Book of Common Prayer

Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God.

Aleph.

Beth.

Gimel.

God, a Helper against the Treacherous.

For the choir director; ^[a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

Folly and Wickedness of Men.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

3 Then ^(A)Solomon ^[a]formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter ^(B)and brought her to the city of David ^(C)until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and ^(D)the wall around Jerusalem. ^2 (E)The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

³ Now ^(F)Solomon loved the Lord, ^(G)walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^4 (H)The king went to ^(I)Gibeon to sacrifice there, ^(J)for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^5 (K)In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon ^(L)in a dream at night; and God said, “^(M)Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

Solomon’s Prayer

⁶ Then Solomon said, “^(N)You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, ^(O)according as he walked before You in ^[b]truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and ^(P)You have ^[c]reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷ Now, O Lord my God, ^(Q)You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet ^(R)I am but a little child; ^(S)I do not know how to go out or come in. ^8 (T)Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, ^(U)a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. ⁹ So ^(V)give Your servant ^[d]an understanding heart to judge Your people ^(W)to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this ^[e]great people of Yours?”

God’s Answer

^10 [f]It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have ^(X)not asked for yourself ^[g]long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself ^[h]discernment to understand justice, ¹² behold, ^(Y)I have done according to your words. Behold, ^(Z)I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. ^13 (AA)I have also given you what you have not asked, both ^(AB)riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. ^14 (AC)If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will ^(AD)prolong your days.”

¹⁵ Then ^(AE)Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and ^(AF)made a feast for all his servants.

⁹ When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even ^(A)the ^[a]fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, ¹⁰ and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with ^(B)damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion was more persuaded by the ^(C)pilot and the ^[b]captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. ¹² Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of ^(D)Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

^13 [c]When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began ^(E)sailing along ^(F)Crete, close inshore.

Shipwreck

¹⁴ But before very long there ^(G)rushed down from ^[d]the land a violent wind, called ^[e]Euraquilo; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. ¹⁶ Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s ^[f]boat under control. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used ^[g]supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might ^(H)run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ^[h]sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along. ¹⁸ The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, ^[i]they began to ^(I)jettison the cargo; ¹⁹ and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

^21 [j]When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^(J)Men, you ought to have ^[k]followed my advice and not to have set sail from ^(K)Crete and ^[l]incurred this ^(L)damage and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to ^(M)keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night ^(N)an angel of the God to whom I belong and ^(O)whom I serve ^(P)stood before me, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(Q)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^(R)all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, ^(S)keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that ^[m]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must ^(T)run aground on a certain ^(U)island.”

Death Plot and Anointing

14 ^(A)Now ^(B)the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes ^(C)were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him; ² for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”

^3 (D)While He was in ^(E)Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very ^(F)costly perfume of pure ^[a]nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head. ⁴ But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? ⁵ For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred ^[b]denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. ⁷ For you always have ^(G)the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. ⁸ She has done what she could; ^(H)she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. ⁹ Truly I say to you, ^(I)wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

^10 (J)Then Judas Iscariot, ^(K)who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to ^[c]betray Him to them. ¹¹ They were glad when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.