Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
31 In You, O Lord, I have placed my trust and taken refuge;
Let me never be [a]ashamed;
In Your righteousness rescue me.
2
Incline Your ear to me, deliver me quickly;
Be my rock of refuge,
And a strong fortress to save me.
3
Yes, You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
4
You will draw me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength and my stronghold.
5
[b]Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness.(A)
6
I hate those who pay regard to vain (empty, worthless) idols;
But I trust in the Lord [and rely on Him with unwavering confidence].
7
I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love,
Because You have seen my affliction;
You have taken note of my life’s distresses,
8
And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a broad place.
9
Be gracious and compassionate to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
My eye is clouded and weakened by grief, my soul and my body also.
10
For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And even my body has wasted away.
11
Because of all my enemies I have become a reproach and disgrace,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me on the street run from me.
12
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13
For I have heard the slander and whispering of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they schemed together against me,
They plotted to take away my life.(B)
14
But as for me, I trust [confidently] in You and Your greatness, O Lord;
I said, “You are my God.”
15
My times are in Your hands;
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue and persecute me.
16
Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
17
Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call on You;
Let the wicked (godless) be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).
18
Let the lying lips be mute,
Which speak insolently and arrogantly against the [consistently] righteous
With pride and contempt.
19
How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who [reverently] fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who take refuge in You,
[c]Before the sons of man!
20
In the secret place of Your presence You hide them from the plots and conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter (pavilion) from the strife of tongues.
21
Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown His marvelous favor and lovingkindness to me [when I was assailed] in a besieged city.
22
As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from Your eyes.”
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications (specific requests)
When I cried to You [for help].
23
O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful [those with moral and spiritual integrity]
And fully repays the [self-righteousness of the] arrogant.
24
Be strong and let your hearts take courage,
All you who wait for and confidently expect the Lord.
Prayer for Rescue from Enemies.
A Psalm of David.
35 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
2
Take hold of shield and buckler ([a]small shield),
And stand up for my help.
3
Draw also the spear and javelin to meet those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4
Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life;
Let those be turned back [in defeat] and humiliated who plot evil against me.
5
Let them be [blown away] like chaff before the wind [worthless, without substance],
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6
Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing and harassing them.
7
For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit [of destruction] for my life.
8
Let destruction come upon my enemy by surprise;
Let the net he hid for me catch him;
Into that very destruction let him fall.
9
Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
10
All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You,
Who rescues the afflicted from him who is too strong for him [to resist alone],
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”
11
Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.
12
They repay me evil for good,
To the sorrow of my soul.
13
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth (mourning garment);
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And I prayed with my head bowed on my chest.
14
I behaved as if grieving for my friend or my brother;
I bowed down in mourning, as one who sorrows for his mother.
15
But in my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered together [against me];
The slanderers whom I did not know gathered against me;
They slandered and reviled me without ceasing.
16
Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth [in malice].
17
Lord, how long will You look on [without action]?
Rescue my life from their destructions,
My only life from the young lions.
18
I will give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will praise You among a mighty people.
19
Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those who hate me without cause wink their eye [maliciously].(A)
20
For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful words [half-truths and lies] against those who are quiet in the land.
21
They open their mouths wide against me;
They say, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”
22
You have seen this, O Lord; do not keep silent.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
23
Wake Yourself up, and arise to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24
Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness and justice;
And do not let them rejoice over me.
25
Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, that is what we wanted!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up and destroyed him.”
26
Let those be ashamed and humiliated together who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me.
27
Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication and want what is right for me;
Let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
28
And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness (justice),
And Your praise all the day long.
27 Now these are the records of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in [a]Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai (later called Sarah), and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.
31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there. 32 Terah lived two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
Abram Journeys to Egypt
12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,
“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;(A)
2
And [b]I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you [abundantly],
And make your name great (exalted, distinguished);
And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
3
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you,
And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you.
And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”(B)
4 So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the [c]Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he moved on from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving].
Melchizedek’s Priesthood Like Christ’s
7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of all [the spoil]. He is, first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, which means king of peace. 3 Without [[a]any record of] father or mother, nor ancestral line, without [any record of] beginning of days (birth) nor ending of life (death), but having been made like the Son of God, he remains a priest without interruption and without successor.
4 Now pause and consider how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the spoils. 5 It is true that those descendants of Levi who are charged with the priestly office are commanded in the Law to collect tithes from the people—which means, from their kinsmen—though these have descended from Abraham. 6 But this person [Melchizedek] who is not from their Levitical ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who possessed the promises [of God]. 7 Yet it is beyond all dispute that the lesser person is always blessed by the greater one. 8 Furthermore, here [in the Levitical priesthood] tithes are received by men who are subject to death; but in that case [concerning Melchizedek], they are received by one of whom it is testified that he [b]lives on [perpetually]. 9 A person might even say that Levi [the father of the priestly tribe] himself, who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham [the father of all Israel and of all who believe], 10 for Levi was still in the loins (unborn) of his forefather [Abraham] when Melchizedek met him (Abraham).
11 Now if perfection [a perfect fellowship between God and the worshiper] had been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people were given the Law) what further need was there for another and different kind of priest to arise, one in the manner of Melchizedek, rather than one appointed to the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is of necessity a change of the law [concerning the priesthood] as well. 13 For the One of whom these things are said belonged [not to the priestly line of Levi but] to another tribe, from which no one has officiated or served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord descended from [the tribe of] Judah, and Moses mentioned nothing about priests in connection with that tribe. 15 And this becomes even more evident if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,(A) 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a [c]physical and legal requirement in the Law [concerning his ancestry as a descendant of Levi], but on the basis of the power of an indestructible and endless life. 17 For it is attested [by God] of Him,
“You (Christ) are a Priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”(B)
16 At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your [a]husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21 Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah).”
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.