Book of Common Prayer
Davidic
A Man of Integrity Pleads for Justice
26 Vindicate me, Lord,
because I have walked in integrity;
I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Examine me, Lord, and inspect me!
Test my heart and mind.[a]
3 For your gracious love precedes me,
and I continuously walk according to your truth.
4 I do not sit with those committed to what is false,
nor do I travel with hypocrites.
5 I hate the company of those who practice evil,
nor do I sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands innocently.
I go around your altar, Lord,
7 so I may praise you loudly with thanksgiving
and declare all your wondrous acts.
8 Lord, I love the dwelling place that is your house,
the place where your glory resides.
9 Do not group me[b] with sinners,
nor include me[c] with men who shed blood.
10 Their hands are filled with wicked schemes,
and their right hands with bribes.
11 But as for me,
I walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me!
12 My feet stand on level ground;
among the worshiping congregations
I will bless the Lord.
Davidic
A Prayer for Help
28 To you, Lord, I cry out!
My Rock, do not refuse to answer me.[a]
If you remain silent,
I will become like those who descend into the Pit.[b]
2 Hear the sound of my supplications when I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who practice iniquity,
who speak peace to their neighbors
while harboring evil in their hearts.
4 Reward them according to their deeds;
according to the evil of their actions.
Reward them based on what they do;[c]
give them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not understand the deeds of the Lord
or the work of his hands,
He will tear them down and never build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the sound of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him,
and I received help.
My heart rejoices,
and I give thanks to him with my song.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people;[d]
he is a refuge of deliverance for his anointed.
9 Deliver your people
and bless your inheritance!
Shepherd them
and lift them up forever!
To the Director: By the servant of the Lord, David.
An Oracle from the Lord
36 An oracle that came to me[a] about the transgressions of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 He flatters himself[b] too much[c] to discover his transgression and hate it.
3 The words from his mouth are vain and deceptive.
He has abandoned behaving wisely and doing good.
4 He devises iniquity on his bed
and is determined to follow a path that is not good.
He does not resist evil.
Praise to the Lord
5 Your gracious love, Lord, reaches to the heavens;
your truth[d] extends to the skies.[e]
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your justice is like the great depths of the sea.[f]
You deliver both[g] people and animals, Lord.
7 How precious is your gracious love, God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They are refreshed from the abundance of your house;
You cause them to drink from the river of your pleasures.
9 For with you is a fountain of life,
and in your light we will see light.
10 Send forth your gracious love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to those who are upright in heart.
11 Do not let the foot of the proud crush me;
and do not let the hand of the wicked dissuade me.
12 There, those who do evil have fallen;
They have been thrown down,
and they cannot get up.
To the Director: To Jeduthun. A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer about Life’s Priorities
39 I told myself, “I will keep watch over my tongue to keep from sinning.
I will muzzle my mouth when the wicked are around.”
2 I was as silent as a mute person;
I said nothing, not even something good,
and my distress deepened.
3 My heart within me became incensed;[a]
as I thought about it, the fire burned.
Then I[b] spoke out:
4 “Lord, let me know how my life ends,[c]
and the standard by which you will measure[d] my days, whatever it is!
Then I will know how transient my life is.
5 Look, you have made my life span fit in your hand;
It is nothing compared to yours.
Surely every person at their best is a puff of wind.
6 In fact, people walk around as shadows.
Surely, they busy themselves for nothing,
heaping up possessions but not knowing who will get them.
7 How long, Lord, will I wait expectantly?
I have placed my hope in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions,
and do not let fools scorn me.”
9 I remain silent;
I do not open my mouth,
for you are the one who acted.
10 Stop scourging me,
since I have been crushed by your heavy hand.
11 You rebuke by chastening a man with the consequence of iniquities;
you destroy what is attractive to him, as one would treat a moth.
Indeed, every person is a puff of wind.
12 Hear my prayer, Lord,
pay attention to my cry,
and do not ignore my tears.
I am an alien in your presence,
a stranger just like my ancestors were.
13 Stop looking at me with chastisement,[e] so I can smile again,
before I depart and am no more.
Jonathan Intercedes for David
19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials[a] to kill David, but Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of[b] David. 2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. In the morning be careful and stay hidden in a secret place. 3 I’ll go out and stand by my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to my father about you. If I find out what he intends to do,[c] I’ll tell you.”
4 Jonathan spoke to his father Saul favorably about David. “The king shouldn’t wrong his servant David because he has not wronged you and because what he has done has been very beneficial for you. 5 He risked his life[d] and struck down the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a spectacular deliverance for all Israel. You saw that and rejoiced, so why would you do wrong and shed innocent blood[e] by killing David without cause?” 6 Saul listened to Jonathan, and swore by the life of the Lord that David[f] would not be killed. 7 Jonathan summoned David and told him all this.[g] Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David[h] served him[i] as before.
Saul Again Tries to Kill David
8 The war continued and David went out to fight against the Philistines. He thoroughly defeated them,[j] and they fled before David.[k] 9 The evil spirit from the Lord attacked Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing the lyre. 10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he jumped away from Saul and the spear stuck in the wall. That night David escaped and fled.
Michal Helps David Escape
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him so they could kill him in the morning. David’s wife, Michal, told him, “If you don’t escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be put to death.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he escaped and fled. 13 Then Michal took the household idol[l] and laid it on the bed with a cover of goat hair placed at its head. Then she covered it with clothes.
14 When Saul sent the messengers to take David, Michal said, “He’s sick.”
15 Then Saul sent messengers to check on[m] David. He told them, “Bring him to me on the bed so I may kill him.”[n] 16 The messengers went in, and there was the household idol in the bed with the cover of goat hair at its head!
17 Then Saul told Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and let my enemy go so he could escape?”
Michal told Saul, “He told me, ‘Let me go or I’ll kill you!’”[o]
Saul Prophesies at Ramah and David Escapes
18 David escaped and fled. He came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
An Angel Frees Peter from Prison
12 About that time, Herod arrested some people who belonged to the church and mistreated them. 2 He even had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword. 3 When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 When he arrested Peter, Herod[a] put him in prison and turned him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, planning to bring him out to the people after Passover season.[b] 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer to God for him was being offered by the assembly.[c]
6 That very night, before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, and guards in front of the door were watching the prisoners. 7 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on his side, woke him up, and said, “Get up quickly!” His chains fell from his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Tuck in your shirt and put on your sandals!” He did this. Then the angel[d] told him, “Put on your coat and follow me!” 9 So Peter[e] went out and began to follow him, not realizing that what was being done by the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate that led into the city. It opened by itself for them, and they went outside and proceeded one block when the angel suddenly left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I’m sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from[f] Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting!”
12 When Peter[g] realized what had happened, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where a large number of people had gathered and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the outer gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. 14 On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she didn’t open the gate but ran back inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 The other people[h] told her, “You’re out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. Then they said, “It’s his angel.”
16 Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking and knocking. When they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. 17 He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, “Tell this to James and the brothers.” Then he left and went somewhere else.
Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man(A)
2 Several days later, Jesus[a] returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. 2 Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn’t room for them, even in front of the door. Jesus[b] was speaking his message to them 3 when some people[c] came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men. 4 Since they couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,[d] 7 “Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. “Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?”[e] he asked them. 9 “Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 But I want you to know[f] that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he told the paralyzed man, 11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 12 So the man[g] got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them.
As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God as they kept on saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
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