Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 In You, O Lord, do I seek refuge;
may I never be ashamed;
deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 Incline Your ear to me;
deliver me speedily;
be my strong rock,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 For You are my rock and my fortress;
for Your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
4 Lead me out of the net that they have hidden for me,
for You are my strength.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.
6 I have hated those who regard worthless vanity,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your lovingkindness,
for You have seen my trouble;
You have known my soul in adversities,
8 and have not delivered me up into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a broad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
my eye wastes away with grief,
yes, my soul and my body.
10 For my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
and my bones waste away.
11 I became a reproach among all my enemies,
but especially among my neighbors,
and a dread to my acquaintances;
those who saw me outside fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many;
fear was on every side;
while they took counsel together against me,
they planned to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in You, O Lord;
I said, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies
and my pursuers.
16 Make Your face to shine on Your servant;
save me by Your lovingkindness.
17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called on You;
let the wicked be ashamed,
and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence,
who speak arrogantly
in pride and contempt against the righteous.
19 Oh, how great is Your goodness,
which You have laid up for those who fear You,
which You have done for those
seeking refuge in You before people!
20 You will hide them in the secret of Your presence
from conspirators;
You will keep them secretly in a shelter
from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for He has shown me His marvelous lovingkindness
in a fortified city.
22 For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes.”
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
when I cried to You.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints,
for the Lord preserves the faithful,
but amply repays the one who acts in pride.
24 Be strong, and He will strengthen your heart,
all you who wait for the Lord.
Psalm 35
A Psalm of David.
1 Plead my cause, O Lord, with my adversaries;
fight those who fight me.
2 Take hold of the large shield and small shield,
and rise up for my help.
3 Draw the spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am Your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be ashamed and humiliated;
may those who plan my injury
be turned back and put to shame.
5 May they be as chaff before the wind,
and may the angel of the Lord cast them down.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
and may the angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit,
which they have dug without cause for my soul.
8 Let destruction come on him without warning,
and let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it, to his destruction.
9 My soul will be joyful in the Lord;
it will rejoice in His salvation.
10 All my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like You,
who delivers the poor from a stronger one,
the poor and the needy from the one who robs them?”
11 Witnesses intent on violence rose up;
they accused me of things I knew nothing about.
12 They rewarded me evil for good,
the bereavement of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting;
and my prayer returns to my own heart.
14 I paced as though he were my friend or brother;
I bowed down lamenting,
as one who mourns for a mother.
15 But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered together;
assailants gathered together against me, though I was unaware;
they tore me apart and did not stop;
16 with hypocritical mockers in feasts,
they gnashed on me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions,
my life from the lions.
18 I will give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will praise You among a mighty people.
19 May my deceitful enemies
not rejoice over me;
nor may those who hate me without cause
wink with their eye.
20 For they do not speak peace,
but they devise deceitful matters
against the restful ones in the land.
21 They opened their mouth wide against me,
and said, “Aha, aha, our eye has seen it.”
22 This You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent;
O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Rouse Yourself and awake for my judgment,
for my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness,
and may they not rejoice over me.
25 May they not say in their hearts, “Ah, we have our soul’s desire.”
May they not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 May those who rejoice at my harm be ashamed
and altogether put to shame;
may they be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me.
27 May those who favor my righteous cause
shout for joy and be glad;
may they say continually, “The Lord be magnified,
who delights in the peace of His servant.”
28 My tongue will speak of Your righteousness
and of Your praise all the day long.
Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment my soul
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have reproached me;
you are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
4 And if indeed I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you exalt yourselves against me
and plead against me with my disgrace,
6 know now that God has bent me
and has surrounded me with His net.
7 “Look, I cry out concerning wrong, but I am not heard;
I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
14 My relatives have failed,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
count me for a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I called my servant, but he gave me no answer;
I begged him with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to the children of my own body.
18 Yes, young children despise me;
I arose, and they spoke against me.
19 All my close friends abhorred me,
and they whom I love are turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you persecute me as God does,
and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved with an iron pen
and lead in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and He will stand at last on the earth;
26 and after my skin is destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself,
and my eyes will behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me.
Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia
13 Now when Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But they departed from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”
16 Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt, and with great power He led them out of it. 18 For about forty years He endured their conduct in the desert. 19 When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance by lot.
20 “After about four hundred and fifty years, God gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they requested a king. And God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 When He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified, saying, ‘I have found David[a] the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will fulfill My entire will.’[b]
23 “From this man’s descendants God has raised a Savior for Israel, Jesus, according to His promise. 24 Before His coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But look! He is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’[c]
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of the one who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed that He was the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So again they called the man who was blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He said, “I do not know if He is a sinner. I know one thing: I was blind, but now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. As for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered, “Well, here is an amazing thing! You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were completely born in sin. Are you teaching us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.