Book of Common Prayer
69 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” By David:
2 (1) Save me, God!
For the water threatens my life.
3 (2) I am sinking down in the mud,
and there is no foothold;
I have come into deep water;
the flood is sweeping over me.
4 (3) I am exhausted from crying,
my throat is dry and sore,
my eyes are worn out
with looking for my God.
5 (4) Those who hate me for no reason
outnumber the hairs on my head.
My persecutors are powerful,
my enemies accuse me falsely.
Am I expected to return
things I didn’t steal?
6 (5) God, you know how foolish I am;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
7 (6) Let those who put their hope in you,
Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot,
not be put to shame through me;
let those who are seeking you,
God of Isra’el,
not be disgraced through me.
8 (7) For your sake I suffer insults,
shame covers my face.
9 (8) I am estranged from my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s children,
10 (9) because zeal for your house is eating me up,
and on me are falling the insults
of those insulting you.
11 (10) I weep bitterly, and I fast,
but that too occasions insults.
12 (11) I clothe myself with sackcloth
and become an object of scorn,
13 (12) the gossip of those sitting by the town gate,
the theme of drunkards’ songs.
14 (13) As for me, Adonai, let my prayer to you
come at an acceptable time;
In your great grace, God, answer me
with the truth of your salvation.
15 (14) Rescue me from the mud!
Don’t let me sink!
Let me be rescued from those who hate me
and from the deep water.
16 (15) Don’t let the floodwaters overwhelm me,
don’t let the deep swallow me up,
don’t let the pit close its mouth over me.
17 (16) Answer me, Adonai, for your grace is good;
in your great mercy, turn to me.
18 (17) Don’t hide your face from your servant,
for I am in trouble; answer me quickly.
19 (18) Come near to me, and redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies.
20 (19) You know how I am insulted,
shamed and disgraced;
before you stand all my foes.
21 (20) Insults have broken my heart
to the point that I could die.
I hoped that someone would show compassion,
but nobody did;
and that there would be comforters,
but I found none.
22 (21) They put poison in my food;
in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
23 (22) Let their dining table
before them become a snare;
when they are at peace,
let it become a trap;
24 (23) let their eyes be darkened,
so that they can’t see,
and let their bodies
always be stumbling.
25 (24) Pour out your fury on them,
let your fierce anger overtake them.
26 (25) Let the place where they live be desolate,
with no one to live in their tents,
27 (26) for persecuting someone you had already stricken,
for adding to the pain of those you wounded.
28 (27) Add guilt to their guilt,
don’t let them enter your righteousness.
29 (28) Erase them from the book of life,
let them not be written with the righteous.
30 (29) Meanwhile, I am afflicted and hurting;
God, let your saving power raise me up.
31 (30) I will praise God’s name with a song
and extol him with thanksgiving.
32 (31) This will please Adonai more than a bull,
with its horns and hoofs.
33 (32) The afflicted will see it and rejoice;
you seeking after God, let your heart revive.
34 (33) For Adonai pays attention to the needy
and doesn’t scorn his captive people.
35 (34) Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them.
36 (35) For God will save Tziyon,
he will build the cities of Y’hudah.
[His people] will settle there and possess it.
37 (36) The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will live there.
Book III: Psalms 73–89
73 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) How good God is to Isra’el,
to those who are pure in heart!
2 But as for me, I lost my balance,
my feet nearly slipped,
3 when I grew envious of the arrogant
and saw how the wicked prosper.
4 For when their death comes, it is painless;
and meanwhile, their bodies are healthy;
5 they don’t have ordinary people’s troubles,
they aren’t plagued like others.
6 So for them, pride is a necklace;
and violence clothes them like a robe.
7 Their eyes peep out through folds of fat;
evil thoughts overflow from their hearts.
8 They scoff and speak with malice,
they loftily utter threats.
9 They set their mouths against heaven;
their tongues swagger through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here
and [thoughtlessly] suck up that whole cup of water.
11 Then they ask, “How does God know?
Does the Most High really have knowledge?”
12 Yes, this is what the wicked are like;
those free of misfortune keep increasing their wealth.
13 It’s all for nothing that I’ve kept my heart clean
and washed my hands, staying free of guilt;
14 for all day long I am plagued;
my punishment comes every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will talk like them,”
I would have betrayed a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
I found it too hard for me —
17 until I went into the sanctuaries of God
and grasped what their destiny would be.
18 Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope
and make them fall to their ruin.
19 How suddenly they are destroyed,
swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakens;
Adonai, when you rouse yourself,
you will despise their phantoms.
21 When I had a sour attitude
and felt stung by pained emotions,
22 I was too stupid to understand;
I was like a brute beast with you.
23 Nevertheless, I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice;
and afterwards, you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?
And with you, I lack nothing on earth.
26 My mind and body may fail; but God
is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who adulterously leave you.
28 But for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made Adonai Elohim my refuge,
so that I can tell of all your works.
2 When Achazyah fell through a latticed window of his upper room in Shomron and lay injured, he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron, and ask whether I will recover from this injury.” 3 But an angel of Adonai said to Eliyahu from Tishbe, “Get up, and intercept the messengers of the king of Shomron, and ask them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el that you’re on your way to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron? 4 Therefore Adonai says, “You will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.”’” Then Eliyahu left. 5 The messengers returned to Achazyah, and he asked them, “Why have you come back?” 6 They answered him, “A man came to meet us. He told us to go and return to the king who sent us, and tell him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el that you’re sending to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron? Therefore you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.”’” 7 He asked them, “The man who came to meet you and told you these things, what kind of a man was he?” 8 “He was a hairy man,” they answered him, “with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It was Eliyahu from Tishbe.”
9 Then the king sent a commander of fifty to Eliyahu, together with his fifty men. Eliyahu was sitting at the top of a hill. The commander climbed up to him and said, “Man of God, the king says to come down.” 10 Eliyahu answered the commander of fifty, “If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men. 11 The king sent him another commander of fifty, together with his fifty men. He said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down immediately!’” 12 Eliyahu answered them, “If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men. 13 The king sent a third commander of fifty, with his fifty men. The third commander of fifty climbed up, approached Eliyahu and fell on his knees before him. He pleaded with him: “Man of God, please! Have some regard for my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours! 14 I know that fire came down from heaven and burned up the two other commanders with their fifty men; but now, have some regard for my life.” 15 The angel of Adonai said to Eliyahu, “Go down with him; don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king.
16 Eliyahu said to the king, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘You sent messengers to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron. Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el you can consult? Therefore, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.’” 17 So he died, in keeping with the word of Adonai spoken through Eliyahu.
Y’horam began to rule in place of him during the second year of Y’horam the son of Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah, because he had no son.
16 Don’t you know that you people are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 So if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple.
18 Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world’s standards), let him become “foolish,” so that he may become really wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; inasmuch as the Tanakh says, “He traps the wise in their own cleverness,”[a] 20 and again, “Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.”[b] 21 So let no one boast about human beings, for all things are yours — 22 whether Sha’ul or Apollos or Kefa or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they all belong to you, 23 and you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.
11 “How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! 12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great — they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.
13 “You are salt for the Land. But if salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on.
14 “You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.