Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16[a]
God the Supreme Good
1 A miktam[b] of David.
Protect me, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
3 As for the saints[c] who are in the land,
they are the noble ones,
and in them there is all my delight.
4 Those who chase after other gods
only multiply their sorrows.
Never will I pour out libations of blood to them,
nor will I take up their names[d] on my lips.
5 O Lord, you are my allotted portion and my cup;[e]
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have established a pleasant site for me;
I have truly received a wonderful inheritance.
7 I bless the Lord who offers me counsel;
even during the night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the Lord always before me,
for with him at my right hand
I will never fall.
9 [f]Therefore, my heart is glad
and my soul rejoices;
my body too is filled with confidence.
10 For you will not abandon me to the netherworld
or allow your Holy One[g] to suffer corruption.
11 You will show me the path to life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence
and everlasting delights at your right hand.
Psalm 17[h]
Prayer in Time of Persecution
1 A prayer of David.
Hear, O Lord, my call for justice;
give heed to my cry.
Listen to the prayer of my lips,
for they are free of deceit.
2 Let my vindication issue forth from you;
let your eyes discern what is right.
3 You have probed my heart[i]
and examined me throughout the night.
You have tested me
and found no malice in me,
for I have not sinned with my mouth.
4 Despite what other people do,
I have been guided by the word of your lips[j]
and refrained from their acts of violence.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not wavered.
6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me.
Incline your ear to me and listen to my plea.
7 Show how wonderful is your kindness,[k]
you who save those who seek protection
by taking refuge at your right hand.
8 Guard me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings[l]
9 from the wicked who treat me with violence,
from deadly enemies who surround me.
10 There is no compassion in their hearts,[m]
and arrogance issues from their mouths.
11 They track me down and begin to close in,
watching for the chance to strike me down,
12 like a lion primed to attack it prey,
like a young lion lurking in hiding.
13 Rise up, O Lord, confront them, and cast them down;[n]
deliver me from the wicked by your sword.
14 With your hand, O Lord, snatch me from such people,
from the worldly whose reward is in this life.[o]
You satisfy the hunger of those you cherish;
their children have all they desire
and leave their wealth to their little ones.
15 But in my righteousness I will see your face;[p]
when I awaken, I will be blessed by beholding you.
Psalm 22[a]
Suffering and Triumph of the Messiah
1 For the director.[b] According to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David.
2 [c]My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why have you paid no heed to my call for help,
to my cries of anguish?
3 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I am afforded no relief.[d]
4 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
5 Our ancestors placed their trust in you;
they trusted, and you gave them deliverance.
6 They cried out to you and were saved,
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
7 But I am a worm and not human,[e]
scorned by people and despised by my kinsmen.
8 All who see me jeer at me;
they sneer in mockery and toss their heads:[f]
9 “He relied on the Lord;
let the Lord set him free.
Let the Lord deliver him,
if he loves him.”[g]
10 [h]Yet you brought me out of the womb
and made me feel secure
upon my mother’s breast.
11 I was entrusted to your care at my birth;
from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.
12 Do not remain aloof from me,
for trouble is near
and no one can help me.
13 [i]Many bulls[j] are encircling me;
fierce bulls of Bashan are closing in on me.
14 They open wide their mouths against me
like ravening and roaring lions.
15 My strength is trickling away like water,
and all my bones are dislocated.
My heart[k] has turned to wax
and melts within me.
16 My mouth is as dry as clayware,
and my tongue sticks to my jaw;[l]
you have laid me down in the dust of death.
17 A pack of dogs surrounds me;
a band of evildoers is closing in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet;[m]
18 I can count all my bones.[n]
They stare at me and gloat;
19 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.[o]
20 [p]But you, O Lord, do not remain aloof from me.
O my Strength, come quickly to my aid.
21 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the grasp of the dogs.
22 Save me[q] from the lion’s mouth
and from the horns of wild oxen.
23 [r]I will proclaim your name to my family;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:[s]
24 “You who fear the Lord, praise him.
All you descendants of Jacob,[t] give him glory.
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel.
25 For he has not scorned or disregarded
the wretched man in his suffering;
he has not hidden his face[u] from him
but has heeded his call for help.”
26 I will offer my praise to you in the great assembly;
in the presence of those who fear him, I will fulfill my vows.[v]
27 [w]The poor[x] will eat and be filled;
those who seek the Lord will praise him:
“May your hearts live forever.”
28 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow low before him.
29 For kingly power belongs to the Lord;
he is the ruler of all the nations.
30 All those who prosper on the earth will bow down before him;
all those who lie in the grave will kneel in homage.
31 [y]But I will live for the Lord,
and my descendants will serve him.
32 Future generations will be told about the Lord
so that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance he has accomplished.
14 King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I have something to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not conceal anything from me.” 15 Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I speak in a straightforward manner, you will have me put to death, won’t you? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16 But King Zedekiah then swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to those who seek your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned to the ground, and you and your family will live. 18 However, if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will destroy it with fire, and you yourself will not be able to escape their clutches.”
19 King Zedekiah then said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans. It very well might be that I will be handed over to them and they will be ruthless in their treatment of me.” 20 Jeremiah replied, “You will not be handed over to them. If you obey the Lord by doing everything I tell you, all will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me. 22 He has given me a vision of all the women left in the palace of the king of Judah being led off to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying,
‘They have misled you and triumphed over you,
your trusted friends.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have deserted you.’
23 “All your wives and your children will be led off to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape their clutches. Rather, you will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned to the ground.”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know of this conversation, or you will die. 25 If the officials learn that I have spoken with you, and they say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hold anything back from us or we will put you to death,’ 26 give them this answer, ‘I was simply pleading with the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”
27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah to interrogate him, and he replied to them in the very same words that the king had commanded. Therefore, they ceased to question him, for no one had heard their conversation. 28 And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.
The Resurrection[a]
The Resurrection of Christ
Chapter 15
The Risen Christ, Foundation of Our Faith.[b] 1 And now, brethren, I want to remind you of the gospel I proclaimed to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. 2 Through it you are also being saved, provided that you are holding fast to what I proclaimed to you. If not, then you have believed in vain.
3 [c]For I handed on to you as of primary importance what I received: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried and that he was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and later to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep.[d] 7 After that he appeared to James,[e] and then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, he appeared to me, as to one born abnormally. 9 For I am the least of the apostles. I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 However, by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he has bestowed upon me has not proved to be fruitless. Indeed, I have worked harder than any of them—although that should not be credited to me but to the grace of God within me. 11 But whether it was I or they, this is what we preach and what you have come to believe.
Jesus Is the Expected Messiah[a]
Jesus and John the Baptist[b]
Chapter 11
Report to John What You Hear and See.[c] 1 When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.
2 When John who was in prison heard what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come,[d] or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go back and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”[e]
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