Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83[a]
Prayer Against a Hostile Alliance
1 A song; a psalm of Asaph.
I
2 God, do not be silent;
God, do not be deaf or remain unmoved!(A)
3 See how your enemies rage;
your foes proudly raise their heads.
4 They conspire against your people,
plot against those you protect.(B)
5 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let Israel’s name be remembered no more!”
6 They scheme with one mind,
they have entered into a covenant against you:(C)
7 [b]The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,(D)
8 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,(E)
Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.(F)
9 Assyria, too, in league with them,
backs the descendants of Lot.
Selah
II
10 [c]Deal with them as with Midian;
as with Sisera and Jabin at the wadi Kishon,(G)
11 Those destroyed at Endor,
who became dung for the ground.(H)
12 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13 Who made a plan together,
“Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God.”
14 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
into chaff flying before the wind.(I)
15 As a fire raging through a forest,
a flame setting mountains ablaze,(J)
16 Pursue them with your tempest;
terrify them with your storm-wind.
17 Cover their faces with shame,
till they seek your name,[d] Lord.
18 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever;
let them perish in disgrace.
19 Let them know that your name is Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.(K)
Second Book—Psalms 42–72
Psalm 42[a]
Longing for God’s Presence in the Temple
1 For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.[b]
I
2 As the deer longs for streams of water,(A)
so my soul longs for you, O God.
3 My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I enter and see the face of God?[c](B)
4 My tears have been my bread day and night,(C)
as they ask me every day, “Where is your God?”(D)
5 Those times I recall
as I pour out my soul,(E)
When I would cross over to the shrine of the Mighty One,[d]
to the house of God,
Amid loud cries of thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.(F)
6 Why are you downcast, my soul;
why do you groan within me?
Wait for God, for I shall again praise him,
my savior and my God.
II
7 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I remember you
From the land of the Jordan[e] and Hermon,
from Mount Mizar,(G)
8 [f]Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your torrents,
and all your waves and breakers
sweep over me.(H)
9 By day may the Lord send his mercy,
and by night may his righteousness be with me!
I will pray[g] to the God of my life,
10 I will say to God, my rock:
“Why do you forget me?(I)
Why must I go about mourning
with the enemy oppressing me?”
11 It shatters my bones, when my adversaries reproach me,
when they say to me every day: “Where is your God?”
12 Why are you downcast, my soul,
why do you groan within me?
Wait for God, for I shall again praise him,
my savior and my God.
Psalm 43
1 Grant me justice, O God;
defend me from a faithless people;
from the deceitful and unjust rescue me.(J)
2 You, O God, are my strength.
Why then do you spurn me?
Why must I go about mourning,
with the enemy oppressing me?
3 (K)Send your light and your fidelity,[h]
that they may be my guide;(L)
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place of your dwelling,
4 That I may come to the altar of God,
to God, my joy, my delight.
Then I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you downcast, my soul?
Why do you groan within me?
Wait for God, for I shall again praise him,
my savior and my God.
Psalm 85[a]
Prayer for Divine Favor
1 For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.
I
2 You once favored, Lord, your land,
restored the captives of Jacob.(A)
3 You forgave the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sins.
Selah
4 You withdrew all your wrath,
turned back from your burning anger.(B)
II
5 Restore us, God of our salvation;
let go of your displeasure with us.(C)
6 Will you be angry with us forever,
prolong your anger for all generations?(D)
7 Certainly you will again restore our life,
that your people may rejoice in you.
8 Show us, Lord, your mercy;
grant us your salvation.
III
9 [b]I will listen for what God, the Lord, has to say;
surely he will speak of peace
To his people and to his faithful.
May they not turn to foolishness!
10 Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him;
glory will dwell in our land.
11 [c]Love and truth will meet;
justice and peace will kiss.(E)
12 Truth will spring from the earth;
justice will look down from heaven.(F)
13 Yes, the Lord will grant his bounty;
our land will yield its produce.(G)
14 Justice will march before him,
and make a way for his footsteps.
Psalm 86[d]
Prayer in Time of Distress
1 A prayer of David.
I
Incline your ear, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and oppressed.
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 be gracious to me, Lord;
to you I call all the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant;
to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.(H)
5 Lord, you are good and forgiving,
most merciful to all who call on you.(I)
6 Lord, hear my prayer;
listen to my cry for help.(J)
7 On the day of my distress I call to you,
for you will answer me.
II
8 None among the gods can equal you, O Lord;
nor can their deeds compare to yours.(K)
9 All the nations you have made shall come
to bow before you, Lord,
and give honor to your name.(L)
10 For you are great and do wondrous deeds;
and you alone are God.
III
11 Teach me, Lord, your way
that I may walk in your truth,(M)
single-hearted and revering your name.
12 I will praise you with all my heart,
glorify your name forever, Lord my God.
13 Your mercy to me is great;
you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol.(N)
14 O God, the arrogant have risen against me;
a ruthless band has sought my life;
to you they pay no heed.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and truth.(O)
16 Turn to me, be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant;
save the son of your handmaid.(P)
17 Give me a sign of your favor:
make my enemies see, to their confusion,
that you, Lord, help and comfort me.
11 Thus shall you say of them: The gods that did not make heaven and earth—let these perish from earth and from beneath heaven
12 The one who made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom,
and by his skill stretched out the heavens.(B)
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar,
and he brings up clouds from the end of the earth,
Makes lightning flash in the rain,
and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Everyone is too stupid to know;
every artisan is put to shame by his idol:
He has molded a fraud,
without breath of life.(C)
15 They are nothing, objects of ridicule;
they will perish in their time of punishment.
16 Jacob’s portion is nothing like them:
for he is the maker of everything!
Israel is his very own tribe,
Lord of hosts is his name.(D)
Abandonment of Judah
17 Gather up your bundle from the land,
City living under siege!
18 For thus says the Lord:
Now, at this time
I will sling away the inhabitants of the land;
I will hem them in,
that they may be taken.
19 Woe is me! I am undone,
my wound is beyond healing.
Yet I had thought:
if I make light of my sickness, I can bear it.
20 My tent is ruined,
all its cords are severed.
My children have left me, they are no more:
no one to pitch my tent,
no one to raise its curtains.(E)
21 How stupid are the shepherds!
The Lord they have not sought;
For this reason they have failed,
and all their flocks scattered.(F)
22 Listen! a rumor! here it comes,
a great commotion from the land of the north:
To make the cities of Judah a desolation,
the haunt of jackals.
Prayer of Jeremiah
23 I know, Lord,
that no one chooses their way,
Nor determines their course
nor directs their own step.
24 Correct me, Lord, but with equity,
not in anger, lest you diminish me.
Humanity’s Sin Through Adam. 12 [a]Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world,(A) and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned[b]— 13 for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.(B) 14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.(C)
Grace and Life Through Christ. 15 But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many. 16 And the gift is not like the result of the one person’s sinning. For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation; but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal. 17 For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. 18 In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all.(D) 19 For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.(E) 20 The law entered in[c] so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more,(F) 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.(G)
21 He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin.[a] Where I am going you cannot come.”(A) 22 [b]So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.(B) 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM,[c] you will die in your sins.”(C) 25 [d]So they said to him, “Who are you?”(D) Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.”(E) 27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. 28 So Jesus said [to them], “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.(F) 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Jesus and Abraham.[e] 31 Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him,[f] “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(G)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.