Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31[a]
Prayer of Trust and Thanksgiving
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
2 [c]In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
3 Turn your ear to me,
and act quickly to save me.
Be to me a rock[d] of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
4 You are truly my rock and my fortress;
for the sake of your name,[e] lead and guide me.
5 Deliver me from the snare that has been set for me,
for you are my refuge.
6 Into your hands I commend my spirit;[f]
you will redeem me, O Lord, God of truth.
7 You hate those who cling to false idols,
but I put my trust in the Lord.
8 I will rejoice and exult in your kindness[g]
because you have witnessed my affliction
and have taken note of my anguish.
9 You have not abandoned me into the power of the enemy;
rather, you have set my feet in the open.
10 [h]Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I am in trouble.
My weeping is laying waste to my eyes
as well as my soul[i] and my body.
11 My life is consumed with sorrow
and my years with sighing.
My strength ebbs because of my misery,
and my bones are wasting away.
12 I am an object of scorn
to all my enemies,
a loathsome sight to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my friends.
When people catch sight of me outside,
they quickly turn away.
13 I have passed out of their minds
like someone who has died;
I have become like a broken vessel.[j]
14 I have heard the hissing of many:
“There is terror on every side,”[k]
as they conspire together against me
and plot to end my life.
15 But I place my trust in you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my God.”
16 My life is in your hands;[l]
deliver me from the power of my enemies,
from the clutches of those who pursue me.
17 Let your face shine[m] upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
18 [n]Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
for I have cried out to you.
Let the wicked be put to shame
and lie silent in the netherworld.
19 Let their lying lips be struck dumb,
lips that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.
20 [o]How great is your goodness, O Lord,
which you have stored up[p] for those who fear you
and which you bestow on those who take refuge in you,
in the presence of all the people.
21 You hide them in the safety of your presence
from those who conspire against them;
you keep them safe in your shelter,
far away from contentious tongues.
22 Blessed[q] be the Lord,
for he has manifested his wondrous kindness to me
when I was under siege.
23 I had cried out in terror,
“I have been cut off from your sight.”
But you heard my plea
when I cried out to you for assistance.
24 Love the Lord, all his saints.[r]
The Lord protects his loyal servants,
but the arrogant he repays beyond measure.
25 Be strong and courageous in your hearts,
all you who place your hope in the Lord.
Psalm 35[a]
Appeal for Help against Injustice
1 Of David.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive against me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Grasp your shield and buckler
and spring to my aid.
3 Brandish your spear and battle-ax
against those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,[b]
“I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
suffer shame and disgrace.
May those who plan my downfall
be forced to retreat in disgrace.
5 May they be like chaff flying in the wind,[c]
with the angel of the Lord scattering them.
6 May their way be shadowy and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord in pursuit.
7 Without cause they laid a net to trap me;
without cause they dug a pit to ensnare me.
8 May ruin come upon them unawares;
may the net they laid entrap them;
may they topple into the pit they dug.
9 Then my soul[d] will rejoice in the Lord
and exult in his salvation.
10 My whole being[e] will say,
“O Lord, who is there like you?
You deliver those who are weak
from those who are too strong for them,
and you protect the poor and needy
from those who seek to exploit them.”
11 False witnesses step forward
and question me about things I do not know.
12 They give me back evil in place of good
and leave my soul in sorrow.
13 Yet, when they were ill, I put on sackcloth[f]
and afflicted myself with fasting,
while I poured forth prayers from my heart.
14 I went about as though in grief,
as though for a friend or brother.
I bowed down in sorrow
as though lamenting for a mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and came together;
they came together and struck me unawares.
They slandered me without letup.
16 They mocked me with ever increasing fury
as they gnashed their teeth at me.
17 How long,[g] O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from these ravening beasts;
preserve my precious life from these lions.
18 I will offer you thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise you amid the vast throng.
19 Do not allow my treacherous enemies
to gloat over me;
do not permit those who hate me without reason[h]
to wink their eyes at me.
20 [i]For they do not speak words of peace,
but they contrive deceitful words
to lead astray the peaceful in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths shouting, “Aha! Aha!
We have seen it with our own eyes.”
22 You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Awaken and be diligent in my defense;
come to my aid, my God and my Lord.
24 [j]Defend me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think,
“Aha! This is just what we wanted.”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my downfall
be put to shame and dismayed.
Let those who rise up arrogantly against me
be covered with shame and dishonor.
27 But let those who desire my vindication
shout for joy and be glad.
Let them cry out continually,
“Exalted be the Lord
who delights to see his servant in peace.”
28 Then my tongue shall proclaim your righteousness
and sing your praise all the day long.
26 Jeroboam’s Kingship Predicted. There was a certain Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother was a widow whose name was Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. 27 This is how he rebelled against the king: Solomon built Millo and repaired the breaches in the wall of the City of David, his father. 28 Jeroboam was an impressive man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was capable, he placed him in charge of the whole component of forced labor of the house of Joseph.
29 [a]When Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, he was met along the way by Ahijah, the Shilonite, who was a prophet. He was wearing a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah grabbed the new garment that he was wearing and he tore it into twelve pieces. 31 He then said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and I will give you ten tribes. 32 One tribe will remain for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen from out of the tribes of Israel.
33 “ ‘This is because he has abandoned me and he has worshiped Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Moloch, the god of the Ammonites. He has not walked in my paths, doing what was right in my sight by observing my statutes and ordinances as David, his father, did. 34 But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hands. I will keep him as ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David, my servant, whom I chose, for he observed my commandments and my statutes, 35 but I will take it out of his son’s hands. I will then give you ten of the tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David, my servant, might have a light before me always in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for my name.
37 “ ‘I will take you, and you will reign over all that your heart desires. You will be the king over Israel. 38 If you listen to all that I have commanded you and you walk in my ways and you do what is right in my sight, observing my statutes and my commandments, as David, my servant, did, then I will be with you and I will build a secure dynasty for you just as I built one for David. I will give you Israel. 39 I will humble the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’ ”
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, so Jeroboam rose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak, the king of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon had died.
41 Solomon’s Death. As for the rest of Solomon’s deeds and the wisdom that he demonstrated, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel for forty years. 43 Solomon then slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David, his father. Rehoboam, his son, then ruled in his stead.
13 A Warning against Presumption.[a] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall head off to this or that town and spend a year doing business there and making money.” 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life, after all? For you are like a mist that appears for a brief time and then vanishes. 15 Instead, what you ought to say is, “If it is the Lord’s will, we shall live to do this or that.” 16 But instead you boast in your arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits a sin.
Chapter 5
Woe to the Rich.[b] 1 Come now, you who are rich. Lament and weep over the miseries that will soon overwhelm you. 2 Your riches have rotted. Your clothes are all moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded. Their corrosion will serve as a witness against you and consume your flesh like a fire. You have hoarded wealth for the last days.
4 Behold, the wages you fraudulently withheld from the laborers who harvested your fields are crying out, and the cries of those harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have gorged yourselves as on the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned the righteous man and murdered him, even though he offered you no resistance.
22 Jesus Is Crucified. They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. 23 They offered him some wine that had been mixed with myrrh, but he refused to take it. 24 Then they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to see what each should take.[a]
25 It was around nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.[b] 26 The inscription giving the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Along with him they crucified two thieves, one on his right and the other on his left. [ 28 Thus was the Scripture fulfilled that says, “And he was counted among the wicked.”][c]
29 Those people who passed by jeered at him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who claimed you could destroy the temple and rebuild it within three days, 30 save yourself and come down from the cross.”
31 In much the same way, the chief priests and the scribes joined in the mockery among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down from the cross right now so that we may see it and come to believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
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