Book of Common Prayer
Alef [a]
Living in the Law of God
119 How blessed are those whose life[b] is blameless,
who walk in the Law of the Lord!
2 How blessed are those who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all of their heart,
3 who practice no evil
while they walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded concerning your precepts,
that they be guarded with diligence.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast,
so I may keep your statutes.
6 Then I will not be ashamed,
since my eyes will be fixed on all of your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
as I learn your righteous decrees.
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not ever abandon me.
Bet
The Benefits of the Word
9 How can a young man keep his behavior pure?
By guarding it in accordance with your word.
10 I have sought you with all of my heart;
do not let me drift away from your commands.
11 I have stored what you have said[c] in my heart,
so I won’t sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, Lord!
Teach me your statutes.
13 I have spoken with my lips
about all your decrees that you have announced.[d]
14 I find joy in the path of your decrees,
as if I owned all kinds of riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts,
and I will respect your ways.
16 I am delighted with your statutes;
I will not forget your word.[e]
Gimmel
Living and Keeping God’s Word
17 Deal kindly with your servant
so I may live and keep your word.[f]
18 Open my eyes
so that I will observe amazing things from your instruction.[g]
19 Since I am a stranger on the earth,
do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your decrees at all times.
21 You rebuke the accursed ones,
who wander from your commands.
22 Remove scorn and disrespect from me,
for I observe your decrees.
23 Though nobles take their seat and gossip about me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 I take joy in your decrees,
for they are my counselors.
To the Director: On an eight stringed harp.[a] A Davidic Psalm.
Human and Divine Words Contrasted
12 Help, Lord, for godly people no longer exist;
trustworthy people have disappeared from humanity.[b]
2 Everyone speaks lies to his neighbor;
they speak with flattering lips and hidden motives.[c]
3 The Lord will cut off all slippery lips,
and the tongue that boasts great things,
4 those who say,
“By our tongues we will prevail;
our lips belong to us.
Who is master[d] over us?”
5 “Because the poor are being oppressed,
because the needy are sighing,
I will now arise,” says the Lord,
“I will establish in safety those who yearn for it.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times over.
7 You, Lord, will keep them[e] safe,
you will guard them[f] from this generation forever.
8 The wicked, however,[g] keep walking around,
exalting the vileness of human beings.[h]
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer for Deliverance
13 How long? Lord, will you forget me forever?[i]
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I struggle in my soul at night
and have sorrow in my heart during the day?
How long will my enemy rise up against me?
3 Look at me!
Answer me, Lord, my God!
Give light to my eyes!
Otherwise, I will sleep in death;
4 Otherwise, my enemy will say,
“I have overcome him;”
Otherwise, my persecutor will rejoice
when I am shaken.
5 As for me, I have trusted in your gracious love,
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
for he has dealt bountifully with me.
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
The Fool and God’s Response
14 Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt and commit evil deeds;
not one of them practices what is good.
2 The Lord looks down from the heavens upon humanity[j]
to see if anyone shows discernment as he searches for God.
3 All have turned away,
together they have become corrupt;
no one practices what is good, not even one.
4 Will those who do evil ever learn?
They devour my people like they devour bread,
and never call on the Lord.
5 There they are seized with terror,
because God is with those who are[k] righteous.
3 King Zedekiah sent Shelemiah’s son Jehucal and Maaseiah’s son Zephaniah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, asking him, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still[a] going in and out among the people since he had not yet been put in prison. 5 Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘This is what you are to say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Look, Pharaoh’s army that has come to help will go back to its own land of Egypt, 8 and then the Chaldeans will come back to fight against this city, to capture it, and burn it with fire.”’ 9 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” ‘for they won’t go. 10 Indeed, even if you defeated the entire Chaldean army that is fighting against you, and they had only wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn this city with fire.’”’”
Jeremiah Arrested for Treason
11 When the Chaldean army was leaving Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his property[b] there among the people. 13 He was in the Gate of Benjamin, and chief officer Irijah, Shelemiah’s son and the grandson of Hananiah, was there. He arrested Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him: “You are going over to the Chaldeans!”
14 Jeremiah said, “It’s a lie! I’m not going over to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah[c] would not listen to him, and he[d] arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah and beat him. They put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made it into a prison. 16 So Jeremiah came into the cells in the dungeon[e] and remained there for a long time.[f]
17 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah[g] and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house: “Is there a message from the Lord?”
Jeremiah said, “There is,” and then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, your officials, or these people that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, telling you: ‘The king of Babylon won’t come against you or against this land’? 20 Now, please listen, your majesty,[h] and pay attention to what I’m asking you. Don’t make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so I don’t die there.”
21 So King Zedekiah gave the order, and they assigned Jeremiah to the courtyard of the guard. Each day they gave him a loaf of bread from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
13 Therefore, the person who speaks in a foreign language should pray for the ability to interpret it. 14 For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive. 15 What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind. 16 Otherwise, if you say a blessing with your spirit, how can an otherwise uneducated person[a] say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you’re saying? 17 It’s good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person. 18 I thank God that I speak in foreign languages more than all of you. 19 But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind to instruct others than 10,000 words in a foreign language.
20 Brothers, stop being[b] childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults. 21 In the Law it is written,
“By means of foreign languages
and through the mouths of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,”[c]
declares the Lord.
22 Foreign languages, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers. 23 Now if the whole church gathers in the same place and everyone is speaking in foreign languages, when uneducated people or unbelievers come in, they will say that you are out of your mind, won’t they? 24 But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that’s happening.[d] 25 His secret, inner heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is truly among you!”
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, and a slave is not above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul,[a] how much more will they do the same to[b] those of his household!”
Fear God(A)
26 “So never be afraid of them, because there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in darkness you must speak in the daylight, and what is whispered[c] in your ear you must shout from the housetops. 28 Stop being[d] afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.[e]
29 “Two sparrows are sold for a penny, aren’t they? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s permission.[f] 30 Indeed, even the hairs on your head have all been counted! 31 So stop being[g] afraid. You are worth more than a bunch of sparrows.”
Acknowledging the Messiah(B)
32 “Therefore, everyone who acknowledges me before people I, too, will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before people I, too, will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.