Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119[a]
A Prayer to God, the Lawgiver
Aleph
1 Blessed those whose way is blameless,
who walk by the law of the Lord.(A)
2 Blessed those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with all their heart.(B)
3 They do no wrong;
they walk in his ways.
4 You have given them the command
to observe your precepts with care.
5 May my ways be firm
in the observance of your statutes!
6 Then I will not be ashamed
to ponder all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with sincere heart
as I study your righteous judgments.
8 I will observe your statutes;
do not leave me all alone.
Beth
9 How can the young keep his way without fault?
Only by observing your words.
10 With all my heart I seek you;
do not let me stray from your commandments.
11 In my heart I treasure your promise,
that I may not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes.(C)
13 With my lips I recite
all the judgments you have spoken.
14 I find joy in the way of your testimonies
more than in all riches.
15 I will ponder your precepts
and consider your paths.
16 In your statutes I take delight;
I will never forget your word.
Gimel
17 Be kind to your servant that I may live,
that I may keep your word.
18 Open my eyes to see clearly
the wonders of your law.
19 I am a sojourner in the land;[b](D)
do not hide your commandments from me.
20 At all times my soul is stirred
with longing for your judgments.
21 With a curse you rebuke the proud
who stray from your commandments.
22 Free me from disgrace and contempt,
for I keep your testimonies.
23 Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.
Psalm 12[a]
Prayer Against Evil Tongues
1 For the leader; “upon the eighth.” A psalm of David.
I
2 Help, Lord, for no one loyal remains;
the faithful have vanished from the children of men.(A)
3 They tell lies to one another,
speak with deceiving lips and a double heart.(B)
II
4 May the Lord cut off all deceiving lips,
and every boastful tongue,
5 Those who say, “By our tongues we prevail;
when our lips speak, who can lord it over us?”(C)
III
6 “Because they rob the weak, and the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will grant safety to whoever longs for it.”(D)
IV
7 The promises of the Lord are sure,
silver refined in a crucible,[b]
silver purified seven times.(E)
8 You, O Lord, protect us always;
preserve us from this generation.
9 On every side the wicked roam;
the shameless are extolled by the children of men.
Psalm 13[c]
Prayer for Help
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 How long, Lord? Will you utterly forget me?
How long will you hide your face from me?(F)
3 How long must I carry sorrow in my soul,
grief in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
II
4 Look upon me, answer me, Lord, my God!
Give light to my eyes lest I sleep in death,
5 Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed,”
lest my foes rejoice at my downfall.(G)
III
6 But I trust in your mercy.
Grant my heart joy in your salvation,
I will sing to the Lord,
for he has dealt bountifully with me!(H)
Psalm 14[d]
A Lament over Widespread Corruption
1 For the leader. Of David.
I
The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt;
not one does what is good.(I)
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
upon the children of men,(J)
To see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.(K)
3 All have gone astray;
all alike are perverse.
Not one does what is good,
not even one.(L)
II
4 Will these evildoers never learn?
They devour my people as they devour bread;(M)
they do not call upon the Lord.(N)
5 They have good reason, then, to fear;
God is with the company of the just.
6 They would crush the hopes of the poor,
but the poor have the Lord as their refuge.
III
Chapter 16
Samuel Is Sent to Bethlehem. 1 (A)The Lord said to Samuel: How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for from among his sons I have decided on a king.[a] 2 But Samuel replied: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” To this the Lord answered: Take a heifer along and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.(B)
Samuel Anoints David. 4 Samuel did as the Lord had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and asked, “Is your visit peaceful, O seer?” 5 He replied: “Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. So purify yourselves and celebrate with me today.” He also had Jesse and his sons purify themselves and invited them to the sacrifice.(C) 6 As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed is here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel: Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The Lord looks into the heart.(D) 8 (E)Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, “The Lord has not chosen him.” 9 Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 10 In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any one of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not sit down to eat until he arrives here.”(F) 12 Jesse had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth with beautiful eyes, and good looking. The Lord said: There—anoint him, for this is the one!(G) 13 Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. Then Samuel set out for Ramah.(H)
IV. The Inauguration of the Gentile Mission
Chapter 10
The Vision of Cornelius.(A) 1 [a]Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Cohort called the Italica,[b] 2 devout and God-fearing along with his whole household, who used to give alms generously[c] to the Jewish people and pray to God constantly. 3 One afternoon about three o’clock,[d] he saw plainly in a vision an angel of God come in to him and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 He looked intently at him and, seized with fear, said, “What is it, sir?” He said to him, “Your prayers and almsgiving have ascended as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send some men to Joppa and summon one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with another Simon, a tanner, who has a house by the sea.”(B) 7 When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier[e] from his staff, 8 explained everything to them, and sent them to Joppa.
The Vision of Peter. 9 [f]The next day, while they were on their way and nearing the city, Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime.[g] 10 He was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. 11 (C)He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. 13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.”(D) 15 The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”(E) 16 This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into the sky.
12 [a](A)But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus.[b] 13 Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles[c] from Jerusalem called Emmaus,(B) 14 and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. 15 And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, 16 [d](C)but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,(D) 20 how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. 21 (E)But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. 22 (F)Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. 24 (G)Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” 25 (H)And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer[e] these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.(I) 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. 29 But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. 32 Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” 33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them 34 who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”(J) 35 Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
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