Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 26
A Psalm of David.
1 Judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted in the Lord;
I will not slip.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and test me;
try my affections and my heart.
3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
and I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not sat with the worthless,
nor will I go with hypocrites.
5 I have hated the congregation of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence;
thus I will go around Your altar, O Lord,
7 that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all Your wondrous works.
8 Lord, I have loved the refuge of Your house,
and the place where Your honor dwells.
9 Do not gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with murderers,
10 in whose hands is wickedness,
and their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands in an even place;
with the congregations I will bless the Lord.
Psalm 28
A Psalm of David.
1 To You, O Lord, will I cry;
my Rock, do not be silent to me;
lest if You were silent to me,
then I would become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry to You,
when I lift up my hands
toward Your most holy place.
3 Do not draw me away with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity,
who speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds,
and according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
give them according to the work of their hands;
return to them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
nor the work of His hands,
He will destroy them
and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusted in Him, and I was helped;
therefore my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will thank Him.
8 The Lord is the strength of His people,
and He is the saving strength of His anointed.
9 Save Your people,
and bless Your inheritance;
feed them and lift them up forever.
Psalm 36
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.
1 An oracle within my heart
about the transgression of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
2 For they flatter themselves in their own eyes,
that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of their mouth are wickedness and deceit;
they have ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 They devise mischief on their bed;
they set themselves on a path that is not good;
they do not reject evil.
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains,
Your judgments like the great deep;
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore mankind
seeks refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
8 They will drink their fill from the abundance of Your house,
and You will cause them to drink from the river of Your pleasures.
9 For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant come against me,
and do not let the hand of the wicked cause me to wander.
12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
they are cast down and not able to rise.
Psalm 39
For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will take heed of my ways
so that I do not sin with my tongue;
I will keep my mouth muzzled
while the wicked are before me.”
2 I was speechless in silence;
I was silent to no avail,
but my anguish was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
while I was musing, the fire burned,
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know my end,
and what is the measure of my days,
that I may know how transient I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreadth,
and my age is as nothing before You;
indeed every man at his best is as a breath.” Selah
6 Surely every man walks in a mere shadow;
surely he goes as a breath;
he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was speechless, I did not open my mouth,
because You did it.
10 Remove Your blow from me;
I am consumed by the hostility of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct a man for iniquity,
You consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely every man is vapor. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not be silent at my tears,
for I am a stranger with You,
and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Turn Your gaze of displeasure from me, that I may smile,
before I go away and am no more.
The Sayings of Agur
30 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle.
The man declares to Ithiel,
to Ithiel and Ukal:
2 Surely I am more brutish than any man,
and have not the understanding of a man.
3 I neither learned wisdom,
nor have the knowledge of the holy.
4 Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is the name of His son,
if you know?
24 There are four things which are little upon the earth,
but they are exceeding wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong,
yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26 the badgers are but a feeble folk,
yet they make their houses in the rocks;
27 the locusts have no king,
yet they go forth all of them by bands;
28 the spider takes hold with her hands,
and is in kings’ palaces.
29 There are three things which go well,
indeed, four are comely in going:
30 a lion which is strongest among beasts,
and does not turn away for any;
31 a strutting rooster, a male goat also,
and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
32 If you have been foolish in lifting up yourself,
or if you have thought evil,
put your hand on your mouth.
33 Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter,
and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood,
so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife.
The True Righteousness
3 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is reassuring for you. 2 Watch out for dogs, watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who practice mutilation. 3 For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and place no trust in the flesh, 4 though I also have confidence in the flesh.
If any other man thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I have more: 5 I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and a Hebrew of Hebrews; as concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; and concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, I have counted these things to be loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Yes, certainly, I count everything as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have forfeited the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,[a] the righteousness which is of God on the basis of faith, 10 to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if somehow I might make it to the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus Before Pilate(A)
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early. Yet they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
30 They answered him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have handed Him over to you.”
31 Then Pilate said, “Take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying what death He would die.
33 Again Pilate entered the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking of your own accord, or did others tell you about Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight, that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.”
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “Then are You a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him at all.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.