Book of Common Prayer
Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God.
Aleph
119 Blessed are those whose way is [a](A)blameless,
Who (B)walk in the Law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who (C)comply with His [b]testimonies,
And (D)seek Him (E)with all their heart.
3 They also (F)do no injustice;
They walk in His ways.
4 You have [c](G)ordained Your precepts,
[d]That we are to keep them diligently.
5 Oh that my (H)ways may be established
To (I)keep Your statutes!
6 Then I (J)will not be ashamed
When I look at all Your commandments.
7 I will (K)give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
Do not utterly (L)abandon me!
Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By (M)keeping it according to Your word.
10 With (N)all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me (O)wander from Your commandments.
11 I have (P)treasured Your word in my heart,
So that I may not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Lord;
(Q)Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have (R)told of
All the (S)ordinances of Your mouth.
14 I have (T)rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
[e]As much as in all riches.
15 I will (U)meditate on Your precepts
And [f]regard (V)Your ways.
16 I shall [g](W)delight in Your statutes;
I will (X)not forget Your word.
Gimel
17 (Y)Deal generously with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wonderful things from Your Law.
19 I am a (Z)stranger on the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul is crushed [h](AA)with longing
For Your ordinances at all times.
21 You (AB)rebuke the arrogant, [i]the (AC)cursed,
Who (AD)wander from Your commandments.
22 (AE)Take disgrace and contempt away from me,
For I (AF)comply with Your testimonies.
23 Even though (AG)rulers sit and speak against me,
Your servant (AH)meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my (AI)delight;
They are [j]my advisers.
God, a Helper against the Treacherous.
For the music director; [a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, for (A)the godly person has come to an end,
For the faithful have disappeared from the sons of mankind.
2 They (B)speak [b]lies to one another;
They speak with [c](C)flattering lips and a double heart.
3 May the Lord cut off all [d]flattering lips,
The tongue that (D)speaks great things;
4 Who (E)have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are [e]our own; who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the (F)devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now (G)I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will (H)put him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The (I)words of the Lord are pure words;
Like silver (J)refined in a furnace on the ground, filtered seven times.
7 You, Lord, will keep them;
You will (K)protect him from this generation forever.
8 The (L)wicked strut about on every side
When [f](M)vileness is exalted among the sons of mankind.
Prayer for Help in Trouble.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, Lord? Will You (N)forget me forever?
How long (O)will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long am I to (P)feel anxious in my soul,
With (Q)grief in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 (R)Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
(S)Enlighten my eyes, or I will (T)sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will (U)say, “I have overcome him,”
And (V)my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
5 But I have (W)trusted in Your faithfulness;
My heart shall (X)rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will (Y)sing to the Lord,
Because He has (Z)looked after me.
Foolishness and Wickedness of People.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
14 The fool has (AA)said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts;
There is (AB)no one who does good.
2 The Lord has (AC)looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind
To see if there are any who [g](AD)understand,
Who (AE)seek God.
3 They have all (AF)turned aside, together they are corrupt;
There is (AG)no one who does good, not even one.
25 “When you father children and have [a]grandchildren, and you grow old in the land, and you (A)act corruptly, and (B)make [b]an idol in the form of anything, and (C)do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 I (D)call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will (E)certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not [c]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 The Lord will (F)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. 28 (G)There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, (H)wood and stone, (I)which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything. 29 (J)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him (K)with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you (L)are in distress and all these things happen to you, (M)in the latter days (N)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a (O)compassionate God; (P)He will not abandon you nor (Q)destroy you, nor (R)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
21 To my (A)shame I must say that we have been (B)weak by comparison.
But in whatever respect anyone else (C)is bold—I am (D)speaking in foolishness—I too am bold. 22 Are they (E)Hebrews? (F)So am I. Are they (G)Israelites? (H)So am I. Are they [a](I)descendants of Abraham? (J)So am I. 23 Are they (K)servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in (L)far more labors, in (M)far more imprisonments, [b](N)beaten times without number, often in danger of (O)death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews (P)thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was (Q)beaten with rods, once I was (R)stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my (S)countrymen, dangers from the (T)Gentiles, dangers in the (U)city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among (V)false brothers; 27 I have been in (W)labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in (X)hunger and thirst, often (Y)without food, in cold and [c](Z)exposure. 28 Apart from such [d]external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for (AA)all the churches. 29 Who is (AB)weak without my being weak? Who is [e]led into sin [f]without my intense concern?
30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my (AC)weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, (AD)He who is blessed forever, (AE)knows that I am not lying. 32 In (AF)Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was (AG)guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, 33 and I was let down in a basket (AH)through a window [g]in the wall, and so escaped his hands.
24 “(A)No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [a](B)wealth.
The Cure for Anxiety
25 “(C)For this reason I say to you, [b]do not be (D)worried about your [c]life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 (E)Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? 27 And which of you by (F)worrying can (G)add a single [d]day to his [e]life’s span? 28 And why are you (H)worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, 29 yet I say to you that not even (I)Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the (J)grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? (K)You of little faith! 31 Do not (L)worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for (M)your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But [f]seek first [g]His kingdom and His righteousness, and (N)all these things will be [h]provided to you.
34 “So do not (O)worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will [i]worry about itself. [j]Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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