Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Guidance, Deliverance, and Forgiveness
Of David.[a]
25 To you, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust you; let me not be put to shame.
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you should be put to shame.
Those who betray without cause should be put to shame.
4 Make me know your ways, O Yahweh.
Teach me your paths.
5 Cause me to walk in your truth and teach me,
because you are the God of my salvation.
I await you all day long.[b]
6 Remember your compassion, O Yahweh,
and your acts of loyal love,
because they are from of old.
7 Do not remember
the sins of my youth or my transgressions.
According to your loyal love remember me if you will,
for the sake of your goodness, O Yahweh.
8 Good and right is Yahweh;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He causes the humble to walk in justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of Yahweh are loyal love and faithfulness
for those who keep his covenant and statutes.[c]
11 Also, for the sake of your name, O Yahweh,
forgive my sin, because it is great.
12 Who is the man fearing Yahweh?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
13 His soul will lodge in prosperity,
and his offspring will possess the land.
14 Intimate fellowship with Yahweh is for those who fear him,
and he makes known his covenant to them.
15 My eyes are continually toward Yahweh,
because he will take my feet from the net.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me
because I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Remove the troubles of my heart;
bring me out from my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and trouble,
and forgive[d] all my sins.
19 Consider that my enemies are many,
and they hate me with violent hatred.
20 Protect my life and deliver me.
Let me not be put to shame, because I take shelter in you.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
because I wait for you.
22 O God, redeem Israel
from all its troubles.
Praise for Yahweh’s Justice
For the music director, according to Muth-labben.[a] A psalm of David.[b]
9 I will thank Yahweh with all my heart.
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you.
I will sing the praise of your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turn back,
they will stumble and perish because of your presence.
4 For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne judging correctly.
5 You have rebuked the nations;
you have destroyed the wicked.
Their name you have blotted out
forever and ever.
6 The enemies are destroyed in ruins forever,
and you have uprooted their cities;
their very memory has perished.
7 But Yahweh sits enthroned forever.
He has established his throne for judgment.
8 And he will judge the world with righteousness.
He will judge the peoples with equity.
9 And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of distress.
10 And those who know your name will trust in you,
for you do not forsake those who seek you, O Yahweh.
11 Sing praises to Yahweh who sits enthroned[c] in Zion.
Tell his deeds among the peoples,
12 for he who avenges bloodshed[d] remembers them.
He does not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.
13 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh.
See my suffering from those who hate me,
you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 so that I may tell of all your praises.
In the gates of the daughter of Zion
let me rejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have fallen in the pit that they made;
their foot is caught in the net that they hid.
16 Yahweh has made himself known;
he has executed judgment.
The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion[e] Selah
17 The wicked shall turn back to Sheol,
all the nations forgetting God,
18 for the needy shall not always be forgotten;
the hope of the poor shall never perish.
19 Rise up, O Yahweh, let not humans[f] prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
20 O Yahweh, put them in fear.
Let the nations know they are merely human. Selah
A Description of Those Who May Dwell with Yahweh
A psalm of David.[a]
15 O Yahweh, who may reside in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right.
He who speaks honestly in his heart.
3 He does not slander with his tongue.
He does not harm his friend,
nor bring up[b] a disgrace against his neighbor.
4 In his eyes a rejected one is contemptible,
but he honors those who respect Yahweh.
He takes an oath to his own injury and does not retract it.
5 He does not lend his money at interest,
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.
9 “However, take care[a] for yourself and watch your inner self[b] closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to your grandchildren.[c] 10 Remember the day that you stood before[d] Yahweh your God at Horeb when Yahweh said to me,[e] ‘Summon for me the people so that I can tell them my words, that they may learn to fear me all of the days they are alive on the earth and so that they may teach their children.’ 11 And so you came near, and you stood under the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heaven, dark with a very thick cloud.[f] 12 And Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard[g] a sound of words, but you did not see[h] a form—only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments,[i] which he charged you to observe,[j] and he wrote them on the two tablets of stone. 14 And Yahweh charged me at that time to teach you rules and regulations for your observation of them[k] in the land that you are about to cross into[l] to take possession of it.
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints who are in all Achaia. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving for God’s Compassion and Comfort
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, thus through Christ our comfort overflows also. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that is at work in the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we[a] know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so also you will be sharers in the comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction that happened in the province of Asia,[b] that we were burdened to an extraordinary degree, beyond our strength, so that we were in despair even of living. 9 But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not be putting confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a risk of death, and will deliver us, in whom we have put our hope that he will also deliver us again, 11 while[c] you also join in helping on our behalf[d] by prayer, so that thanks may be given on our behalf[e] by many persons for this gracious gift given to us through the help of many.
The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now large crowds were going along with him, and he turned around and[a] said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and furthermore, even his own life, he cannot be[b] my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow[c] me cannot be[d] my disciple. 28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and[e] calculate the cost to see if he has enough[f] to complete it?[g] 29 Otherwise[h] after[i] he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it,[j] all who see it[k] will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, going out to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and[l] deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand. 32 But if not, while[m] the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and[n] asks for terms of[o] peace. 33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be[p] my disciple.
34 “Now salt is good, but if salt becomes tasteless, with what will it be made salty? 35 It is usable neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software