Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Deliverance and Confidence in God
For the music director, according to The Silent Dove of Distant Lands.
Of David. A miktam.
When the Philistines seized him in Gath.[a]
56 Be gracious to me, O God, because humankind has trampled me;
fighting all the day he oppresses me.
2 My enemies[b] trample all day,
because many are attacking me proudly.
3 When[c] I fear, I trust you.
4 God, whose word I praise,
God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 All day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They attack,[d] they hide, they watch my steps,[e]
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Because of iniquity will they escape?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You have kept count of my wonderings.
Put my tears in your bottle;
are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back when[f] I call.[g]
This I know because[h] God is for me.
10 God, whose word I praise,
Yahweh, whose word I praise,
11 God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere humankind do to me?
12 My vows to you, O God, are binding upon me.
I will pay thank offerings to you,
13 because you have delivered my soul from death.
Have you not kept my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of the living?
Prayer for Rescue from Enemies
For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
Of David. A miktam.
When he fled from Saul into the cave.[i]
57 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
because in you my soul takes refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge
until destruction passes by.
2 I will call to God Most High,
to God who accomplishes things concerning me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
he will reproach the one who tramples me. Selah
God will send his loyal love and his faithfulness.
4 My soul is among lions.
I lie down among those who devour—
the children[j] of humankind whose teeth are spears and arrows
and whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God.
Let your glory be above all the earth.
6 They have set a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down.
They have dug a pit before me;
they have fallen into the midst of it. Selah
7 My heart is steadfast, O God;
My heart is steadfast.
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory;
Awake, harp and lyre.
I will awake the dawn.[k]
9 I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord;
I will give you praise among the nations.
10 Because your loyal love is high to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God.
Let your glory be above all the earth.
Judgment on the Wicked
For the music director, according to Do not Destroy.
Of David. A miktam.[l]
58 Do you really speak what is right when silent?[m]
Do you judge fairly the children of humankind?[n]
2 No, in your heart you plan injustices;
in the land[o] you weigh out the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their venom is like snake venom;
They are like a deaf viper that closes its ear
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or the skilled caster of spells.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth.
Break off the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.
7 Let them run away like water that runs off.
When he bends the bow, let his arrows be as though they were cut off.[p]
8 Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes;
like the stillborn of woman that do not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of a thornbush,
whether green or dry,[q] he will sweep it away.[r]
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And people[s] will say, “Surely there is a reward[t] for the righteous.
Surely there is a God who judges in the land.”[u]
A Plea for Divine Retribution
For the music director. A psalm of David.[a]
64 Hear my voice, O God, in my lamenting.
Preserve my life from the fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots[b] of evildoers,
from the unrest of those who do iniquity,
3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword.
They bend their bow to shoot their arrows—bitter words,
4 to shoot from[c] their[d] hiding places at the blameless.
Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
5 They encourage themselves in the evil matter.
They talk of secretly laying snares.
They say, “Who will see them?”
6 They carefully plot[e] injustices saying,
“We have perfected the perfect plot!”[f]
Both the inner thought[g] and heart of a man are deep.
7 But God will shoot them;
with an arrow they will suddenly be wounded.
8 [h] And they who would cause him[i] to stumble,
their own tongue will be against them.
All who gaze on them will shake.[j]
9 And then[k] all men[l] will fear,
and will declare the working of God,
and will understand his doing.
10 The righteous will rejoice in Yahweh and take refuge in him,
and all the upright in heart will boast.
Thanksgiving for God’s Provision
For the music director. A psalm of David. A song.[m]
65 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion,
and to you the vow shall be fulfilled.
2 O you who hear prayer,
to you all flesh will come.
3 Iniquities[n] prevail over me.
As for our transgressions, you will forgive[o] them.
4 Blessed is one whom you choose and bring near,
that he may abide in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
5 By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us,
O God of our salvation,
you who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth
and of the far-off seas,
6 who established the mountains by his strength,
the one who is girded with might,
7 who stills the roar of the seas,
the roar of their waves,
and the commotion of the peoples,
8 so that[p] the inhabitants of the farthest reaches are in awe of your signs.
You make the dawn and sunset sing for joy.
9 You care for[q] the land[r] and water it;
you greatly enrich it.
The stream of God is filled with waters.
You provide their grain,
for so you have established it.
10 You drench its furrows,
penetrating its ridges.
With rains you soften it;
its growth you bless.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,[s]
and your wagon paths drip with richness.[t]
12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
and the hills gird themselves with joy.
13 The pasturelands put on flocks,
and the valleys clothe themselves with grain.
They shout in triumph;
they even sing.
The Vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite
21 It happened after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price.” 3 Naboth said to Ahab, “Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors[a] to you.” 4 Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him when he had said, “I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors.”[b] So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat any food.
5 Then Jezebel his wife came to him, and she said to him, “What is this, that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating food?” 6 Then he said to her, “When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and asked him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or it you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in place of it,’ he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” 7 Jezebel his wife said to him, “Now, you rule[c] over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful.[d] I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
8 So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling with Naboth in his city. 9 She had written in the letters, saying, “Call a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. 10 Seat two men, scoundrels,[e] opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies.” 11 The men of his city and the elders and nobles who were living in his city did according to what Jezebel had sent to them, as was written in the letters which she had sent to them. 12 They called a fast, and they seated Naboth at the head of the people. 13 Then the two men, scoundrels,[f] came, sat opposite him, and the scoundrels[g] witnessed against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king,” so they brought him outside of the city and stoned him with stones, and he died.
14 They sent to Jezebel saying, “Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead.” 15 It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.
Greeting
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 to the church of God sanctified in Christ Jesus that is in Corinth,[a] called to be saints, together with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord[b] and ours. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving for the Corinthian Believers
4 I give thanks to my God always concerning you, because of the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that[c] in everything you were made rich in him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed in you, 7 so that you do not lack in any spiritual gift as you[d] eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called to fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church at Corinth
10 Now I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing and there not be divisions among you, and that you be made complete in the same mind and with the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people[e], that there are quarrels among you. 12 But I say this, that each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” and “I am with Apollos,” and “I am with Cephas,” and “I am with Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?[f] Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I give thanks[g] that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Now I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that I do not know if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, not with clever speech[h], lest the cross of Christ be emptied.
Christ Crucified, the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the intelligence of the intelligent I will confound.”[i]
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, 2 and after he[a] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry. 3 And the tempter approached and[b] said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order that these stones become bread.” 4 But he answered and[c] said, “It is written, ‘Man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”[d]
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city[e] and placed him on the highest point of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down! For it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’[f]
and
‘On their hands they will lift you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”[g]
7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand it is written, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”[h]
8 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “I will give to you all these things, if you will fall down and[i] worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan, for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”[j] 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and began ministering to him.
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