Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16
A Miktam of David.
1 Preserve me, O God,
for in You I take refuge.
2 I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
my welfare has no existence outside of You.”
3 For the holy ones who are in the land,
they are the majestic ones; in them is all my delight.
4 Those who chase after other gods,
their sorrows will be multiplied;
their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
nor lift their names on my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup;
You support my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
yes, an inheritance is beautiful for me.
7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
my affections also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my right hand,
I will not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
my flesh also will rest in security.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
nor will You suffer Your godly one to see corruption.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
in Your presence is fullness of joy;
at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 17
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear a just cause, O Lord,
attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer
that is not spoken from deceitful lips.
2 May my sentence go out from Your presence;
may Your eyes see rightly.
3 You have examined my heart; You have visited me in the night;
You have tried me and found nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men,
by the word of Your lips
I have avoided
the paths of the violent,
5 placing my steps in Your paths,
that my footsteps do not slip.
6 I called on You, for You will answer me, O God;
incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.
7 Show marvelously Your lovingkindness,
O Deliverer of those who seek refuge
by Your right hand from those who arise in opposition.
8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
9 from the wicked who bring ruin to me,
from my deadly enemies who surround me.
10 They close their hard hearts;
with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now encircled us in our steps;
they have set their eyes to bend down to the earth;
12 it is like a lion that is anxious to rip its prey,
and as a young lion lurking in secrecy.
13 Arise, O Lord! Confront him, cast him down!
Deliver my soul from the wicked by Your sword,
14 from men by Your hand, O Lord,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their belly with Your treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.
15 As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I will be satisfied when I awake with Your likeness.
Psalm 22
For the Music Director. To the melody of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from delivering me,
and from my roaring words of distress?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer;
and at night, but I have no rest.
3 But You are holy,
O You who inhabits the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You did deliver them.
5 They cried to You and were delivered;
they trusted in You and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and not a man;
a reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me laugh me to scorn;
they sneer with the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “Trust in the Lord,
let Him deliver him;
let Him rescue him,
seeing He delights in him.”
9 But You are He who took me out of the womb;
You caused me to trust
while I was on my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast on You from birth;
You are my God from my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me
for trouble is near,
for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13 They open their mouths against me,
as a preying and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted inside my body.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
and You have set me toward the dust of death.
16 For dogs have encompassed me;
the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me;
like a lion they pin my hands and my feet;
17 I can count all my bones;
they look and stare on me.
18 They part my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothes.
19 But do not be far from me, O Lord;
O my Help, hasten to my aid.
20 Rescue my soul from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,
and from the horns of the wild ox, answer me!
22 I will declare Your name to my community;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him;
all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
nor has He hid His face from him;
but when he cried to Him, He heard.
25 From You my praise will be in the great congregation;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
26 The meek will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever.
27 All the ends of the world
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will worship before You.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and He rules among the nations.
29 All the prosperous ones of the earth will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
even he who cannot keep his own soul alive.
30 Posterity will serve Him;
it will be told to generations about the Lord;
31 they will come and declare His righteousness
to a people yet to be born,
that He has acted.
The Servant of the Lord
42 Here is My servant, whom I uphold,
My chosen one, in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon him;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He shall not cry out, nor lift up his voice,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed he shall not break,
and the smoking flax he shall not quench;
he shall bring forth justice faithfully.
4 He shall not be disheartened nor be discouraged,
until he has set justice in the earth;
and the coastlands shall wait for his law.
5 Thus says God the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it,
who gives breath to the people on it,
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 I the Lord have called You in righteousness,
and will hold Your hand,
and will keep You and appoint You
for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the nations,
7 to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the Lord, that is My name;
and My glory I will not give to another,
nor My praise to graven images.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.
A Song of Praise
10 Sing to the Lord a new song,
and His praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
the coastlands, and the inhabitants.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities lift up their voices,
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare His praise in the islands.
13 The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;
He shall stir up zeal like a man of war.
He shall cry out, yes, raise a war cry;
He shall prevail against His enemies.
The Lord’s Help Is Promised
14 I have for a long time held My peace;
I have been still and refrained Myself.
Now I will cry like a travailing woman;
I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation,
and I will make the rivers islands,
and I will dry up the pools.
16 I will bring the blind by a way that they did not know;
I will lead them in paths that they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them
and crooked things straight.
These things I will do for them
and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed,
who trust in graven images,
who say to the molded images, “You are our gods.”
Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles
3 For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
2 You may have heard of the administration of the grace of God which was given me for you, 3 how by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have written briefly already, 4 by which, when you read it, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 6 how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.
7 Of this I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the incomprehensible riches of Christ, 9 and to reveal for all people what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, 10 so that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He completed in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
The Calling of Levi(A)
13 He went out again by the seaside, and the whole crowd came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s station, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him.
15 As Jesus was at supper in his house, many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they followed Him. 16 When the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The Question About Fasting(B)
18 Now the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
21 “No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece that covered it tears away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins will be marred. But new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.