Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31[a]
Prayer in Distress and Thanksgiving for Escape
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 In you, Lord, I take refuge;(A)
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me;
3 incline your ear to me;
make haste to rescue me!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to save me.
4 For you are my rock and my fortress;(B)
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
5 Free me from the net they have set for me,
for you are my refuge.
6 [b]Into your hands I commend my spirit;(C)
you will redeem me, Lord, God of truth.
7 You hate those who serve worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
8 I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy,
once you have seen my misery,
[and] gotten to know the distress of my soul.(D)
9 You will not abandon me into enemy hands,
but will set my feet in a free and open space.
II
10 Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
affliction is wearing down my eyes,
my throat and my insides.
11 My life is worn out by sorrow,
and my years by sighing.
My strength fails in my affliction;
my bones are wearing down.(E)
12 To all my foes I am a thing of scorn,
and especially to my neighbors
a horror to my friends.
When they see me in public,
they quickly shy away.(F)
13 I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
I am like a worn-out tool.[c]
14 I hear the whispers of the crowd;
terrors are all around me.[d]
They conspire together against me;
they plot to take my life.
15 But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(G)
16 My destiny is in your hands;
rescue me from my enemies,
from the hands of my pursuers.
17 Let your face shine on your servant;(H)
save me in your mercy.
18 Do not let me be put to shame,
for I have called to you, Lord.
Put the wicked to shame;
reduce them to silence in Sheol.
19 Strike dumb their lying lips,
which speak arrogantly against the righteous
in contempt and scorn.(I)
III
20 How great is your goodness, Lord,
stored up for those who fear you.
You display it for those who trust you,
in the sight of the children of Adam.
21 You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from scheming enemies.
You conceal them in your tent,
away from the strife of tongues.(J)
22 Blessed be the Lord,
marvelously he showed to me
his mercy in a fortified city.
23 Though I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your eyes.”(K)
Yet you heard my voice, my cry for mercy,
when I pleaded with you for help.
24 Love the Lord, all you who are faithful to him.
The Lord protects the loyal,
but repays the arrogant in full.
25 Be strong and take heart,
all who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 35[a]
Prayer for Help Against Unjust Enemies
1 Of David.
I
[b]Oppose, O Lord, those who oppose me;
war upon those who make war upon me.
2 Take up the shield and buckler;
rise up in my defense.
3 Brandish lance and battle-ax
against my pursuers.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4 Let those who seek my life
be put to shame and disgrace.
Let those who plot evil against me(A)
be turned back and confounded.
5 Make them like chaff before the wind,(B)
with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Make their way slippery and dark,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
II
7 Without cause they set their snare for me;
without cause they dug a pit for me.
8 Let ruin overtake them unawares;
let the snare they have set catch them;
let them fall into the pit they have dug.(C)
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord,
exult in God’s salvation.
10 My very bones shall say,
“O Lord, who is like you,(D)
Who rescue the afflicted from the powerful,
the afflicted and needy from the despoiler?”
III
11 Malicious witnesses rise up,
accuse me of things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
my soul is desolate.(E)
13 [c]Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth,
afflicted myself with fasting,
sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.
14 I went about in grief as for my brother,
bent in mourning as for my mother.
15 Yet when I stumbled they gathered with glee,
gathered against me and I did not know it.
They slandered me without ceasing;
16 without respect they mocked me,
gnashed their teeth against me.
IV
17 O Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my soul from their destruction,
my very life from lions!(F)
18 Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
I will praise you before the mighty throng.(G)
19 Do not let lying foes rejoice over me,
my undeserved enemies wink knowingly.(H)
20 They speak no words of peace,
but against the quiet in the land
they fashion deceitful speech.(I)
21 They open wide their mouths against me.
They say, “Aha! Good!
Our eyes have seen it!”(J)
22 You see this, Lord; do not be silent;(K)
Lord, do not withdraw from me.
23 Awake, be vigilant in my defense,
in my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Defend me because you are just, Lord;
my God, do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Our soul!”[d]
Do not let them say,
“We have devoured that one!”
26 Put to shame and confound
all who relish my misfortune.
Clothe with shame and disgrace
those who lord it over me.
27 But let those who favor my just cause
shout for joy and be glad.
May they ever say, “Exalted be the Lord
who delights in the peace of his loyal servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall recount your justice,
declare your praise, all the day long.(L)
26 Solomon had a servant, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother named Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. 27 This is how he came to rebel. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of the City of David, his father. 28 Jeroboam was a very able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was also a good worker, he put him in charge of all the carriers conscripted from the house of Joseph.
29 At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The prophet was wearing a new cloak,[a] and when the two were alone in the open country, 30 (A)Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, 31 (B)and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and will give you ten of the tribes. 32 He shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways or done what is right in my eyes, according to my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did. 34 Yet I will not take any of the kingdom from Solomon himself, but will keep him a prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I have chosen, who kept my commandments and statutes.
35 But I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you—that is, the ten tribes. 36 I will give his son one tribe, that David my servant may always have a holding before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen, to set my name there. 37 You I will take and you shall reign over all that you desire and shall become king of Israel. 38 If, then, you heed all that I command you, walking in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments like David my servant, I will be with you. I will build a lasting house for you, just as I did for David; I will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David’s line for this, but not forever.”
40 When Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed, Jeroboam fled to Shishak, king of Egypt. He remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.
41 The rest of the acts of Solomon, with all that he did and his wisdom, are recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon. 42 Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 43 Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, his father, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”— 14 you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.[a] You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.(A) 15 Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it,[b] we shall live to do this or that.” 16 But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 (B)So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.[c]
Chapter 5
Warning to the Rich.[d] 1 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.(C) 2 Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,(D) 3 your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days.(E) 4 Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.(F) 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.(G) 6 You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one;(H) he offers you no resistance.[e]
The Crucifixion. 22 (A)They brought him to the place of Golgotha (which is translated Place of the Skull). 23 They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 [a](B)Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning[b] when they crucified him. 26 [c]The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left.(C) [28 ][d] 29 [e]Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying,(D) “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself by coming down from the cross.” 31 Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.(E)
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