Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55[a]
Prayer in Time of Betrayal by a Friend
1 For the director.[b] On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
2 [c]Give ear to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my supplication.
3 Listen to my cry and answer me,
for my troubles afford me no peace.
4 I am terrified by the shouts of the enemy
and the uproar of the wicked.
For they inflict troubles upon me,
and in their anger they revile me.
5 [d]My heart[e] is filled with anguish,
and I am beset by the terrors of death.
6 Fear and trembling overpower me;
horror overwhelms me.
7 I say, “If only I had wings like a dove
so that I could fly away and be at rest!
8 I would flee away
and seek shelter in the wilderness. Selah
9 I would hurry to a place of refuge,
far from the savage wind and tempest.”
10 [f]Restrain the wicked, O Lord, and confound their speech,[g]
for I see violence and strife in the city.
11 Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and within it are iniquity and malice.
12 Destruction is also in its midst;
oppression and treachery pervade its streets.
13 [h]If it was an enemy who reviled me,
I could endure that.
If a foe had treated me with contempt,
I could manage to avoid him.
14 But it was you, one like myself,
a companion and a dear friend,
15 with whom I engaged in pleasant conversation
as we walked with the festive throng
in the house of God.
16 Let death strike my enemies by surprise;
let them descend alive to the netherworld,
for evil dwells in their homes
and in the depths of their hearts.[i]
17 [j]But I make my appeal to God,
and the Lord will save me.
18 Evening, morning, and noon[k]
I will cry out in my distress,
and he will hear my voice.
19 [l]He will deliver me in peace and safety
from those who are arrayed against me,
even though there are many of them.
20 God will hear me and humiliate them,
he who has been enthroned forever. Selah
For they neither change their ways
nor have any fear of God.
21 My companion treats his friends harshly
and breaks his covenant.
22 His speech is smoother than butter,
but war is in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
yet in reality they are drawn swords.
23 Entrust your cares to the Lord,
and he will uphold you;[m]
he will never allow the righteous to waver.
24 But you, O God, will send the wicked
down to the pit of destruction;[n]
those who are bloodthirsty and treacherous
will not live out half their days.
But as for me,
I will put my trust in you.
Psalm 138[a]
Thanksgiving for God’s Favor
1 Of David.
I offer you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart;[b]
before the “gods” I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and I praise your name[c]
for your kindness and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
3 On the day I cried out, you answered me
and granted strength to my spirit.
4 [d]All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord,
when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways of the Lord:
“How great is the Lord’s glory!”
6 For though the Lord is exalted, he cares for the lowly,[e]
but he remains far distant from the proud.
7 Although I walk in the midst of hostility,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and with your right hand[f] you deliver me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his plan for me.
Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever;
do not forsake the work of your hands.[g]
Psalm 139[h]
God’s Infinite Knowledge and Universal Power
1 For the director.[i] A psalm of David.
[j]O Lord, you have examined me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand;[k]
you perceive my thoughts from a distance.
3 You mark when I go out and when I lie down;
all my ways are open to you.
4 A word is not even on my tongue
and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it.
5 You enfold me from in front and from behind,
and you place your hand upon me.[l]
6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension,
far too sublime for me to attain.
7 [m]Where can I go to hide from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn[n]
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your right hand will hold me fast.
11 [o]If I say, “Surely the darkness will conceal me
and the day around me will turn to night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for to you darkness and light are the same.
13 [p]You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am wonderfully made;
awesome are your works,
as I know very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
you saw me in the womb.[q]
16 [r]The sum total of my days
were all recorded in your book.[s]
My life was fashioned
before it had come into being.
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I were to attempt to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,[t]
I am still with you.
19 [u]If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
and the bloodthirsty would leave me![v]
20 They blaspheme your name
and treacherously rise up against you.[w]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and loathe those who rise up against you?
22 My hatred for them is unlimited;
I regard them as my personal enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart;[x]
test me and understand my thoughts.
Chapter 23[a]
Joshua’s Final Discourse. 1 Quite some time later, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all of its surrounding enemies, and when Joshua had grown old and was well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all of Israel including its leaders and officials, their judges and their officers, and he said to them, “I am now an old man, well advanced in years 3 and you have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to all of these nations on your behalf, for the Lord, your God, has fought for you. 4 I have divided up by lot these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, all the nations that I have conquered between the Jordan and the Great Sea to the west. 5 The Lord, your God, himself will drive them out before you. He will push them out of your sight so that you can take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has promised you. 6 Be most courageous, and be careful to observe everything that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Do not turn away from it to the right or the left. 7 Avoid associating with these nations that still remain among you. Do not mention the names of their gods; do not swear by them. Do not serve them; do not worship them. 8 Hold fast to the Lord, your God,[b] as you have done up to the present. 9 The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from before you. To this day no one has been able to stand up against you. 10 Just one of you has been able to route a thousand, because the Lord, your God, has fought for you, just as he promised you that he would do. 11 So be very careful to love the Lord, your God.
12 [c]“But if you were to turn away and you were to ally yourselves with the survivors of the nations that remain here, and you were to intermarry with them, and you were to associate with them, 13 then you should know for sure that the Lord, your God, will no longer drive out these nations before you. They will be like snares and traps to you, as if they were scourges upon your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you finally vanish from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.
14 “I am now about to go the way of all upon the earth. You know very well in your hearts and your souls that not one of the good things that the Lord, your God, promised you has failed to take place. Every promise has been fulfilled, not one of them has been broken. 15 Just as all the good things that the Lord, your God, has promised you have come true, so the Lord could bring upon you all the evil that he has threatened until he has wiped you out from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant that the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe, and you go and serve other gods and worship them, then the Lord’s anger will blaze out against you. You will quickly perish from the good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.”
25 Presently, however, I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia[a] have resolved to make a contribution for the benefit of the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do so, and indeed they are indebted to them, for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they owe it to them to share their material blessings with them.
28 Therefore, when I have completed this task and have delivered the fruit of their generosity to them, I will set out for Spain and visit you along the way. 29 And I am sure that when I come, I shall do so with the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
30 Therefore, I exhort you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my labors by praying to God for me 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there. 32 In that way, I can come to you in joy, if God so wills, and be refreshed together with you. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
11 Jesus Is Questioned by Pilate.[a]Meanwhile, Jesus was brought into the presence of the governor, who asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said so.”[b] 12 And when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he offered no reply. 13 Pilate then said to him, “Have you not heard how many charges they have brought against you?” 14 But he did not offer a single word in response, much to the governor’s amazement.[c]
15 Jesus Is Sentenced to Death. Now on the occasion of the feast, the governor’s custom was to release to the people one prisoner whom they had designated. 16 At that particular time, they had in custody a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. 17 Therefore, after the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which man do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over.
19 While he was still seated on the judge’s bench, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man. I have been greatly troubled today by a dream that I had about him.”[d]
20 Meanwhile, the chief priests and the elders had persuaded the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. 21 Therefore, when the governor asked them, “Which of the two men do you want me to release to you?” they shouted, “Barabbas!” 22 Pilate asked them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them shouted, “Let him be crucified!” 23 He asked, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they only screamed all the louder, “Let him be crucified!”
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.