to Sheminith.(A) A psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains;
the loyal have disappeared from the human race.[a](B)
2 They lie to one another;
they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.(C)
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks boastfully.(D)
4 They say, “Through our tongues we have power;
our lips are our own—who can be our master?” (E)
5 “Because of the devastation of the needy
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will provide safety for the one who longs for it.”(F)
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times.(G)
7 You, Lord, will guard us;[b]
you will protect us[c] from this generation forever.(H)
8 The wicked prowl[d] all around,
and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.(I)
Psalm 13
A Plea for Deliverance
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?(J)
2 How long will I store up anxious concerns[e] within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?(K)
3 Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;(L)
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
4 My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.(M)
5 But I have trusted in your faithful love;(N)
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.(O)
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.(P)
Psalm 14
A Portrait of Sinners
For the choir director. Of David.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.”(Q)
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race[f](R)
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
3 All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.(S)
4 Will evildoers never understand?
They consume my people as they consume bread;(T)
they do not call on the Lord.(U)
17 Better a dry crust with peace
than a house full of feasting with strife.(A)
2 A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son
and share an inheritance among brothers.
4 A wicked person listens to malicious talk;[a]
a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.
5 The one who mocks the poor insults his Maker,(D)
and one who rejoices over calamity
will not go unpunished.(E)
6 Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly,
and the pride of children is their fathers.
7 Eloquent words are not appropriate on a fool’s lips;
how much worse are lies for a ruler.
10 A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person
more than a hundred lashes into a fool.
12 Better for a person to meet a bear robbed of her cubs(K)
than a fool in his foolishness.
14 To start a conflict is to release a flood;
stop the dispute before it breaks out.(N)
15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the just(O)—
both are detestable to the Lord.
16 Why does a fool have money in his hand
with no intention of buying wisdom?(P)
17 A friend loves at all times,(Q)
and a brother is born for a difficult time.
19 One who loves to offend loves strife;(S)
one who builds a high threshold invites injury.
20 One with a twisted mind will not succeed,
and one with deceitful speech will fall into ruin.(T)
Difficult Times Ahead
3 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.(A) 2 For people will be lovers of self,(B) lovers of money,(C) boastful, proud,(D) demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,(E) 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers,(F) without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,(G) 4 traitors,(H) reckless,(I) conceited,(J) lovers of pleasure(K) rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.(L) Avoid these people.(M)
6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,(N) 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.(O) 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres(P) resisted Moses,(Q) so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind(R) and worthless(S) in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.
Struggles in the Christian Life
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose,(T) faith, patience, love,(U) and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings(V) that came to me in Antioch,(W) Iconium,(X) and Lystra.(Y) What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.(Z) 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving(AA) and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,(AB) 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,(AC) which are able to give you wisdom for salvation(AD) through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God[a](AE) and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.(AF)
Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet
13 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.(A) Having loved his own who were in the world,(B) he loved them to the end.
2 Now when it was time for supper, the devil(C) had already put it into the heart of Judas,(D) Simon Iscariot’s son,[a] to betray(E) him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands,(F) that he had come from God,(G) and that he was going back to God.(H) 4 So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing,(I) took a towel, and tied it around himself.(J) 5 Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter,(K) who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”(L)
8 “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.
Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
The Meaning of Foot Washing
12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.(M) 15 For I have given you an example,(N) that you also should do just as I have done for you.
16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master,[b](O) and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.(P)
18 “I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen.(Q) But the Scripture(R) must be fulfilled: (S) The one who eats my bread[c] has raised his heel against me.[d](T) 19 I am telling you now before it happens,(U) so that when it does happen you will believe(V) that I am he.(W) 20 Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives(X) me receives him who sent me.”
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