Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55
For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A maskil[a] of David.
55 God, listen to my prayer;
don’t avoid my request!
2 Pay attention! Answer me!
I can’t sit still while complaining.
I’m beside myself
3 over the enemy’s noise,
at the wicked person’s racket,
because they bring disaster on me
and harass me furiously.
4 My heart pounds in my chest
because death’s terrors have reached me.
5 Fear and trembling have come upon me;
I’m shaking all over.
6 I say to myself,
I wish I had wings like a dove!
I’d fly away and rest.
7 I’d run so far away!
I’d live in the desert. Selah
8 I’d hurry to my hideout,
far from the rushing wind and storm.
9 Baffle them, my Lord!
Confuse their language
because I see violence and conflict in the city.
10 Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and evil and misery live inside it.
11 Disaster lives inside it;
oppression and fraud never leave the town square.
12 It’s not an enemy that is insulting me—
I could handle that.
It’s not someone who hates me
who is exalted over me—
I could hide from them.
13 No. It’s you, my equal,
my close companion, my good friend!
14 It was so pleasant when
together we entered God’s house with the crowd.
15 Let death devastate my enemies;
let them go to the grave[b] alive
because evil lives with them—
even inside them!
16 But I call out to God,
and the Lord will rescue me.
17 At evening, morning, and midday
I complain and moan
so that God will hear my voice.
18 He saves me,[c] unharmed, from my struggle,
though there are many who are out to get me.
19 God, who is enthroned from ancient days,
will hear and humble them Selah
because they don’t change
and they don’t worship God.
20 My friend attacked his allies,
breaking his covenant.
21 Though his talk is smoother than butter,
war is in his heart;
though his words are more silky than oil,
they are really drawn swords:
22 “Cast your burden on the Lord—
he will support you!
God will never let the righteous be shaken!”
23 But you, God, bring the wicked
down to the deepest pit.
Let bloodthirsty and treacherous people
not live out even half their days.
But me? I trust in you!
Psalm 138
Of David.
138 I give thanks to you with all my heart, Lord.[a]
I sing your praise before all other gods.
2 I bow toward your holy temple
and thank your name
for your loyal love and faithfulness
because you have made your name and word
greater than everything else.[b]
3 On the day I cried out, you answered me.
You encouraged me with inner strength.[c]
4 Let all the earth’s rulers give thanks to you, Lord,
when they hear what you say.
5 Let them sing about the Lord’s ways
because the Lord’s glory is so great!
6 Even though the Lord is high,
he can still see the lowly,
but God keeps his distance from the arrogant.
7 Whenever I am in deep trouble,
you make me live again;
you send your power against my enemies’ wrath;
you save me with your strong hand.
8 The Lord will do all this for my sake.
Your faithful love lasts forever, Lord!
Don’t let go of what your hands
have made.
Psalm 139
For the music leader. Of David. A song.
139 Lord, you have examined me.
You know me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
that you don’t already know completely.
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t reach it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,[d] you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
12 even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!
13 You are the one who created my innermost parts;
you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb.
14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.
Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
15 My bones weren’t hidden from you
when I was being put together in a secret place,
when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,
and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,[e]
before any one of them had yet happened.[f]
17 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me!
Their total number is countless!
18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand!
If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.[g]
19 If only, God, you would kill the wicked!
If only murderers would get away from me—
20 the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes;
the people who are your enemies,
who use your name as if it were of no significance.[h]
21 Don’t I hate everyone who hates you?
Don’t I despise those who attack you?
22 Yes, I hate them—through and through!
They’ve become my enemies too.
23 Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
Look to Abraham and Sarah
51 Listen to me,
you who look for righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry where you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your ancestor,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
They were alone when I called them,
but I blessed them and made them many.
3 The Lord will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her ruins.
He will make her desert like Eden
and her wilderness like the Lord’s garden.
Happiness and joy will be found in her—
thanks and the sound of singing.
Salvation endures forever
4 Pay attention to me, my people;
listen to me, my nation,
for teaching will go out from me,
my justice, as a light to the nations.
5 I will quickly bring my victory.
My salvation is on its way,
and my arm will judge the peoples.
The coastlands hope for me;
they wait for my judgment.[a]
6 Look up to the heavens,
and gaze at the earth beneath.
The heavens will disappear like smoke,
the earth will wear out like clothing,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats.
But my salvation will endure forever,
and my righteousness will be unbroken.
7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,
people who carry my teaching in your heart:
Don’t fear human scorn,
and don’t be upset when they abuse you.
8 The moth will eat them as if they were clothing,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my righteousness is forever,
and my salvation for all generations.
23 Before faith came, we were guarded under the Law, locked up until faith that was coming would be revealed, 24 so that the Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith.
God’s children are heirs in Christ
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.
26 You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.
What contaminates a life?
7 The Pharisees and some legal experts from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean hands. (They were eating without first ritually purifying their hands through washing. 3 The Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat without first washing their hands carefully. This is a way of observing the rules handed down by the elders. 4 Upon returning from the marketplace, they don’t eat without first immersing themselves. They observe many other rules that have been handed down, such as the washing of cups, jugs, pans, and sleeping mats.) 5 So the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why are your disciples not living according to the rules handed down by the elders but instead eat food with ritually unclean hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you hypocrites. He wrote,
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
7 Their worship of me is empty
since they teach instructions that are human words.[a]
8 You ignore God’s commandment while holding on to rules created by humans and handed down to you.” 9 Jesus continued, “Clearly, you are experts at rejecting God’s commandment in order to establish these rules. 10 Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,[b] and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death.[c] 11 But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you is corban(that is, a gift I’m giving to God),” 12 then you are no longer required to care for your father or mother.’ 13 In this way you do away with God’s word in favor of the rules handed down to you, which you pass on to others. And you do a lot of other things just like that.”
14 Then Jesus called the crowd again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing outside of a person can enter and contaminate a person in God’s sight; rather, the things that come out of a person contaminate the person.”[d]
17 After leaving the crowd, he entered a house where his disciples asked him about that riddle. 18 He said to them, “Don’t you understand either? Don’t you know that nothing from the outside that enters a person has the power to contaminate? 19 That’s because it doesn’t enter into the heart but into the stomach, and it goes out into the sewer.” By saying this, Jesus declared that no food could contaminate a person in God’s sight. 20 “It’s what comes out of a person that contaminates someone in God’s sight,” he said. 21 “It’s from the inside, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual sins, thefts, murders, 22 adultery, greed, evil actions, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, insults, arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from the inside and contaminate a person in God’s sight.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible