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.
David Takes Consecrated Bread
21 Then David came to (A)Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech (B)came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘(C)Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ 3 Now therefore, what [a]do you have on hand? Give [b]me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” 4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread [c]on hand, but there is (D)consecrated bread; if only the young men have (E)kept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest and said to him, “(F)Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the (G)vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will [d]their vessels be holy?” 6 So (H)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the (I)bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.
7 Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was (J)Doeg the Edomite, the (K)chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8 David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword [e]on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons [f]with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” 9 Then the priest said, “(L)The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you [g]killed (M)in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
10 Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to (N)Achish king of Gath. 11 But the (O)servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? (P)Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands’?”
12 David (Q)took these words [h]to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. 13 So he (R)disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”
13 Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from (A)Paphos and came to (B)Perga in (C)Pamphylia; but (D)John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at (E)Pisidian (F)Antioch, and on (G)the Sabbath day they went into (H)the synagogue and sat down. 15 After (I)the reading of the Law and (J)the Prophets (K)the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” 16 Paul stood up, and (L)motioning with his hand said,
“Men of Israel, and (M)you who fear God, listen: 17 The God of this people Israel (N)chose our fathers and [a](O)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm (P)He led them out from it. 18 For (Q)a period of about forty years (R)He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 (S)When He had destroyed (T)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He (U)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took (V)about four hundred and fifty years. 20 After these things He (W)gave them judges until (X)Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they (Y)asked for a king, and God gave them (Z)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After He had (AA)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘(AB)I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My [b]will.’ 23 (AC)From the descendants of this man, (AD)according to promise, God has brought to Israel (AE)a Savior, Jesus, 24 after (AF)John had proclaimed before [c]His coming a (AG)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And while John (AH)was completing his course, (AI)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
7 (A)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and (B)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from (C)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of (D)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9 (E)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had (F)healed many, with the result that all those who had (G)afflictions pressed around Him in order to (H)touch Him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are (I)the Son of God!” 12 And He (J)earnestly warned them not to [a]tell who He was.
The Twelve Are Chosen
13 And He *went up on (K)the mountain and *(L)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16 And He appointed the twelve: (M)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17 and [b]James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of [c]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and [d]James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the [e]Zealot; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.
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