Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
א Aleph
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
and who seek Him with all their heart.
3 They also do no wrong;
they walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
to keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were established
to keep Your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be ashamed,
when I have my focus on all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I have learned Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
do not completely abandon me.
ב Beth
9 How shall a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek You;
do not allow me to wander from Your commandments.
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord;
teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I declare
all the decrees of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts
and keep my eyes on Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
ג Gimel
17 Deal kindly with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a sojourner in the land;
do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul is consumed all the time
with a longing for Your decrees.
21 You have rebuked the proud, those cursed,
who depart from Your commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Even if princes sit and conspire against me,
Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight
and my counselors.
Psalm 12
For the Music Director. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for the godly man comes to an end,
for the faithful disappear from sons of men.
2 They speak empty words, each with his own neighbor;
they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
3 The Lord will cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 who have said, “With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are in our control, who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered,
because the needy sigh,
now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words;
they are silver tried in an earthen furnace
refined seven times.
7 You will keep them, O Lord;
You will preserve them from this generation.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when the worthless of mankind are exalted.
Psalm 13
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me for good?
How long will you hide Your face from me?
2 How long will I harbor cares in my soul
and sorrow in my heart by day?
How long will my enemy loom over me?
3 Take note and answer me, O Lord my God!
Brighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have him,”
lest my foes exult when I stumble.
5 I for my part confide in Your kindness;
may my heart exult in Your salvation!
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 14(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek God.
3 They all turn aside,
together they become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat my people as they eat bread,
but do not call on the Lord?
5 There they were in great fear,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You shame the counsel of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord turns back the captivity of His people,
Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be glad.
The Mountain of the Lord(A)
2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In the last days,
the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established
on the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills,
and all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall go and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
and He will teach us of His ways,
and we will walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
nor shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come,
and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
The Day of the Lord
6 For You have forsaken Your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are replenished from the east,
and are soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they please themselves with the children of strangers.
7 Their land also is full of silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is also full of horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land also is full of idols;
they worship the work of their own hands,
that which their own fingers have made.
9 And the common man bows down,
and the great man humbles himself;
therefore, do not forgive them.
10 Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust
from the fear of the Lord
and from the glory of His majesty.
11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
13 For this reason we thank God without ceasing because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which effectively works also in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. You also have suffered the same things from your own countrymen, as they have from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us. They do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. In this way they are always piling up their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the extreme.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Again
17 But we, brothers, being taken from you for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavored all the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18 Therefore we wished to come to you—even I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Will it not even be you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 You are our glory and joy.
19 The chief priests and the scribes tried to lay their hands on Him that same hour, but they feared the people. For they perceived that He had told this parable against them.
The Question of Paying Taxes(A)
20 They watched Him and sent out spies who pretended to be righteous men, that they might seize Him in His words to hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So they asked Him, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach rightly. And You do not show partiality, but You truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 He perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius.[a] Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”
25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
26 They could not catch Him in His words before the people. And they marveled at His answer and were silent.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.