Book of Common Prayer
A Davidic Psalm
Remembering God’s Love
101 I will sing about gracious love and justice;
Lord, I will sing praise to you.
2 I will pay attention to living a life of integrity—
when will I attain it?
I will live with integrity of heart in my house.
3 I will not even think about doing anything lawless;
I hate to do evil deeds;
I will have none of it.
4 I will not allow anyone with a perverted mind in my presence;
I will not be involved with[a] anything evil.
5 I will destroy the one who secretly slanders a friend.
I will not allow the proud and haughty to prevail.
6 My eyes are looking at the faithful of the land,
so they may live with me;
The one who lives a life of integrity will serve me.
7 A deceitful person will not sit in my house;
A liar will not remain in my presence.
8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
eliminating everyone who practices iniquity from the Lord’s city.
To the Director. A Davidic psalm.
A Prayer against the Evil One
109 God, whom I praise,
do not be silent,
2 for the mouths of wicked and deceitful people
are opened against me;
they speak against me with lying tongues.
3 They surround me with hate-filled words,
attacking me for no reason.
4 Instead of receiving[a] my love, they accuse me,
though I continue in prayer.
5 They devise evil against me instead of good,
and hatred in place of my love.
6 Appoint an evil person over him;
may an accuser stand at his right side.[b]
7 When he is judged, may he be found guilty;
may his prayer be regarded as sin.
8 May his days be few;
may another take over his position.[c]
9 May his children become fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children roam around begging,
seeking food[d] while driven far[e] from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize all his possessions,
and may foreigners loot the property he has acquired.[f]
12 May no one extend gracious love to him,
or show favor to his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants[g] be eliminated,
and their memory[h] be erased from the next generation.
14 May his ancestors’ guilt be remembered in the Lord’s presence,
and may his mother’s guilt not be erased.
15 May what[i] they have done[j] be continually in the Lord’s presence;
and may their memory be excised from the earth.
16 For he didn’t think to extend gracious love;
he harassed to death the poor, the needy, and the broken hearted.[k]
17 He loved to curse—may his curses[l] return upon him!
He took no delight in blessing others[m]—
so may blessings[n] be far from him.
18 He wore curses like a garment—
may they[o] enter his inner being like water
and his bones like oil.
19 May those curses[p] wrap around him like a garment,
or like a belt that one always wears.
20 May this be the way the Lord repays my accuser,
those who speak evil against me.
21 Now you, Lord my God, defend[q] me for your name’s sake;
because your gracious love is good, deliver me!
22 Indeed, I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am fading[r] away like a shadow late in the day;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way[s] from fasting,
and my skin is lean, deprived of oil.
25 I have become an object of derision to them—
they shake their heads whenever they see me.
26 Help me, Lord my God!
Deliver me in accord with your gracious love!
27 Then they will realize that your hand is in this—
that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They will curse,
but you will bless.
When they attack,[t] they will[u] be humiliated,
while your servant rejoices.
29 May my accusers be clothed with shame
and wrapped in their humiliation as with a robe.
30 I will give many thanks to the Lord with my mouth,
praising him publicly,
Ayin
Praying for God’s Deliverance
121 I have acted with justice and righteousness;
do not abandon me to my oppressors.
122 Back up your servant in a positive way;
do not let the arrogant oppress me.
123 My eyes fail as I look[a] for your salvation
and for your righteous promise.
124 Act toward your servant consistent with your gracious love,
and teach me your statutes.
125 Since I am your servant, give me understanding,
so I will know your decrees.
126 It is time for the Lord to act,
since they have violated your instruction.[b]
127 I truly love your commands more than gold,
including fine gold.
128 I truly consider all of your precepts—all of them—to be just,
while I despise every false way.
Peyh
Living in God’s Word
129 Your decrees are wonderful—
that’s why I observe them.
130 The disclosure of your words illuminates,
providing understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant
as I long for your commands.
132 Turn in my direction and show mercy to me,
as you have decreed regarding those who love your name.
133 Direct my footsteps by your promise,
and do not let any kind of iniquity rule over me.
134 Deliver me from human oppression
and I will keep your precepts.
135 Show favor to[c] your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
136 My eyes shed rivers of tears,
when others do not obey your instruction.[d]
Tsade
God’s Righteous Decrees
137 Lord, you are righteous,
and your judgments are right.
138 You have ordered your decrees to us rightly,
and they are very faithful.
139 My zeal consumes me
because my enemies forget your words.
140 Your word is very pure,
and your servant loves it.
141 Though I may be small and despised,
I do not neglect your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an eternal righteousness,
and your instruction[e] is true.
143 Though trouble and anguish overwhelm me,
your commands remain my delight.
144 Your righteous decrees are eternal;
give me understanding, and I will live.
The Potter’s House and the Ruined Vessel
18 The message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I’ll allow you to hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was doing work at the potter’s wheel. 4 But the vessel he was working on with the clay was ruined in the potter’s hand. So he remade it into another vessel that seemed appropriate to him.
5 Then this message from the Lord came to me: 6 “Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter?” declares the Lord. “Look, Israel, like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7 At one moment I may speak about a nation or a kingdom to uproot it, pull it down, or destroy it. 8 But if that nation about which I spoke turns from its evil way, I’ll change my mind about the disaster that I had planned for it. 9 At another moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to build it or plant it. 10 But if that nation does evil in my eyes by not obeying me, I’ll change my mind about the good that I said I would bring on it.
11 “Now say to the people of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Look, I’m designing a disaster just for you, and I’m making plans against you. Each one of you must repent from his evil way. Make your ways and deeds right.”’
The Spirit Gives Life
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Messiah[a] Jesus.[b] 2 For the Spirit’s law of life in the Messiah[c] Jesus has set me[d] free from the Law of sin and death. 3 For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the form of humanity,[e] he condemned sin by being incarnate, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to human nature but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace. 7 That is why the mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. It refuses to submit to the authority of God’s Law because it is powerless to do so. 8 Indeed, those who are under the control of human nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God’s Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah,[f] he does not belong to him. 10 But if the Messiah[g] is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit[h] is alive due to righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah[i] from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.
27 Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to perform God’s works?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is God’s work: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”[a]
32 Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[b] emphatically, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they told him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
35 Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. 36 I told you that you have seen me,[c] yet you don’t believe. 37 Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and I’ll never turn away the one who comes to me. 38 I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day. 40 This is my Father’s will: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
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