Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56[a]
For the music director, according to the yonath-elem-rekhoqim style;[b] a prayer[c] of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath.[d]
56 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me.[e]
All day long hostile enemies[f] are tormenting me.[g]
2 Those who anticipate my defeat[h] attack me all day long.
Indeed,[i] many are fighting against me, O Exalted One.[j]
3 When[k] I am afraid,
I trust in you.
4 In God—I boast in his promise[l]—
in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can mere men[m] do to me?[n]
5 All day long they cause me trouble;[o]
they make a habit of plotting my demise.[p]
6 They stalk[q] and lurk;[r]
they watch my every step,[s]
as[t] they prepare to take my life.[u]
7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape.[v]
In your anger[w] bring down the nations,[x] O God.
8 You keep track of my misery.[y]
Put my tears in your leather container.[z]
Are they not recorded in your scroll?[aa]
9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help;[ab]
I know that God is on my side.[ac]
10 In God—I boast in his promise[ad]—
in the Lord—I boast in his promise[ae]—
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can mere men[af] do to me?[ag]
12 I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O God;[ah]
I will give you the thank offerings you deserve,[ai]
13 when you deliver[aj] my life from death.
You keep my feet from stumbling,[ak]
so that I might serve[al] God as I enjoy life.[am]
Psalm 57[an]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[ao] a prayer[ap] of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave.[aq]
57 Have mercy on me, O God. Have mercy on me.
For in you I have taken shelter.[ar]
In the shadow of your wings[as] I take shelter
until trouble passes.
2 I cry out for help to God Most High,[at]
to the God who vindicates[au] me.
3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me[av]
from my enemies who hurl insults.[aw] (Selah)
May God send his loyal love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by lions;
I lie down[ax] among those who want to devour me,[ay]
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.[az]
5 Rise up[ba] above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.[bb]
6 They have prepared a net to trap me;[bc]
I am discouraged.[bd]
They have dug a pit for me.[be]
They will fall[bf] into it. (Selah)
7 I am determined,[bg] O God. I am determined.
I will sing and praise you.
8 Awake, my soul![bh]
Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!
I will wake up at dawn.[bi]
9 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord.
I will sing praises to you before foreigners.[bj]
10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky,[bk]
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
11 Rise up[bl] above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.[bm]
Psalm 58[bn]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[bo] a prayer[bp] of David.
58 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions?[bq]
Do you judge people[br] fairly?
2 No![bs] You plan how to do what is unjust;[bt]
you deal out violence in the earth.[bu]
3 The wicked turn aside from birth;[bv]
liars go astray as soon as they are born.[bw]
4 Their venom is like that of a snake,[bx]
like a deaf serpent[by] that does not hear,[bz]
5 that does not respond to[ca] the magicians,
or to a skilled snake charmer.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths!
Smash the jawbones of the lions, O Lord.
7 Let them disappear[cb] like water that flows away.[cc]
Let them wither like grass.[cd]
8 Let them be[ce] like a snail that melts away as it moves along.[cf]
Let them be like[cg] stillborn babies[ch] that never see the sun.
9 Before the kindling is even placed under your pots,[ci]
he[cj] will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat.[ck]
10 The godly[cl] will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then[cm] observers[cn] will say,
“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded.[co]
Yes indeed, there is a God who judges[cp] in the earth.”
Psalm 64[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
64 Listen to me,[b] O God, as I offer my lament!
Protect[c] my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks.[d]
2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,
from the crowd of evildoers.[e]
3 They[f] sharpen their tongues like swords;
they aim their arrows, a slanderous charge,[g]
4 in order to shoot down the innocent[h] in secluded places.
They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation.[i]
5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed.[j]
They plan how to hide[k] snares,
and boast,[l] “Who will see them?”[m]
6 They devise[n] unjust schemes;
they disguise[o] a well-conceived plot.[p]
Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered.[q]
7 But God will shoot[r] at them;
suddenly they will be[s] wounded by an arrow.[t]
8 Their slander will bring about their demise.[u]
All who see them will shudder,[v]
9 and all people will fear.[w]
They will proclaim what God has done,[x]
and reflect on his deeds.
10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord
and take shelter in him.
All the morally upright[y] will boast.[z]
Psalm 65[aa]
For the music director, a psalm of David, a song.
65 Praise awaits you,[ab] O God, in Zion.
Vows made to you are fulfilled.
2 You hear prayers;[ac]
all people approach you.[ad]
3 Our record of sins overwhelms me,[ae]
but you forgive[af] our acts of rebellion.
4 How blessed[ag] is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts.[ah]
May we be satisfied with the good things of your house—
your holy palace.[ai]
5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our savior.[aj]
All the ends of the earth trust in you,[ak]
as well as those living across the wide seas.[al]
6 You created the mountains by your power,[am]
and demonstrated your strength.[an]
7 You calmed the raging seas[ao]
and their roaring waves,
as well as the commotion made by the nations.[ap]
8 Even those living in the remotest areas are awestruck by your acts;[aq]
you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.[ar]
9 You visit the earth and give it rain;[as]
you make it rich and fertile.[at]
God’s streams are full of water;[au]
you provide grain for the people of the earth,[av]
for you have prepared the earth in this way.[aw]
10 You saturate[ax] its furrows,
and soak[ay] its plowed ground.[az]
With rain showers you soften its soil,[ba]
and make its crops grow.[bb]
11 You crown the year with your good blessings,[bc]
and you leave abundance in your wake.[bd]
12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture,[be]
and the hills are clothed with joy.[bf]
13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.
17 Wake up! Wake up!
Get up, O Jerusalem!
You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you,
which was full of his anger.[a]
You drained dry
the goblet full of intoxicating wine.[b]
18 There was no one to lead her
among all the children she bore;
there was no one to take her by the hand
among all the children she raised.
19 These double disasters confronted you.
But who feels sorry for you?
Destruction and devastation,
famine and sword.
But who consoles you?[c]
20 Your children faint;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a snare.
They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger,
by the battle cry of your God.[d]
21 So listen to this, oppressed one,
who is drunk, but not from wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign[e] Lord, even your God who judges[f] his people says:
“Look, I have removed from your hand
the cup of intoxicating wine,[g]
the goblet full of my anger.[h]
You will no longer have to drink it.
23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors[i]
who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’
You made your back like the ground,
and like the street for those who walked over you.”
4 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor,[a] is no different from a slave, though he is the owner[b] of everything. 2 But he is under guardians[c] and managers until the date set by his[d] father. 3 So also we, when we were minors,[e] were enslaved under the basic forces[f] of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time[g] had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.[h] 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls[i] “Abba![j] Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are[k] a son, then you are also an heir through God.[l]
Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law
8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all.[m] 9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless[n] basic forces?[o] Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?[p] 10 You are observing religious[q] days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.
A Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
24 After Jesus[a] left there, he went to the region of Tyre.[b] When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but[c] he was not able to escape notice. 25 Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit[d] immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She[e] asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.”[f] 28 She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then[g] he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Healing a Deaf Mute
31 Then[h] Jesus[i] went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.[j] 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 33 After Jesus[k] took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s[l] ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.[m] 34 Then[n] he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”).[o] 35 And immediately the man’s[p] ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more.[q] 37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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