Book of Common Prayer
The Lord a Fortress in Adversity
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
31 In (A)You, O Lord, I [a]put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 (B)Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of [b]refuge,
A [c]fortress of defense to save me.
3 (C)For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, (D)for Your name’s sake,
Lead me and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
5 (E)Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of (F)truth.
6 I have hated those (G)who regard useless idols;
But I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy,
For You have considered my trouble;
You have (H)known my soul in [d]adversities,
8 And have not (I)shut[e] me up into the hand of the enemy;
(J)You have set my feet in a wide place.
9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
(K)My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my [f]body!
10 For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones waste away.
11 (L)I am a [g]reproach among all my enemies,
But (M)especially among my neighbors,
And am repulsive to my acquaintances;
(N)Those who see me outside flee from me.
12 (O)I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a [h]broken vessel.
13 (P)For I hear the slander of many;
(Q)Fear is on every side;
While they (R)take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your (S)hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
16 (T)Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
17 (U)Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
(V)Let them be silent in the grave.
18 (W)Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which (X)speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 (Y)Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
20 (Z)You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
(AA)You shall keep them secretly in a [i]pavilion
From the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For (AB)He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a [j]strong city!
22 For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried out to You.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
24 (AC)Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.
The Lord the Avenger of His People
A Psalm of David.
35 Plead[a] my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and [b]buckler,
And stand up for my help.
3 Also draw out the spear,
And stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4 (A)Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor
Who seek after my life;
Let those be (B)turned back and brought to confusion
Who plot my hurt.
5 (C)Let them be like chaff before the wind,
And let the [c]angel of the Lord chase them.
6 Let their way be (D)dark and slippery,
And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 For without cause they have (E)hidden their net for me in a pit,
Which they have dug without cause for my life.
8 [d]Let (F)destruction come upon him unexpectedly,
And let his net that he has hidden catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
10 (G)All my bones shall say,
“Lord, (H)who is like You,
Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”
11 Fierce witnesses rise up;
They ask me things that I do not know.
12 (I)They reward me evil for good,
To the sorrow of my soul.
13 But as for me, (J)when they were sick,
My clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting;
And my prayer would return to my own [e]heart.
14 I paced about as though he were my friend or brother;
I bowed down [f]heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.
15 But in my [g]adversity they rejoiced
And gathered together;
Attackers gathered against me,
And I did not know it;
They tore at me and did not cease;
16 With ungodly mockers at feasts
They gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long will You (K)look on?
Rescue me from their destructions,
My precious life from the lions.
18 I will give You thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise You among [h]many people.
19 (L)Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies;
Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause.
20 For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful matters
Against the quiet ones in the land.
21 They also opened their mouth wide against me,
And said, “Aha, aha!
Our eyes have seen it.”
22 This You have seen, O Lord;
Do not keep silence.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication,
To my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who rejoice at my hurt;
Let them be (M)clothed with shame and dishonor
Who exalt themselves against me.
27 (N)Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the Lord be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
28 And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness
And of Your praise all the day long.
Jeroboam’s Rebellion
26 Then Solomon’s servant, (A)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, (B)also (C)rebelled against the king.
27 And this is what caused him to rebel against the king: (D)Solomon had built the Millo and [a]repaired the damages to the City of David his father. 28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was (E)industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet (F)Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. 30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and (G)tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for (H)thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 (I)because [b]they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David. 34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. 35 But (J)I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—ten tribes. 36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that (K)My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there. 37 So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then (L)I will be with you and (M)build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’ ”
40 Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to (N)Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
Death of Solomon(O)
41 Now (P)the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 (Q)And the period that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 (R)Then Solomon [c]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his (S)place.
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? (A)It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, (B)“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. (C)All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, (D)to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged
5 Come now, you (E)rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your (F)riches [b]are corrupted, and (G)your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. (H)You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed (I)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and (J)the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of [c]Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and [d]luxury; you have [e]fattened your hearts [f]as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
22 (A)And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 (B)Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. 24 And when they crucified Him, (C)they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.
25 Now (D)it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. 26 And (E)the inscription of His [a]accusation was written above:
THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27 (F)With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. 28 [b]So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, (G)“And He was numbered with the transgressors.”
29 And (H)those who passed by blasphemed Him, (I)wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! (J)You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”
31 Likewise the chief priests also, (K)mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved (L)others; Himself He cannot save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and [c]believe.”
Even (M)those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.