Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56[a]
Trust in God
1 For the director. According to Yonath elem rehoqim.[b] A miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him at Gath.(A)
I
2 Have mercy on me, God,
for I am treated harshly;
attackers press me all the day.
3 My foes treat me harshly all the day;
yes, many are my attackers.
O Most High, 4 when I am afraid,
in you I place my trust.
5 I praise the word of God;
I trust in God, I do not fear.(B)
What can mere flesh do to me?(C)
II
6 All the day they foil my plans;
their every thought is of evil against me.
7 They hide together in ambush;
they watch my every step;
they lie in wait for my life.(D)
8 They are evil; watch them, God!
Cast the nations down in your anger!
9 My wanderings you have noted;
are my tears not stored in your flask,[c]
recorded in your book?(E)
10 My foes turn back when I call on you.
This I know: God is on my side.
11 I praise the word of God,
I praise the word of the Lord.
12 In God I trust, I do not fear.
What can man do to me?
III
13 I have made vows to you, God;
with offerings I will fulfill them,(F)
14 For you have snatched me from death,
kept my feet from stumbling,
That I may walk before God
in the light of the living.
Psalm 57[d]
Confident Prayer for Deliverance
1 For the director. Do not destroy.[e] A miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into a cave.(G)
I
2 Have mercy on me, God,
have mercy on me.
In you I seek refuge.
In the shadow of your wings[f] I seek refuge
till harm pass by.(H)
3 I call to God Most High,
to God who provides for me.
4 May God send help from heaven to save me,
shame those who trample upon me.
May God send fidelity and mercy.
Selah
5 I must lie down in the midst of lions
hungry for human prey.(I)
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongue, a sharpened sword.(J)
6 Be exalted over the heavens, God;
may your glory appear above all the earth.(K)
II
7 They have set a trap for my feet;
my soul is bowed down;
They have dug a pit before me.
May they fall into it themselves!(L)
Selah
8 My heart is steadfast, God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and chant praise.(M)
9 Awake, my soul;
awake, lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn.[g](N)
10 I will praise you among the peoples, Lord;
I will chant your praise among the nations.(O)
11 For your mercy towers to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.(P)
12 Exalt yourself over the heavens, God;
may your glory appear above all the earth.
Psalm 58[h]
The Dethroning of Unjust Rulers
1 For the leader. Do not destroy.[i] A miktam of David.
I
2 Do you indeed pronounce justice, O gods;[j]
do you judge fairly you children of Adam?(Q)
3 No, you freely engage in crime;
your hands dispense violence to the earth.
II
4 The wicked have been corrupt since birth;
liars from the womb, they have gone astray.
5 [k]Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like that of a serpent stopping its ears,(R)
6 So as not to hear the voice of the charmer
or the enchanter with cunning spells.
III
7 O God, smash the teeth in their mouths;
break the fangs of these lions, Lord!(S)
8 Make them vanish like water flowing away;(T)
trodden down, let them wither like grass.(U)
9 Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away,[l]
like an untimely birth that never sees the sun.(V)
10 Suddenly, like brambles or thistles,
have the whirlwind snatch them away.(W)
11 Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance
and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.(X)
12 Then people will say:
“Truly there is a reward for the just;
there is a God who is judge on earth!”
Psalm 64[a]
Treacherous Conspirators Punished by God
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 O God, hear my anguished voice;
from a dreadful foe protect my life.
3 Hide me from the malicious crowd,
the mob of evildoers.
4 They sharpen their tongues like swords,
bend their bows of poison words.(A)
5 They shoot at the innocent from ambush,
they shoot him in a moment and do not fear.
6 They resolve on their wicked plan;
they conspire to set snares;
they say: “Who will see us?”
7 They devise wicked schemes,
conceal the schemes they devise;
the designs of their hearts are hidden.(B)
II
8 God shoots an arrow at them;
in a moment they are struck down.(C)
9 They are brought down by their own tongues;
all who see them flee.(D)
10 Every person fears and proclaims God’s actions,
they ponder his deeds.
11 The righteous rejoices and takes refuge in the Lord;
all the upright give praise.(E)
Psalm 65[b]
Thanksgiving for God’s Blessings
1 For the leader. A psalm of David. A song.
I
2 To you we owe our hymn of praise,
O God on Zion;
To you our vows[c] must be fulfilled,
3 [d]you who hear our prayers.
To you all flesh must come(F)
4 with its burden of wicked deeds.
We are overcome by our sins;
only you can pardon them.(G)
5 Blessed the one whom you will choose and bring
to dwell in your courts.
May we be filled with the good things of your house,
your holy temple!
II
6 You answer us with awesome deeds[e] of justice,
O God our savior,
The hope of all the ends of the earth
and of those far off across the sea.(H)
7 You are robed in power,
you set up the mountains by your might.
8 You still the roaring of the seas,(I)
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.(J)
9 Distant peoples stand in awe of your marvels;
the places of morning and evening you make resound with joy.
10 [f]You visit the earth and water it,
make it abundantly fertile.(K)
God’s stream[g] is filled with water;
you supply their grain.
Thus do you prepare it:
11 you drench its plowed furrows,
and level its ridges.
With showers you keep it soft,
blessing its young sprouts.
12 You adorn the year with your bounty;
your paths[h] drip with fruitful rain.
13 The meadows of the wilderness also drip;
the hills are robed with joy.
14 The pastures are clothed with flocks,
the valleys blanketed with grain;
they cheer and sing for joy.(L)
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
After Joseph left Pharaoh, he went throughout the land of Egypt. 47 During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops, 48 he collected all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the cities, placing in each city the crops of the fields around it. 49 Joseph collected grain like the sands of the sea, so much that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.
50 Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.(A) 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh,[a] meaning, “God has made me forget entirely my troubles and my father’s house”; 52 and the second he named Ephraim,[b] meaning, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53 When the seven years of abundance enjoyed by the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had said. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.(B) 55 When all the land of Egypt became hungry and the people cried to Pharaoh for food, Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” 56 When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt. 57 Indeed, the whole world came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.
8 You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have become kings[a] without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might become kings with you.
9 [b]For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike.(A) 10 We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute.(B) 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless(C) 12 and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;(D) 13 when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment.
14 I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.[c] 15 Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.(E) 16 Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.(F) 17 For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ [Jesus], just as I teach them everywhere in every church.(G)
18 [d]Some have become inflated with pride, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I shall ascertain not the talk of these inflated people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.(H) 21 Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?(I)
The Mercy of Jesus. 7 [a]Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.(A) A large number of people [followed] from Galilee and from Judea. 8 Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. 10 He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.(B) 11 [b]And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.”(C) 12 He warned them sternly not to make him known.
The Mission of the Twelve. 13 (D)He went up the mountain[c] and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. 14 (E)He appointed twelve [whom he also named apostles] that they might be with him[d] and he might send them forth to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons: 16 [e][he appointed the twelve:] Simon, whom he named Peter; 17 James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;(F) 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, 19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
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