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)
25 “When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish(A) from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples,(B) and you will be reduced to a few survivors[a] among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29 But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.(C) 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant(D) with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.(E)
21 I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare: 22 Are they Hebrews?(A) So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham?(B) So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.
24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.(C) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods.(D) Once I received a stoning.(E) Three times I was shipwrecked.(F) I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,(G) dangers from my own people,(H) dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.(I) 28 Not to mention[a] other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,(J) and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father(K) of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 32 In Damascus,(L) a ruler[b] under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. 33 So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.(M)
24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (A)
The Cure for Anxiety
25 “Therefore I tell you:(B) Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?(C) 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?(D) 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span[a] by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?(E) 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God[b](F) and his righteousness,(G) and all these things will be provided for you.(H) 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble(I) of its own.
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