Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 26
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity; I have [expectantly] trusted in, leaned on, and relied on the Lord without wavering and I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; test my heart and my mind.
3 For Your loving-kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth [faithfully].
4 I do not sit with false persons, nor fellowship with pretenders;
5 I hate the company of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence, and go about Your altar, O Lord,
7 That I may make the voice of thanksgiving heard and may tell of all Your wondrous works.
8 Lord, I love the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells.
9 Gather me not with sinners and sweep me not away [with them], nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 In whose hands is wickedness, and their right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; redeem me and be merciful and gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on an even place; in the congregations will I bless the Lord.
Psalm 28
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Unto You do I cry, O Lord my Rock, be not deaf and silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those going down to the pit [the grave].
2 Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your innermost sanctuary (the Holy of Holies).
3 Drag me not away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors, but malice and mischief are in their hearts.
4 Repay them according to their work and according to the wickedness of their doings; repay them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve.(A)
5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of His hands, He will break them down and not rebuild them.
6 Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him.
8 The Lord is their [unyielding] Strength, and He is the Stronghold of salvation to [me] His anointed.
9 Save Your people and bless Your heritage; nourish and shepherd them and carry them forever.
Psalm 36
To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the servant of the Lord.
1 Transgression [like an oracle] speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear or dread of God before his eyes.(A)
2 For he flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes that his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.
3 The words of his mouth are wrong and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 He plans wrongdoing on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject or despise evil.
5 Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, extend to the skies, and Your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8 They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.
9 For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.(B)
10 O continue Your loving-kindness to those who know You, Your righteousness (salvation) to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride overtake me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the workers of iniquity fall and lie prostrate; they are thrust down and shall not be able to rise.
Psalm 39
To the Chief Musician; for Jeduthun [founder of an official musical family]. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, I will take heed and guard my ways, that I may sin not with my tongue; I will muzzle my mouth as with a bridle while the wicked are before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace without profit and had no comfort away from good, while my distress was renewed.
3 My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
4 Lord, make me to know my end and [to appreciate] the measure of my days—what it is; let me know and realize how frail I am [how transient is my stay here].
5 Behold, You have made my days as [short as] handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. Truly every man at his best is merely a breath! Selah [pause, and think calmly of that]!
6 Surely every man walks to and fro—like a shadow in a pantomime; surely for futility and emptiness he is in turmoil; each one heaps up riches, not knowing who will gather them.(A)
7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the scorn and reproach of the [self-confident] fool!
9 I am dumb, I open not my mouth, for it is You Who has done it.
10 Remove Your stroke away from me; I am consumed by the conflict and the blow of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct and chasten man for sin, You waste his beauty like a moth and what is dear to him consumes away; surely every man is a mere breath. Selah [pause, and think calmly of that]!
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears! For I am Your passing guest, a temporary resident, as all my fathers were.
13 O look away from me and spare me, that I may recover cheerfulness and encouraging strength and know gladness before I go and am no more!
16 Better is little with the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord than great and rich treasure and trouble with it.(A)
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.(B)
18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger appeases contention.
19 The way of the sluggard is overgrown with thorns [it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him], but the way of the righteous is plain and raised like a highway.
20 A wise son makes a glad father, but a self-confident and foolish man despises his mother and puts her to shame.
21 Folly is pleasure to him who is without heart and sense, but a man of understanding walks uprightly [making straight his course].(C)
22 Where there is no counsel, purposes are frustrated, but with many counselors they are accomplished.
23 A man has joy in making an apt answer, and a word spoken at the right moment—how good it is!
24 The path of the wise leads upward to life, that he may avoid [the gloom] in the depths of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).(D)
25 The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but He makes secure the boundaries of the [consecrated] widow.
26 The thoughts of the wicked are shamefully vile and exceedingly offensive to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasing words to Him.
27 He who is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.(E)
28 The mind of the [uncompromisingly] righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.(F)
29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the [consistently] righteous (the upright, in right standing with Him).
30 The light in the eyes [of him whose heart is joyful] rejoices the hearts of others, and good news nourishes the bones.
31 The ear that listens to the reproof [that leads to or gives] life will remain among the wise.
32 He who refuses and ignores instruction and correction despises himself, but he who heeds reproof gets understanding.
33 The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord brings instruction in Wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
18 This charge and admonition I commit in trust to you, Timothy, my son, [a]in accordance with prophetic intimations which I formerly received concerning you, so that inspired and aided by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 Holding fast to faith ([b]that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence) and having a good (clear) conscience. By rejecting and thrusting from them [their conscience], some individuals have made shipwreck of their faith.
20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan in order that they may be disciplined [by punishment and learn] not to blaspheme.
2 First of all, then, I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men,
2 For kings and all who are in positions of authority or high responsibility, that [outwardly] we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life [and inwardly] a peaceable one in all godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way.
3 For such [praying] is good and right, and [it is] pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior,
4 Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth.
5 For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 Who gave Himself as a ransom for all [people, a fact that was] attested to at the right and proper time.
7 And of this matter I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (special messenger)—I am speaking the truth in Christ, I do not falsify [when I say this]—a teacher of the Gentiles in [the realm of] faith and truth.
8 I desire therefore that in every place men should pray, without anger or quarreling or resentment or doubt [in their minds], lifting up holy hands.
33 Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.
34 You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the [a]superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 The good man from his inner good treasure [b]flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse [c]flings forth evil things.
36 But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every [d]idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak.
37 For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, Teacher, we desire to see a sign or miracle from You [proving that You are what You claim to be].
39 But He replied to them, An evil and adulterous generation (a generation [e]morally unfaithful to God) seeks and demands a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For even as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.(A)
41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, Someone more and greater than Jonah is here!(B)
42 The queen of the South will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, Someone more and greater than Solomon is here.(C)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation