Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
31 (A)In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never (B)be ashamed;
(C)In Your righteousness deliver me.
2 (D)Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a (E)rock of [a]strength,
A stronghold to save me.
3 For You are my [b]rock and (F)my fortress;
For (G)Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
4 You will (H)pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my (I)strength.
5 (J)Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have (K)ransomed me, O Lord, (L)God of [c]truth.
6 I hate those who (M)regard [d]vain idols,
But I (N)trust in the Lord.
7 I will (O)rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness,
Because You have (P)seen my affliction;
You have known the troubles of my soul,
8 And You have not (Q)given me over into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for (R)I am in distress;
My (S)eye is wasted away from grief, (T)my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with (U)sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My (V)strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And (W)my [e]body has wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries, I have become a (X)reproach,
Especially to my (Y)neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I am (Z)forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the [f](AA)slander of many,
(AB)Terror is on every side;
While they (AC)took counsel together against me,
They (AD)schemed to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “(AE)You are my God.”
15 My (AF)times are in Your hand;
(AG)Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your (AH)face to shine upon Your servant;
(AI)Save me in Your lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be (AJ)put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon You;
Let the (AK)wicked be put to shame, let them (AL)be silent in [g]Sheol.
18 Let the (AM)lying lips be mute,
Which (AN)speak arrogantly against the righteous
With pride and contempt.
19 How great is Your (AO)goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who (AP)take refuge in You,
(AQ)Before the sons of men!
20 You hide them in the (AR)secret place of Your presence from the (AS)conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a [h]shelter from the (AT)strife of tongues.
21 (AU)Blessed be the Lord,
For He has made (AV)marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged (AW)city.
22 As for me, (AX)I said in my alarm,
“I am (AY)cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You (AZ)heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried to You.
Prayer for Rescue from Enemies.
A Psalm of David.
35 Contend, O Lord, with those who (A)contend with me;
Fight against those who (B)fight against me.
2 Take hold of [a](C)buckler and shield
And rise up for (D)my help.
3 Draw also the spear and [b]the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me;
Say to my soul, “I am (E)your salvation.”
4 Let those be (F)ashamed and dishonored who seek my [c]life;
Let those be (G)turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be (H)like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and (I)slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7 For (J)without cause they (K)hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a [d]pit for my soul.
8 Let (L)destruction come upon him unawares,
And (M)let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very (N)destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall (O)rejoice in the Lord;
It shall (P)exult in His salvation.
10 All my (Q)bones will say, “Lord, (R)who is like You,
Who delivers the afflicted from him (S)who is too strong for him,
And (T)the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”
11 (U)Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They (V)repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
13 But as for me, (W)when they were sick, my (X)clothing was sackcloth;
I (Y)humbled my soul with fasting,
And my (Z)prayer kept returning to my bosom.
14 I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I (AA)bowed down [e]mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
15 But (AB)at my [f]stumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together;
The [g](AC)smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me,
They [h](AD)slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like godless jesters at a feast,
They (AE)gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 Lord, (AF)how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul (AG)from their ravages,
My (AH)only life from the lions.
18 I will (AI)give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will (AJ)praise You among a mighty throng.
19 (AK)Do not let those who are wrongfully (AL)my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those (AM)who hate me without cause [i](AN)wink maliciously.
20 For they do not speak peace,
But they devise (AO)deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They (AP)opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, “(AQ)Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”
22 (AR)You have seen it, O Lord, (AS)do not keep silent;
O Lord, (AT)do not be far from me.
23 (AU)Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 (AV)Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness,
And (AW)do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their heart, “(AX)Aha, our desire!”
Do not let them say, “We have (AY)swallowed him up!”
26 Let (AZ)those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be (BA)clothed with shame and dishonor who (BB)magnify themselves over me.
Baskets of Figs and the Returnees
24 After (A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me: behold, two (B)baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord! 2 One basket had very good figs, like (C)first-ripe figs, and the other basket had (D)very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then the Lord said to me, “(E)What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard (F)as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will (G)bring them again to this land; and I will (H)build them up and not overthrow them, and I will (I)plant them and not pluck them up. 7 I will give them a (J)heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be (K)My people, and I will be their God, for they will (L)return to Me with their whole heart.
8 ‘But like the (M)bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the Lord—so I will [a]abandon (N)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the (O)remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of (P)Egypt. 9 I will (Q)make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a (R)reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a (S)curse in all places where I will scatter them. 10 I will send the (T)sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”
19 (A)You will say to me then, “(B)Why does He still find fault? For (C)who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, (D)O man, who (E)answers back to God? (F)The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel [a]for honorable use and another [b]for common use? 22 [c]What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much (G)patience vessels of wrath (H)prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known (I)the riches of His glory upon (J)vessels of mercy, which He (K)prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also (L)called, (M)not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. 25 As He says also in Hosea,
“(N)I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
26 “(O)And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of (P)the living God.”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “(Q)Though the number of the sons of Israel be (R)like the sand of the sea, it is (S)the remnant that will be saved; 28 (T)for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, [d]thoroughly and [e]quickly.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
“(U)Unless (V)the Lord of [f]Sabaoth had left to us a [g]posterity,
(W)We would have become like Sodom, and would have [h]resembled Gomorrah.”
30 (X)What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even (Y)the righteousness which is [i]by faith; 31 but Israel, (Z)pursuing a law of righteousness, did not (AA)arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it [j]by faith, but as though it were [k]by works. They stumbled over (AB)the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,
Healing the Man Born Blind
9 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “(A)Rabbi, who sinned, (B)this man or his (C)parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so (D)that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me (E)as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am (F)the Light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He (G)spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in (H)the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and (I)washed, and (J)came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to (K)sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” [a]He kept saying, “I am the one.” 10 So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to (L)Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.”
Controversy over the Man
13 They *brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 (M)Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 (N)Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He (O)does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such [b](P)signs?” And (Q)there was a division among them. 17 So they *said to the blind man (R)again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a (S)prophet.”
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