Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 25[a]
Prayer for Guidance and Help
1 [b]Of David.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
2 in you, O my God, I trust.
Do not let me be put to shame,
or permit my enemies to gloat over me.
3 No one who places his hope in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will be the lot of all
who break faith without justification.
4 [c]Make your ways known to me, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and instruct me,
for you are God, my Savior,
and in you I hope all the day long.
6 Be mindful, O Lord, that mercy and kindness
have been yours from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth
or my many transgressions,
but remember me in your kindness,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
8 [d]Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them the path to follow.
10 The ways of the Lord[e] are kindness and truth
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 For the sake of your name,[f] O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, great though it be.
12 Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord?
He will be shown the path he should choose.[g]
13 He will enjoy lasting prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.[h]
14 The Lord manifests himself to those who fear him,[i]
and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever upon the Lord,
for he alone can free my feet from the snare.
16 [j]Turn to me and have mercy on me,
for I am alone and afflicted.
17 Relieve the anguish of my heart[k]
and free me from my distress.
18 Look upon my affliction and suffering,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how numerous are my enemies,
and how fierce is their hatred of me.
20 Preserve my life and deliver me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I seek refuge in you.
21 Let integrity and virtue preserve me,
for in you I place my hope.
22 Redeem[l] Israel, O God,
from all its troubles.
Psalms 9–10[a]
Psalm 9[b]
Thanksgiving for the Triumph of Justice
1 For the director.[c] According to Muth Labben. A psalm of David.
2 I will offer praise to you, O Lord,
with my whole heart;
I will recount all your wondrous deeds.[d]
3 I will rejoice and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name,[e] O Most High.
4 For my enemies have turned back;
in your presence they stumble and perish.
5 But you have upheld my just cause,
you who are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.
6 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked,
erasing their name forever and ever.
7 The enemies have suffered endless ruin;
their cities have been utterly destroyed,
and not even their memory remains.
8 The Lord is enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
9 He governs the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
10 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress.
11 Those who revere your name place their trust in you,
for you never abandon those who seek you, O Lord.
12 Sing praise to the Lord enthroned in Zion;[f]
proclaim to the nations his wondrous deeds.
13 For the avenger of blood remembers them;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
14 Have mercy on me, O Lord;
behold how my enemies afflict me,
you who save me from the gates of death.
15 Then I will recount all your praises
and rejoice in your salvation
at the gates of the Daughter of Zion.[g]
16 [h]The nations have fallen into the pit they made;
their feet have been caught in the snare they laid.
17 The Lord has made himself known and rendered judgment;
the wicked are ensnared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion,[i] Selah
18 The wicked will depart into the netherworld,
all the nations that turned away from God.
19 But the needy will not be forgotten forever,
nor will the hope of the afflicted ever come to naught.
20 Rise up, O Lord! Do not let man triumph;
let the nations be judged before you.
21 Strike them with fear, O Lord;
let the nations know that they are mere mortals. Selah
Psalm 15[a]
The Righteous: Guests of God
1 A psalm of David.
O Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may abide on your holy mountain?[b]
2 [c]The one who leads a blameless life
and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from the heart
3 and does not slander anyone,
who does not harm a friend
and does not scorn a neighbor,
4 who looks with disdain on the wicked
but honors those who fear the Lord,
who abides by his oath,
no matter what the cost,
5 who does not charge interest on a loan
and refuses to accept a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never fall.
Chapter 2[a]
Rahab Saves the Spies.[b] 1 Joshua, the son of Nun, secretly dispatched two spies from Shittim.[c] He told them, “Go reconnoiter the land, especially Jericho.” They went and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, where they stayed. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some Israelites came here tonight to spy throughout the land.” 3 The king of Jericho sent a message to Rahab saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you and entered your house, for they are here to spy through the whole countryside.” 4 But the woman had taken the two spies and she had hidden them. She said, “The men came to me, but I did not know where they were coming from. 5 When it was time to close the gates at dusk, they left. I do not know where they went. Chase after the men quickly, you may catch up with them.” 6 She had really taken them up on the roof and hidden them under stalks of flax[d] that she had laid out on the roof. 7 The men set out after them on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan. The gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out after them.
8 Before they went to sleep, she came up on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you this land. We are terrified and all the inhabitants of the land are trembling at your approach. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came up out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan, how you annihilated them. 11 When we heard about this, our hearts grew faint and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord, your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. 12 Now, I beg you, swear to the Lord that since I showed you kindness, you will also show kindness to my father’s household. Give me a pledge of your fidelity. 13 Spare my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, and all their households, saving us from sure death.” 14 The men answered her, “Our lives for your lives. If you do not inform on what we are doing, then we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord has given us the land.”
Chapter 11
The Remnant of Israel.[a] 1 I ask, then: Has God rejected his people? Of course not! I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. You surely must know what Scripture asserts in the passage about Elijah where he pleads with God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your Prophets, they have torn down your altars. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
4 What was God’s response to him? “I have spared for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt before Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time, there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What follows, then? Israel was unable to attain what it was seeking. The elect attained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of lethargy:
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
11 A Providential Misstep.[b] And so I ask: Have they stumbled so that they might fall? By no means! However, through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, and this has stirred them to envy. 12 Now if their transgression results in riches for the world, and their loss results in riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full participation bring!
Chapter 25
The Parable of the Ten Virgins.[a] 1 “Then[b] the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 When the foolish ones took their lamps, they neglected to take any oil with them, 4 whereas those who were wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 Since the bridegroom was delayed in coming, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight, a shout was raised: ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 The wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for both us and you. You had better go to the merchants and buy some.’
10 “While they went off to purchase it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was locked. 11 Afterward, the other virgins returned, and they cried out, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ 12 But he replied,‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
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