Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16
Confidence in the Lord
A Davidic Miktam.(A)
1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You.(B)
2 I[a] said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good besides You.”[b](C)
3 As for the holy people who are in the land,(D)
they are the noble ones.
All my delight is in them.
4 The sorrows of those who take another god
for themselves will multiply;
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
and I will not speak their names with my lips.(E)
5 Lord, You are my portion[c]
and my cup of blessing;
You hold my future.(F)
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.(G)
7 I will praise the Lord who counsels me(H)—
even at night my conscience instructs me.(I)
8 I keep the Lord in mind[d] always.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.(J)
9 Therefore my heart is glad
and my spirit rejoices;
my body also rests securely.(K)
10 For You will not abandon me to Sheol;(L)
You will not allow Your Faithful One to see decay.(M)
11 You reveal the path of life to me;
in Your presence is abundant joy;(N)
in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.(O)
Psalm 17
A Prayer for Protection
A Davidic prayer.
1 Lord, hear a just cause;(P)
pay attention to my cry;
listen to my prayer—
from lips free of deceit.(Q)
2 Let my vindication come from You,
for You see what is right.(R)
3 You have tested my heart;(S)
You have examined me at night.
You have tried me and found nothing evil;(T)
I have determined that my mouth will not sin.[e]
4 Concerning what people do:
by the word of Your lips[f]
I have avoided the ways of the violent.(U)
5 My steps are on Your paths;
my feet have not slipped.(V)
6 I call on You, God,
because You will answer me;(W)
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
7 Display the wonders of Your faithful love,(X)
Savior of all who seek refuge(Y)
from those who rebel against Your right hand.[g]
8 Protect me as the pupil of Your eye;(Z)
hide me in the shadow of Your wings(AA)
9 from[h] the wicked who treat me violently,[i]
my deadly enemies who surround me.(AB)
10 They have become hardened;[j](AC)
their mouths speak arrogantly.(AD)
11 They advance against me;[k] now they surround me.(AE)
They are determined[l]
to throw me to the ground.(AF)
12 They are[m] like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.(AG)
13 Rise up, Lord!
Confront him; bring him down.(AH)
With Your sword, save me from the wicked.(AI)
14 With Your hand, Lord, save me from men,
from men of the world
whose portion is in this life:
You fill their bellies with what You have in store;
their sons are satisfied,
and they leave their surplus to their children.(AJ)
Psalm 22
From Suffering to Praise
For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.”[a] A Davidic psalm.
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?(A)
Why are You so far from my deliverance(B)
and from my words of groaning?[b](C)
2 My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
by night, yet I have no rest.(D)
3 But You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.(E)
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You rescued them.(F)
5 They cried to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disgraced.(G)
6 But I am a worm and not a man,(H)
scorned by men and despised by people.(I)
7 Everyone who sees me mocks me;
they sneer[c] and shake their heads:(J)
8 “He relies on[d] the Lord;
let Him rescue him;
let the Lord[e] deliver him,
since He takes pleasure in him.”(K)
9 You took me from the womb,
making me secure while at my mother’s breast.(L)
10 I was given over to You at birth;[f]
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.(M)
11 Do not be far from me, because distress is near
and there is no one to help.(N)
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong ones of Bashan encircle me.(O)
13 They open their mouths against me—
lions, mauling and roaring.(P)
14 I am poured out like water,(Q)
and all my bones are disjointed;(R)
my heart is like wax,
melting within me.(S)
15 My strength is dried up like baked clay;(T)
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.(U)
You put me into the dust of death.(V)
16 For dogs have surrounded me;(W)
a gang of evildoers has closed in on me;
they pierced[g] my hands and my feet.(X)
17 I can count all my bones;
people[h] look and stare at me.(Y)
18 They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.(Z)
19 But You, Lord, don’t be far away.(AA)
My strength, come quickly to help me.(AB)
20 Deliver my life from the sword,(AC)
my only life[i] from the power of these dogs.
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!(AD)
You have rescued[j] me
from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the congregation.(AE)
23 You who fear Yahweh, praise Him!(AF)
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!(AG)
24 For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.(AH)
He did not hide His face from him(AI)
but listened when he cried to Him for help.(AJ)
25 I will give praise[k] in the great congregation
because of You;(AK)
I will fulfill my vows
before those who fear You.[l](AL)
26 The humble[m] will eat and be satisfied;(AM)
those who seek the Lord will praise Him.
May your hearts live forever!(AN)
27 All the ends of the earth will remember
and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before You,(AO)
28 for kingship belongs to the Lord;
He rules over the nations.(AP)
29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before Him—
even the one who cannot preserve his life.(AQ)
30 Their descendants will serve Him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord.(AR)
31 They will come and tell a people yet to be born
about His righteousness—
what He has done.(AS)
Lamentation for Israel
5 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,(A) house of Israel:
2 She has fallen;
Virgin Israel(B) will never rise again.(C)
She lies abandoned on her land,
with no one to raise her up.(D)
3 For the Lord God says:
The city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left,(E)
and the one that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left(F) in the house of Israel.
Seek God and Live
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel:
Seek Me and live!(G)
5 Do not seek Bethel(H)
or go to Gilgal(I)
or journey to Beer-sheba,(J)
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh(K) and live,
or He will spread like fire(L)
throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything,
with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.(M)
7 Those who turn justice into wormwood(N)
throw righteousness to the ground.
8 The One who made the Pleiades and Orion,(O)
who turns darkness[a] into dawn(P)
and darkens day into night,(Q)
who summons the waters of the sea(R)
and pours them out over the face of the earth(S)—
Yahweh is His name.(T)
9 He brings destruction[b] on the strong,[c](U)
and it falls on the stronghold.(V)
10 They hate the one who convicts the guilty(W)
at the city gate
and despise(X) the one who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor(Y)
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone(Z)
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.(AA)
12 For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous,(AB) take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice(AC) at the gates.
13 Therefore, the wise person will keep silent[d](AD)
at such a time,
for the days are evil.
14 Seek good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the Lord, the God of Hosts,
will be with you,
as you have claimed.(AE)
15 Hate evil and love good;(AF)
establish justice in the gate.(AG)
Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious(AH)
to the remnant of Joseph.(AI)
16 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:
Greeting
Jude,(A) a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:
To those who are the called,(B) loved[a](C) by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.(D)
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.(E)
Jude’s Purpose in Writing
3 Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share,(F) I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith(G) that was delivered(H) to the saints once for all. 4 For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago,(I) have come in by stealth;(J) they are ungodly,(K) turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying(L) Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
Apostates: Past and Present
5 Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: The Lord[b] first[c] saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;(M) 6 and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, the angels(N) who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. 7 In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah(O) and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions,[d] just as angels did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.(P)
8 Nevertheless, these dreamers likewise defile their flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones.(Q) 9 Yet Michael(R) the archangel,(S) when he was disputing with the Devil(T) in a debate about Moses’(U) body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these people blaspheme anything they don’t understand. What they know by instinct like unreasoning animals—they destroy themselves with these things. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain,(V) have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam(W) for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.(X)
The Apostates’ Doom
12 These are the ones who are like dangerous reefs[e] at your love feasts.(Y) They feast with you, nurturing only themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds;(Z) trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead, pulled out by the roots; 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars(AA) for whom the blackness of darkness(AB) is reserved forever!(AC)
14 And Enoch,(AD) in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about them:
Look! The Lord comes[f]
with thousands of His holy ones(AE)
15 to execute judgment on all
and to convict them[g]
of all their ungodly(AF) acts
that they have done in an ungodly way,
and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners
have said against Him.
16 These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires;(AG) their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering(AH) people for their own advantage.
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven(A) may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.(B) 3 He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet,(C) but they didn’t want to come. 4 Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’(D)
5 “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. 7 The king[a] was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city.
8 “Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.(E) 9 Therefore go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’(F) 10 So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.[b] 11 But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.(G) 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend,(H) how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,[c] and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”(I)
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