Book of Common Prayer
A song. A Psalm of Asaph
A Plea for Judgment
83 God, do not rest!
Don’t be silent!
Don’t stay inactive, God!
2 See! Your enemies rage;
those who hate you issue threats.[a]
3 They plot against[b] your people
and conspire against your cherished ones.
4 They say, “Let us go and erase them as a nation
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
5 Indeed, they shrewdly planned together,
forming an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites,
Moab, the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia,
and the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria joined them
to strengthen the descendants of Lot.
9 Deal with them as you did to Midian,[c]
Sisera, and Jabin at the Kishon Brook.[d]
10 They were destroyed at En-dor
and became as dung on the ground.
11 Punish their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,[e]
and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,[f]
12 who said, “Let us possess the pastures of God.”
13 God, set them up like dried thistles,
like straw before the wind.
14 Like a fire burning a forest,
and a flame setting mountains ablaze.
15 Pursue them with your storm and
terrify them with your whirlwind.
16 Fill their faces with shame
until they seek your name, God.
17 Let them be humiliated and terrified permanently
until they die in shame.[g]
18 Then they will know that you alone—
whose name is Lord—
are the Most High over all the earth.
BOOK II (Psalms 42-72)
To the Director: An instruction[a] of the Sons of Korah.
Hope in God When Times of Trouble Come
42 As an antelope pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When may I come and appear in God’s presence?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while people[b] keep asking me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I will recall as I pour out my troubles[c] within me:
I used to go with the crowd in a procession to the house of God,
accompanied with shouts of joy and thanksgiving.
5 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
for once again I will praise him,
since his presence saves me.
6 My God, my soul feels depressed[d] within me;
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
from the heights of Hermon,
even from the foothills.[e]
7 Deep waters call out to what is deeper still;[f]
at the roar of your waterfalls
all your breakers and your waves swirled over me.
8 By day the Lord will command his gracious love,
and by night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will ask God, my Rock, “Why have you forsaken me?
Why do I go around mourning under the enemy’s oppression?”
10 Like the shattering of my bones are the taunts of my oppressors,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
for once again I will praise him,
since his presence saves me
and he is my God.
God is my Hope during Times of Trouble
43 [g]You be my judge,[h] God,
and plead my case against an unholy nation;
rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 Since you are the God who strengthens me,
why have you forsaken me?
Why do I go around mourning under the enemy’s oppression?”
3 Send forth your light and your truth
so they may guide me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain and to your dwelling places.[i]
4 Then I will approach the altar of God,
even to God in whom my joy finds its source.[j]
Then I will praise you with the lyre,
God, my God,
5 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
because I will praise him once again,
since his presence saves me
and he is my God.
To the Director: A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.
Restore Us, God
85 Lord you have favored your land
and restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You took away the iniquity of your people,
forgiving all their sins.
3 You withdrew all your wrath
and turned away from your burning anger.
4 Restore us, God of our salvation,
and stop being angry with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger from generation to generation?
6 Will you restore our lives again
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Lord, show your gracious love
and deliver us.
8 Let me listen to what God, the Lord, says;
for the Lord will promise peace
to his people, to his holy ones;
may they not return to foolishness.
9 Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him,
for his glory will live in our land.
10 Gracious love and truth meet;
righteousness and peace kiss.
11 Truth sprouts up from the ground,
while righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 The Lord will also provide what is good,
and our land will yield its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him
to prepare a path for his steps.
A Davidic prayer
Help Us, God
86 Lord, listen and answer me,
for I am afflicted and needy.
2 Protect me, for I am faithful;[a]
My God, deliver your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me Lord,
for I call on you all day long.
4 Your servant rejoices,
because, Lord, I set my hope on[b] you.
5 Indeed you, Lord, are kind and forgiving,
overflowing with gracious love to everyone who calls on you.
6 Hear my prayer, Lord;
attend to my prayer of supplication.
7 In my troubled times I will call on you,
for you will answer me.
8 No one can compare with you among the gods, Lord;
No one can accomplish[c] your work.
9 All the nations that you have established will come
and worship you, my Lord.
They will honor your name.
10 For you are great,
and you are doing awesome things;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your ways, Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
let me wholeheartedly[d] revere your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole being;
and I will honor your name continuously.
13 For great is your gracious love to me;
you’ve delivered me from the depths of Sheol.[e]
14 God, arrogant men rise up against me,
while a company of ruthless individuals want to kill me.
They do not have regard for you.[f]
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate God,
merciful and patient,[g]
with unending gracious love and faithfulness.
16 Return to me and have mercy on me;
clothe your servant with your strength
and deliver the son of your maid servant.
17 Show me a sign of your goodness,
so that those who hate me will see it and be ashamed.
For you, Lord, will help and comfort me.
11 [a]Tell this to them: “The gods who[b] didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”
A Hymn of Praise to God
12 The Lord is[c] the one who made
the world by his power,
who established the earth by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 When his voice sounds there is thunder
from the waters of heaven,
and he makes clouds rise up from
the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings wind out of his storehouses.
14 Everyone is stupid[d] and without knowledge.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false.[e]
There is no life[f] in them.
15 They’re worthless, a work of mockery,
and when the time of punishment comes,[g]
they’ll perish.
16 The Portion of Jacob[h] is not like these.
He made everything,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.
The Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name.
The Coming Captivity of Judah
17 You who live under siege,
Gather up your bundle[i] from the ground.[j]
18 For this is what the Lord says:
“I’m going to throw out the inhabitants
of the land at this time,
and I’ll bring distress on them
so they’ll experience[k] it.”
19 Woe is me because of my injury.
My wound is severe.
I said, “Truly this is my sickness,
and I must bear it.
20 My tent is destroyed,
and all my tent cords are broken.
My sons have gone away from me,
they no longer live.
There is no one to pitch my tent again
and set up my curtains.
21 Because the shepherds are stupid[l]
and don’t seek[m] the Lord,
therefore, they don’t prosper,
and their flock is scattered.
22 The sound of a report, it’s coming now!
There is a great commotion from a land in the north
to make the towns of Judah desolate,
a refuge for jackals.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer
Death in Adam, Life in the Messiah
12 Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death resulted from sin, therefore everyone dies, because everyone has sinned. 13 Certainly sin was in the world before the Law was given,[a] but no record of sin is kept when there is no Law. 14 Nevertheless, death ruled from the time of[b] Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed.[c] He is a foreshadowing of the one who would come.
15 But God’s free gift[d] is not like Adam’s offense.[e] For if many people died as the result of one man’s offense, how much more have God’s grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus the Messiah,[f] been showered on many people! 16 Nor can the free gift be compared to what came through the man who sinned.[g] For the sentence that followed one man’s offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift brought justification, even after many offenses. 17 For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man’s offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus the Messiah![h]
18 Consequently, just as one offense resulted in condemnation for everyone, so one act of righteousness results in justification and life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one man’s obedience many people will be made righteous. 20 Now the Law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more, 21 so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death,[i] so also grace might rule by bringing justification[j] that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah,[k] our Lord.
The One from Above
21 Later on, he told them again, “I’m going away, and you’ll look for me, but you will die in your sin.[a] You cannot come where I’m going.”
22 So the Jewish leaders[b] were asking, “He isn’t going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said,[c] ‘You cannot come where I’m going’?”
23 He told them, “You are from below, I’m from above. You are of this world, but I’m not of this world. 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM, you’ll die in your sins.”
25 Then they asked him, “Who are you?”
Jesus told them, “What have I been telling you all along?[d] 26 I have much to say about you and to condemn you for.[e] But the one who sent me is truthful,[f] and what I’ve heard from him I declare to the world.”
27 They didn’t realize that he was talking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own authority. Instead, I speak only what the Father has taught me. 29 Moreover, the one who sent me is with me. He has never left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.” 30 While he was saying these things, many believed in him.
Freedom and Slavery
31 So Jesus told those Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are really my disciples. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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