Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5[a]
Morning Prayer for Divine Help
1 For the director.[b] With flutes. A psalm of David.
2 Listen to my words, O Lord;
pay heed to my sighs.
3 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God;
for to you I pray.
4 O Lord, at daybreak[c] you hear my voice;
at daybreak I bring my petition before you
and await your reply.
5 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil cannot remain in your presence.
6 The arrogant shrink before your gaze;
you hate all who do evil.
7 You destroy all who tell lies;
the Lord detests the violent and the deceitful.
8 But I will enter your house
because of your great kindness,[d]
and I will bow down in your holy temple,
filled with awe of you.
9 Lead me in your ways of righteousness, O Lord,
for I am surrounded by enemies;
make your path straight before me.[e]
10 For there is nothing trustworthy in their mouth;[f]
their heart devises treacherous schemes.
Their throat is a wide open grave;
with their tongue they utter flattery.
11 Punish them, O God;
may their intrigues result in their downfall.
Cast them out because of their many transgressions,
for they have rebelled against you.[g]
12 But may all who take refuge in you rejoice;
may they shout for joy forever.
Grant them your protection
so that those who love your name[h] may rejoice in you.
13 Truly, you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you surround them with your goodwill as with a shield.
Psalm 6[i]
Evening Prayer for God’s Mercy
1 For the director.[j] With stringed instruments. “Upon the eighth.” A psalm of David.
2 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or punish me in your wrath.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am tottering;
help me, O Lord, for my body is in agony.[k]
4 My soul[l] is also filled with anguish.
But you, O Lord—how long?
5 Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul;
save me because of your kindness.[m]
6 For among the dead who remembers you?
In the netherworld who sings your praises?[n]
7 I am exhausted from my sighing;
every night I flood my bed with my tears,
and I soak my couch with my weeping.
8 My eyes grow dim because of my grief;
they are worn out[o] because of all my foes.
9 Depart from me, all you evildoers,[p]
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
10 The Lord has listened to my pleas;
the Lord has accepted my prayer.
11 All my enemies will be shamed and terrified;
they will flee in utter confusion.[q]
Psalm 10[a]
Prayer for Help against Oppressors
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you remain hidden in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked hunts down the poor;
let him be ensnared by the schemes he has devised.
3 The wicked boasts of his wicked desires;
he upholds the greedy and renounces the Lord.
4 Filled with arrogance, he does not seek God,
but thinks, “God does not exist.”[b]
5 The wicked always seems to prosper;
your judgments are far from his mind,
and he scoffs at all those who oppose him.
6 He says in his heart,[c] “I will not be swayed;
I will never experience misfortune.”
7 His mouth is filled with curses, deceit, and threats;[d]
his tongue breeds evil and malice.
8 He lies in wait near the villages,
and from ambush he slays the innocent;
his eyes are on the watch for the helpless.
9 He lies in wait like a lurking lion,
ready to strike the helpless;
he snares his victims,
seizing them in his net.
10 He crouches and lies low,
and the poor are overwhelmed by his might.
11 He thinks in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see what is happening.”
12 Arise, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God!
Do not forget the afflicted.
13 Why should the wicked reject God
and say in his heart,
“He will not call me to account”?
14 But you note our troubles and our grief
so that you may resolve our difficulties.
The helpless entrusts himself to you;
you are the recourse of the fatherless.
15 Break the arms of the sinner and the evildoer;
seek out the wicked
until no more endure.[e]
16 [f]The Lord is King forever and ever;
the heathen will disappear from his land.
17 You listen, O Lord, to the longings of the poor;
you strengthen their courage and heed their prayers.
18 You ensure justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that no one on earth may fill them with terror.
Psalm 11[g]
Unshakable Confidence in God
1 For the director.[h] Of David.
[i]In the Lord I take refuge.
How can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to your mountains!
2 For behold, the wicked are bending their bows
as they fit their arrows to the string
so that from the shadows
they can shoot at those who are upright.[j]
3 If the foundations[k] are destroyed,
what can be done by those who are righteous?”
4 [l]The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes are fixed on the world;
his gaze examines everyone.
5 The Lord tests the upright and the wicked;
he detests the lover of violence.
6 Upon the wicked he will rain down
fiery coals and brimstone;[m]
a scorching wind will be their allotted portion.
7 For the Lord is just
and he loves righteous deeds;
the upright will behold his face.[n]
15 Pitfalls of Idolatry. Therefore, guard yourselves carefully, for you did not see any kind of form when the Lord spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of the fire. 16 Do not become perverse and make an idol for yourselves of any shape or likeness, whether male or female, 17 whether it be a land animal or a bird that flies in the skies, 18 or like something that crawls on the ground or a fish in the waters beneath the earth. 19 When you look up into the skies and you see the sun and the moon and stars, all the hosts of heaven, do not be enticed to worship and serve the things that the Lord, your God, has assigned to every other nation under the heavens. 20 But as for you, the Lord has chosen you and taken you out from the iron furnace,[a] out of Egypt, to be a people who are his own possession, as you are today.
21 The Lord was angry with me because of you and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan nor enter the fertile land that the Lord, your God, has given to you as an inheritance. 22 I must die in this land; I will not cross over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of this fertile land. 23 Therefore, keep guard over yourselves, lest you forget the covenant that the Lord, your God, has made with you and you make an idol in the form of anything that the Lord, your God, has prohibited. 24 The Lord, your God, is a consuming fire and a jealous God.
Chapter 11
Promised to One Spouse. 1 I hope that you will put up with a little of my foolishness. Please bear with me. 2 For I am jealous of you with a godly jealousy, since I promised all of you to one spouse, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 However, I am afraid that, just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be led astray from a singlehearted fidelity to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus[a] than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with that readily enough!
5 I do not regard myself as being inferior to these “super-apostles.” 6 I may be untrained in the art of speaking, but the same is not true of me in regard to knowledge. In every way and in all respects, we have made this evident to you.
Paul’s Apostolate. 7 Did I make a mistake by preaching the gospel of God without charge, humbling myself[b] so that you might be exalted? 8 I robbed other Churches, accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied my needs.
I refrained, and will continue to refrain, from burdening you in any way. 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.
12 And I shall continue to do just as I am doing at present in order to thwart the efforts of those who are seeking the opportunity to be regarded as my equals in the aspects they boast about. 13 Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who masquerade as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! Even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 Therefore, it should not be considered unusual that his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will be appropriate to their deeds.
16 Paul’s Boast. I repeat: let no one take me for a fool. However, if you do, then treat me like a fool and let me boast a little. 17 In saying this, I am not speaking according to the Lord but out of foolishness in the conviction that I have something to boast about. 18 Since many boast of their human accomplishments, I will do likewise.
19 Since you are wise yourselves, you gladly put up with fools! 20 For you endure it if someone makes slaves of you, or robs you of all you possess, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must admit that we have been too weak for that sort of thing!
But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking out of foolishness—I also dare to boast of.
16 Fasting in Secret.[a]“Whenever you fast, do not assume a gloomy expression like the hypocrites who contort their faces so that others may realize that they are fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that the fact that you are fasting will not be obvious to others but only to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees everything that is done in secret will reward you.
19 Treasures in Heaven.[b]“Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where they will be destroyed by moth and rust and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Rather, store up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves cannot break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.
22 The Lamp of the Body.[c]“The eyes are the lamp of the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be filled with light. 23 However, if your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great will that darkness be!
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