Book of Common Prayer

56 ^1-2 Lord, have mercy on me; all day long the enemy troops press in. So many are proud to fight against me; how they long to conquer me.

^3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you. Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him, what can mere man do to me? ⁵ They are always twisting what I say. All their thoughts are how to harm me. ⁶ They meet together to perfect their plans; they hide beside the trail, listening for my steps, waiting to kill me. ⁷ They expect to get away with it. Don’t let them, Lord. In anger cast them to the ground.

⁸ You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.

⁹ The very day I call for help, the tide of battle turns. My enemies flee! This one thing I know: God is for me! ^10-11 I am trusting God—oh, praise his promises! I am not afraid of anything mere man can do to me! Yes, praise his promises. ¹² I will surely do what I have promised, Lord, and thank you for your help. ¹³ For you have saved me from death and my feet from slipping, so that I can walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

57 O God, have pity, for I am trusting you! I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until this storm is past. ² I will cry to the God of heaven who does such wonders for me. ³ He will send down help from heaven to save me because of his love and his faithfulness. He will rescue me from these liars who are so intent upon destroying me. ⁴ I am surrounded by fierce lions—hotheads whose teeth are sharp as spears and arrows. Their tongues are like swords. ⁵ Lord, be exalted above the highest heavens! Show your glory high above the earth. ⁶ My enemies have set a trap for me. Frantic fear grips me. They have dug a pitfall in my path. But look! They themselves have fallen into it!

⁷ O God, my heart is quiet and confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! ⁸ Rouse yourself, my soul! Arise, O harp and lyre! Let us greet the dawn with song! ⁹ I will thank you publicly throughout the land. I will sing your praises among the nations. ¹⁰ Your kindness and love are as vast as the heavens. Your faithfulness is higher than the skies.

¹¹ Yes, be exalted, O God, above the heavens. May your glory shine throughout the earth.

58 ^1-2 Justice? You high and mighty politicians don’t even know the meaning of the word! Fairness? Which of you has any left? Not one! All your dealings are crooked: you give “justice” in exchange for bribes.^{[a] 3} These men are born sinners, lying from their earliest words! ^4-5 They are poisonous as deadly snakes, cobras that close their ears to the most expert of charmers.

⁶ O God, break off their fangs. Tear out the teeth of these young lions, Lord. ⁷ Let them disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.^{[b] 8} Let them be as snails that dissolve into slime and as those who die at birth, who never see the sun. ⁹ God will sweep away both old and young. He will destroy them more quickly than a cooking pot can feel the blazing fire of thorns beneath it.

¹⁰ The godly shall rejoice in the triumph of right;^[c] they shall walk the bloodstained fields of slaughtered, wicked men. ¹¹ Then at last everyone will know that good is rewarded, and that there is a God who judges justly here on earth.

64 ^1-2 Lord, listen to my complaint: Oh, preserve my life from the conspiracy of these wicked men, these gangs of criminals. ³ They cut me down with sharpened tongues; they aim their bitter words like arrows straight at my heart. ⁴ They shoot from ambush at the innocent. Suddenly the deed is done, yet they are not afraid. ⁵ They encourage each other to do evil. They meet in secret to set their traps. “He will never notice them here,” they say. ⁶ They keep a sharp lookout for opportunities of crime. They spend long hours with all their endless evil thoughts and plans.^[a]

⁷ But God himself will shoot them down. Suddenly his arrow will pierce them. ⁸ They will stagger backward, destroyed by those they spoke against. All who see it happening will scoff at them. ⁹ Then everyone shall stand in awe and confess the greatness of the miracles of God; at last they will realize what amazing things he does. ¹⁰ And the godly shall rejoice in the Lord, and trust and praise him.

65 ^1-2 O God in Zion, we wait before you in silent praise, and thus fulfill our vow. And because you answer prayer, all mankind will come to you with their requests. ³ Though sins fill our hearts, you forgive them all. ⁴ How greatly to be envied are those you have chosen to come and live with you within the holy tabernacle courts! What joys await us among all the good things there. ⁵ With dread deeds and awesome power you will defend us from our enemies,^[b] O God who saves us. You are the only hope of all mankind throughout the world and far away upon the sea.

⁶ He formed the mountains by his mighty strength. ⁷ He quiets the raging oceans and all the world’s clamor. ⁸ In the farthest corners of the earth the glorious acts of God shall startle everyone. The dawn and sunset shout for joy! ⁹ He waters the earth to make it fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry! He prepares the earth for his people and sends them rich harvests of grain. ¹⁰ He waters the furrows with abundant rain. Showers soften the earth, melting the clods and causing seeds to sprout across the land. ^11-12 Then he crowns it all with green, lush pastures in the wilderness; hillsides blossom with joy. ¹³ The pastures are filled with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. All the world shouts with joy and sings.

40 The Lord went on:

² “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?”

³ Then Job replied to God:

⁴ “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. ⁵ I have said too much already.”

⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Job again from the whirlwind:

⁷ “Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Let me ask you a question, and give me the answer. ⁸ Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so that you can say you are right? ⁹ Are you as strong as God, and can you shout as loudly as he? ¹⁰ All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. ¹¹ Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. ¹² Humiliate the haughty with a glance; tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³ Knock them into the dust, stone-faced in death. ¹⁴ If you can do that, then I’ll agree with you that your own strength can save you.

¹⁵ “Take a look at the hippopotamus!^[a] I made him, too, just as I made you! He eats grass like an ox. ¹⁶ See his powerful loins and the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷ His tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit together. ¹⁸ His vertebrae lie straight as a tube of brass. His ribs are like iron bars. ¹⁹ How ferocious he is among all of God’s creation, so let whoever hopes to master him bring a sharp sword! ²⁰ The mountains offer their best food to him—the other wild animals on which he preys. ²¹ He lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds, ²² covered by their shade among the willows there beside the stream. ²³ He is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon him. ²⁴ No one can catch him off guard or put a ring in his nose and lead him away.

³⁶ Several days later Paul suggested to Barnabas that they return again to Turkey and visit each city where they had preached before,^[a] to see how the new converts were getting along. ³⁷ Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. ³⁸ But Paul didn’t like that idea at all, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia. ³⁹ Their disagreement over this was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus, ^40-41 while Paul chose Silas and, with the blessing of the believers, left for Syria and Cilicia to encourage the churches there.

16 Paul and Silas went first to Derbe and then on to Lystra where they met Timothy, a believer whose mother was a Christian Jewess, but his father a Greek. ² Timothy was well thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium, ³ so Paul asked him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he circumcised Timothy before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek and hadn’t permitted this before.^{[b] 4} Then they went from city to city, making known the decision concerning the Gentiles, as decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. ⁵ So the church grew daily in faith and numbers.

⁵⁵ The Passover, a Jewish holy day, was near, and many country people arrived in Jerusalem several days early so that they could go through the cleansing ceremony before the Passover began. ⁵⁶ They wanted to see Jesus, and as they gossiped in the Temple, they asked each other, “What do you think? Will he come for the Passover?” ⁵⁷ Meanwhile the chief priests and Pharisees had publicly announced that anyone seeing Jesus must report him immediately so that they could arrest him.

12 Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was—the man he had brought back to life. ² A banquet was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took a jar of costly perfume made from essence of nard, and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.

⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples—the one who would betray him—said, ⁵ “That perfume was worth a fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” ⁶ Not that he cared for the poor, but he was in charge of the disciples’ funds and often dipped into them for his own use!

⁷ Jesus replied, “Let her alone. She did it in preparation for my burial. ⁸ You can always help the poor, but I won’t be with you very long.”