Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 51[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba.[b]
51 Have mercy on me, O God, because of[c] your loyal love.
Because of[d] your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts.[e]
2 Wash away my wrongdoing.[f]
Cleanse me of my sin.[g]
3 For I am aware of[h] my rebellious acts;
I am forever conscious of my sin.[i]
4 Against you—you above all[j]—I have sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
So[k] you are just when you confront me;[l]
you are right when you condemn me.[m]
5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,
a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.[n]
6 Look,[o] you desire[p] integrity in the inner man;[q]
you want me to possess wisdom.[r]
7 Cleanse me[s] with hyssop[t] and I will be pure;[u]
wash me[v] and I will be whiter than snow.[w]
8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven.[x]
May the bones[y] you crushed rejoice.[z]
9 Hide your face[aa] from my sins.
Wipe away[ab] all my guilt.
10 Create for me a pure heart, O God.[ac]
Renew a resolute spirit within me.[ad]
11 Do not reject me.[ae]
Do not take your holy Spirit[af] away from me.[ag]
12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance.
Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey.[ah]
13 Then I will teach[ai] rebels your merciful ways,[aj]
and sinners will turn[ak] to you.
14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder,[al] O God, the God who delivers me.
Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your righteousness.[am]
15 O Lord, give me the words.[an]
Then my mouth will praise you.[ao]
16 Certainly[ap] you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it;[aq]
you do not desire a burnt sacrifice.[ar]
17 The sacrifice God desires is a humble spirit[as]—
O God, a humble and repentant heart[at] you will not reject.[au]
18 Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her.[av]
Fortify[aw] the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will accept[ax] the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings;
then bulls will be sacrificed[ay] on your altar.[az]
Psalm 69[a]
For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”;[b] by David.
69 Deliver me, O God,
for the water has reached my neck.[c]
2 I sink into the deep mire
where there is no solid ground;[d]
I am in[e] deep water,
and the current overpowers me.
3 I am exhausted from shouting for help.
My throat is sore;[f]
my eyes grow tired from looking for my God.[g]
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me,
my enemies for no reason,[h]
outnumber me.[i]
They make me repay what I did not steal.[j]
5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins;[k]
my guilt is not hidden from you.[l]
6 Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me,
O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.[m]
Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 For I suffer[n] humiliation for your sake[o]
and am thoroughly disgraced.[p]
8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;
they act as if I were a foreigner.[q]
9 Certainly[r] zeal for[s] your house[t] consumes me;
I endure the insults of those who insult you.[u]
10 I weep and refrain from eating food,[v]
which causes others to insult me.[w]
11 I wear sackcloth
and they ridicule me.[x]
12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;
drunkards mock me in their songs.[y]
13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me.[z]
O God, because of your great loyal love,
answer me with your faithful deliverance.[aa]
14 Rescue me from the mud. Don’t let me sink.
Deliver me[ab] from those who hate me,
from the deep water.
15 Don’t let the current overpower me.
Don’t let the deep swallow me up.
Don’t let the Pit[ac] devour me.[ad]
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good.[ae]
Because of your great compassion, turn toward me.
17 Do not ignore[af] your servant,
for I am in trouble. Answer me right away.[ag]
18 Come near me and redeem me.[ah]
Because of my enemies, rescue me.
19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated, and disgraced;
you can see all my enemies.[ai]
20 Their insults are painful[aj] and make me lose heart;[ak]
I look[al] for sympathy, but receive none,[am]
for comforters, but find none.
21 They put bitter poison[an] into my food,
and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink.[ao]
22 May their dining table become a trap before them.
May it be a snare for that group of friends.[ap]
23 May their eyes be blinded.[aq]
Make them shake violently.[ar]
Jeremiah Appeals to God
12 Lord, you have always been fair
whenever I have complained to you.[a]
However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.[b]
Why are wicked people successful?[c]
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.[d]
They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.[e]
They always talk about you,
but they really care nothing about you.[f]
3 But you, Lord, know all about me.
You watch me and test my devotion to you.[g]
Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!
Appoint a time when they will be killed![h]
4 How long must the land be parched[i]
and the grass in every field be withered?
How long[j] must the animals and the birds die
because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land?[k]
For these people boast,
“God[l] will not see what happens to us.”[m]
God Answers Jeremiah
5 The Lord answered,[n]
“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out,
how will you be able to compete with horses?
And if you feel secure only[o] in safe and open country,[p]
how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?[q]
6 As a matter of fact,[r] even your own brothers
and the members of your own family have betrayed you as well.
Even they have plotted to do away with you.[s]
So do not trust them even when they say kind things[t] to you.
7 “I will abandon my nation.[u]
I will forsake the people I call my own.[v]
I will turn my beloved people[w]
over to the power[x] of their enemies.
8 The people I call my own[y] have turned on me
like a lion[z] in the forest.
They have roared defiantly at me,[aa]
so I will treat them as though I hate them.[ab]
9 The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas.[ac]
But other birds of prey are all around them.[ad]
Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts.
Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.[ae]
10 Many foreign rulers[af] will ruin the land where I planted my people.[ag]
They will trample all over my chosen land.[ah]
They will turn my beautiful land
into a desolate wilderness.
11 They will lay it waste.
It will lie parched[ai] and empty before me.
The whole land will be laid waste,
but no one living in it will pay any heed.[aj]
12 A destructive army[ak] will come marching
over the hilltops in the wilderness.
For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon[al]
against[am] everyone from one end of the land to the other.
No one will be safe.[an]
13 My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds.[ao]
They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it.
They will be disappointed in their harvests[ap]
because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger.[aq]
14 “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning[ar] the wicked nations who surround my land[as] and have attacked and plundered[at] the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession.[au] I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their land and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.[av] 15 But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent[aw] and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands[ax] and to their own country. 16 But they must make sure to learn to follow the religious practices of my people.[ay] Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal.[az] But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.”[ba] If they do these things,[bb] then they will be included among the people I call my own.[bc]
True and False Righteousness
3 Finally, my brothers and sisters,[a] rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
2 Beware of the dogs,[b] beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh![c] 3 For we are the circumcision,[d] the ones who worship by the Spirit of God,[e] exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials[f] 4 —though mine too are significant.[g] If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials,[h] I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.[i] 6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung![j]—that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness[k]—a righteousness from God that is in fact[l] based on Christ’s[m] faithfulness.[n] 10 My aim is to know him,[o] to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings,[p] and to be like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow,[q] to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Keep Going Forward
12 Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.[r] 13 Brothers and sisters,[s] I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded:[t] Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14 with this goal in mind,[u] I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God[v] in Christ Jesus.
9 Now a large crowd of Judeans[a] learned[b] that Jesus[c] was there, and so they came not only because of him[d] but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too,[e] 11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem[f] were going away and believing in Jesus.
The Triumphal Entry
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees[g] and went out to meet him. They began to shout,[h] “Hosanna![i] Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord![j] Blessed is[k] the king of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey[l] and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Do not be afraid, people of Zion;[m] look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt!”[n] 16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened,[o] but when Jesus was glorified,[p] then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened[q] to him.)[r]
17 So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it.[s] 18 Because they had heard that Jesus[t] had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him. 19 Thus the Pharisees[u] said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!”
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