Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: To the tune of[a] “The Lilies”. Davidic.
When God Seems Distant
69 Deliver me, God,
because the waters are up to my neck.[b]
2 I am sinking in deep mire,
and there is no solid ground.[c]
I have come into deep water,
and the flood overwhelms me.
3 I am exhausted from calling for help.
My throat is parched.
My eyes are strained from looking for God.
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of my head.
My persecutors are mighty,
and they want to destroy me.
Must I be forced to return what I did not steal?
5 God, you know my sins,
and my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who look up to you be ashamed
because of me,
Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.
Let not those who seek you be humiliated
because of me,
God of Israel.
7 I am being mocked because of you.
Dishonor overwhelms me.
8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
9 Zeal for your house consumes me,
and the mockeries of those who insult you fall on me.
10 I weep and fast,
and I am mocked for it.
11 When I dressed in sackcloth,
I became an object of gossip among them.
12 The prominent people mock me,
composing drinking songs.
Seeking God for Deliverance
13 As for me, Lord, may my prayer to you come at a favorable time.
God, in the abundance of your gracious love,
answer me with your sure deliverance.
14 Rescue me from the mud
and do not let me sink.
Rescue me from those who hate me,
and from the deep waters.
15 Let neither the floodwaters overwhelm me
nor let the deep swallow me up,
nor the mouth of the well close over me.
16 Answer me, Lord, for your gracious love is good;
Turn to me in keeping with your great compassion,
17 and[d] do not ignore your servant,
because I am in distress.
Hurry to answer me!
18 Draw near and redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies.
19 Truly you know my reproach, shame, and disgrace.
All my enemies are known to[e] you.
20 Insults broke my heart.
I despaired and looked for sympathy;
but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put poison in my food,
in my thirst they forced me to drink vinegar.
22 May their dining[f] tables entrap them,
and become a snare for their allies.
23 May their eyes be blinded
and may their bodies tremble continuously.
24 May you pour out your fury on them.
May your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp become desolate
and their tents remain unoccupied.
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck,
and they brag about the pain of those you have wounded.
27 May you punish them for their crimes;
may they receive no verdict of innocence[g] from you.
28 May they be erased from the Book of Life,
and their names not be written with the righteous.
29 As for me, I am afflicted and hurting;
may your deliverance, God, establish me on high.
30 Let me praise the name of God with a song
that I may magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 That will please the Lord
more than oxen and bulls with horns and hooves.
32 The afflicted will watch and rejoice.
May you who seek God take courage.
33 For the Lord listens to the needy
and doesn’t despise those in bondage.
34 Let the heavens and earth praise him,
along with the sea and its swarming creatures.[h]
35 For God will deliver Zion
and will rebuild the cities of Judah
so they may live there and possess them.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who cherish his name will live there.
BOOK III (Psalms 73-89)
A song of Asaph.
A Plea for Deliverance
73 God is indeed good to Israel,
to those pure in heart.
2 Now as for me, my feet nearly stumbled,
as I almost lost my step.
3 For I was envious of the proud
when I observed the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there is no struggle at their deaths,
and their bodies are healthy.
5 They do not experience problems common to ordinary people;
they aren’t afflicted as others[a] are.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace
and violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge from obesity
and the imaginations of their mind cross the border into sin.[b]
8 In their mockery they speak evil;
from their arrogant position they speak oppression.
9 They choose to speak[c] against heaven;
while they talk about things on earth.
10 Therefore God’s[d] people return there
and drink it all in like water until they’re satiated.
11 Then they say,
“How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 Just look at these wicked people!
They’re perpetually carefree
as they increase their wealth.
13 I kept my heart pure for nothing
and kept my hands clean from guilt.
14 For I suffer all day long
and I am punished every morning.
15 If I say, “I will talk like this,”
I would betray a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this,
it was too difficult for me
17 until I entered the sanctuaries of God.
Then I understood their destiny.
18 You have certainly set them in slippery places;
you will make them fall to their ruin.
19 How desolate they quickly become,
completely destroyed by calamities.
20 Like a dream when one awakens, Lord,
you will despise their image when you arise.
21 When I chose to be bitter
I was emotionally pained.
22 Then, I was too stupid
and didn’t realize I was acting like[e] a wild animal with you.
23 But now I am always with you,
for you keep holding my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your wise advice,
and later you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?
I desire nothing on this [f]earth.
26 My body and mind may fail,
but God is my strength[g] and my portion forever.
27 Those far from you will perish;
you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.
28 As for me, how good for me it is that God is near!
I have made the Lord God my refuge
so I can tell about all your deeds.
The Covenant Extended to the Righteous
56 For[a] this is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and soon my deliverance will be revealed.
2 Blessed is the one who does this,
and the person that holds it fast,
who observes the Sabbath without profaning it,
and restrains his hands[b] from practicing any evil.
3 “Let[c] no foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say:
‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’
Furthermore, let no eunuch say,
‘Look![d] I am just a dry tree.’”
4 For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me,
and who hold fast my covenant—
5 to them I will give in my house[e] and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters.
I will give them[f] an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.[g]
6 “Also, the foreigners who join themselves to[h] the Lord,
to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,[i]
to be his servants,
and to bless the Lord’s name,
observing[j] the Sabbath without profaning it,
and who hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will rise up to be accepted[k] on my altar;
for my house will be called a house of prayer
for everyone.”[l]
A Rebuke to Israel’s Guardians
8 This is what the Lord God says,
the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel:
“I’ll gather still others to them
besides those already gathered.[m]
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do. 18 But if you are being led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the actions of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, witchcraft,[a] hatred, rivalry, jealously, outbursts of anger, quarrels, conflicts, factions, 21 envy, murder,[b] drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,[c] 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 Now those who belong to the Messiah[d] Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.
Jesus’ Appearance is Changed(A)
2 Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone with him. His appearance was changed in front of them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone[a] on earth could bleach them. 4 Then Elijah appeared to them, accompanied by Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 Then Peter told Jesus, “Rabbi,[b] it’s good that we’re here! Let’s set up three shelters[c]—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 (Peter[d] didn’t know how to respond, because they were terrified.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said,[e] “This is my Son, whom I love. Keep on listening to him!” 8 Suddenly, as they looked around, they saw no one with them but Jesus alone.
9 On their way down the mountain, Jesus[f] ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves but argued about what “rising from the dead” meant. 11 So they asked him, “Don’t the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
12 He told them, “Elijah is indeed coming first and will restore all things. Why, then, is it written that the Son of Man must suffer a great deal and be treated shamefully? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, yet people[g] treated him just as they pleased, as it is written about him.”
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