Book of Common Prayer
Protestation of Integrity and Prayer for Protection.
A Psalm of David.
26 [a](A)Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have (B)walked in my integrity,
And I have (C)trusted in the Lord [b](D)without wavering.
2 (E)Examine me, O Lord, and try me;
(F)Test my [c]mind and my heart.
3 For Your (G)lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have (H)walked in Your [d]truth.
4 I do not (I)sit with [e]deceitful men,
Nor will I go with [f](J)pretenders.
5 I (K)hate the assembly of evildoers,
And I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I shall (L)wash my hands in innocence,
And I will go about (M)Your altar, O Lord,
7 That I may proclaim with the voice of (N)thanksgiving
And declare all Your [g]wonders.
8 O Lord, I (O)love the habitation of Your house
And the place [h]where Your (P)glory dwells.
9 (Q)Do not [i]take my soul away along with sinners,
Nor my life with (R)men of bloodshed,
10 In whose hands is a (S)wicked scheme,
And whose right hand is full of (T)bribes.
11 But as for me, I shall (U)walk in my integrity;
(V)Redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 (W)My foot stands on a (X)level place;
In the (Y)congregations I shall bless the Lord.
A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.
A Psalm of David.
28 To You, O Lord, I call;
My (A)rock, do not be deaf to me,
For if You (B)are silent to me,
I will become like those who (C)go down to the pit.
2 Hear the (D)voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help,
When I (E)lift up my hands (F)toward [a]Your holy (G)sanctuary.
3 (H)Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who work iniquity,
Who (I)speak peace with their neighbors,
While evil is in their hearts.
4 Requite them (J)according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;
Requite them according to the deeds of their hands;
Repay them their [b]recompense.
5 Because they (K)do not regard the works of the Lord
Nor the deeds of His hands,
He will tear them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Because He (L)has heard the voice of my supplication.
7 The Lord is my (M)strength and my (N)shield;
My heart (O)trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore (P)my heart exults,
And with (Q)my song I shall thank Him.
8 The Lord is [c]their (R)strength,
And He is a [d](S)saving defense to His anointed.
9 (T)Save Your people and bless (U)Your inheritance;
Be their (V)shepherd also, and (W)carry them forever.
Wickedness of Men and Lovingkindness of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
36 Transgression speaks to the ungodly within [a]his heart;
There is (A)no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For [b]it (B)flatters him in his own eyes
Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.
3 The (C)words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
He has (D)ceased to [c]be wise and to do good.
4 He (E)plans wickedness upon his bed;
He sets himself on a (F)path that is not good;
He (G)does not despise evil.
5 Your (H)lovingkindness, O Lord, [d]extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
6 Your (I)righteousness is like the [e]mountains of God;
Your (J)judgments are like a great deep.
O Lord, You (K)preserve man and beast.
7 How (L)precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men (M)take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
8 They (N)drink their fill of the [f]abundance of Your house;
And You give them to drink of the (O)river of Your delights.
9 For with You is the (P)fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.
The Vanity of Life.
For the choir director, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (A)guard my ways
That I (B)may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard (C)my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (D)mute [b]and silent,
I [c]refrained even from good,
And my [d]sorrow grew worse.
3 My (E)heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know (F)my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how (G)transient I am.
5 “Behold, You have made (H)my days as handbreadths,
And my (I)lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man [e]at his best is [f]a mere (J)breath. [g]Selah.
6 “Surely every man (K)walks about as [h]a phantom;
Surely they make an (L)uproar for nothing;
He (M)amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My (N)hope is in You.
8 “(O)Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the (P)reproach of the foolish.
9 “I have become (Q)mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is (R)You who have done it.
10 “(S)Remove Your plague from me;
Because of (T)the opposition of Your hand I am [i]perishing.
11 “With (U)reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You (V)consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely (W)every man is a mere breath. Selah.
David Protected from Saul
19 Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants (A)to put David to death. But (B)Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. 2 So Jonathan told David saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; (C)if I [a]find out anything, then I will tell you.” 4 Then Jonathan (D)spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “(E)Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very [b]beneficial to you. 5 For (F)he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and (G)the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. (H)Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” 6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as (I)formerly.
8 When there was war again, David went out and fought with the Philistines and [c]defeated them with great slaughter, so that they fled before him. 9 Now there was (J)an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house (K)with his spear in his hand, (L)and David was playing the harp with his hand. 10 (M)Saul tried to [d]pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he [e]stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
11 Then (N)Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” 12 (O)So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. 13 Michal took (P)the [f]household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “(Q)He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on [g]his bed, that I may put him to death.” 16 When the messengers entered, behold, the [h]household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head. 17 So Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! (R)Why should I put you to death?’”
18 Now David fled and escaped and came (S)to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in (T)Naioth.
Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance
12 Now about that time [a]Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2 And he (A)had James the brother of John (B)put to death with a sword. 3 When he saw that it (C)pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now [b]it was during (D)the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four [c](E)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after (F)the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
6 On [d]the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, (G)bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, (H)an angel of the Lord suddenly (I)appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And (J)his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and [e]put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing (K)a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which (L)opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 When Peter (M)came [f]to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that (N)the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all [g]that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of (O)John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and (P)were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, (Q)a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, (R)because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is (S)his angel.” 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But (T)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to [h](U)James and (V)the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.
The Paralytic Healed
2 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And (A)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 (B)And they *came, bringing to Him a (C)paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to [a]get to Him because of the crowd, they (D)removed the roof [b]above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the (E)paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “[c]Son, (F)your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; (G)who can forgive sins [d]but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, aware [e]in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the (H)paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” 12 And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and (I)were glorifying God, saying, “(J)We have never seen anything like this.”
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