Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Silent Dove at a Distance.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man would crush me;
all day long he who battles oppresses me.
2 All day long my enemies would crush me,
for there are many who arrogantly battle against me.
3 In the day when I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God whose word I praise,
in God I have trusted; I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 Every day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
when they wait for my life.
7 Should there be deliverance for them on account of wickedness?
In Your anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You take account of my wandering;
put my tears in Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?
9 In the day I cry to You,
then my enemies will turn back;
this I know, that God is for me.
10 In God whose word I praise,
in the Lord whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust, I will not fear;
what can a man do to me?
12 Your vows are on me, O God;
I will complete them with thank offerings to You;
13 for You have delivered my soul from death,
even my feet from stumbling,
to walk before God
in the light of the living.
Psalm 57(A)
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David when he fled from Saul in the cave.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me!
For my soul seeks refuge in You;
in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
until the ruinous storm passes by.
2 I will cry to God Most High,
to God who vindicates me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me
from the taunt of the one who crushes me. Selah
God will send forth His mercy and His truth.
4 My soul is among lions,
and I lie among the sons of men who blaze like fire,
whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
may Your glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down;
they have dug a pit before me,
but they have fallen into it. Selah
7 My heart is fixed, O God,
my heart is fixed;
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory!
Awake, psaltery and harp!
I will awake the dawn.
9 I will thank You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
10 For Your mercy is great up to the heavens,
and Your truth extends to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
may Your glory be above all the earth.
Psalm 58
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David.
1 Do you truly speak righteousness, O heavenly gods?
Do you judge uprightly, O earthly men?
2 Indeed, in the heart you work wickedness;
you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb onward;
those who speak lies go astray from birth.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
they are like the deaf adder that plugs its ear,
5 and will not listen to the voice of charmers,
even the best and wisest enchanter.
6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God;
break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
7 May they melt away as waters which run continually;
when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be trodden under.
8 May they become as a snail that melts as it goes,
like the untimely birth of a woman, may they not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns’ heat, green or burning,
may He sweep them away.
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 and people will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on the earth.”
Psalm 64
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
guard my life from dread of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked,
from the throng of the workers of iniquity;
3 they sharpen their tongue like a sword,
and bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words,
4 that they may shoot in secret at the blameless;
suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
5 They harden themselves in an evil matter;
they talk privately of laying snares;
they say, “Who will see them?”
6 They devise injustice,
saying “We have perfected a secret plot.”
Both the inward thought of man and the heart are deep.
7 But God will suddenly shoot them with an arrow;
they will be wounded.
8 They will bring ruin on themselves
by their own tongues;
all who see them will flee away.
9 All people will fear,
and declare the work of God;
they will wisely consider His deeds.
10 The righteous will be glad in the Lord,
and seek refuge in Him,
and all the upright in heart will glory.
Psalm 65
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion;
and to You a vow will be fulfilled.
2 O You who hears prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
3 Iniquities are stronger than me;
as for our transgressions, You atone for them.
4 Blessed is the man You choose and allow to draw near;
he will dwell in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
even of Your holy temple.
5 In righteousness You will answer us gloriously,
O God of our salvation,
You, who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
and of those who are afar off on the sea;
6 who established the mountains by His strength,
being clothed with might;
7 who stills the noise of the seas,
the noise of their waves,
and the tumult of peoples.
8 Those who dwell in the uttermost parts
are in awe because of Your signs;
You make the going out of the morning and evening rejoice.
9 You visit the earth, and water it;
You enrich it
with the river of God, which is full of water;
You prepare their grain,
for thus You have established it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly;
You settle its ridges;
You soften it with showers;
You bless its sprouting.
11 You crown the year with Your goodness,
and Your paths drip abundance.
12 They drip on the pastures of the wilderness,
and the hills clothe themselves with rejoicing.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;
the valleys also are covered with grain;
they shout for joy, they also sing.
The Almond Rod and Boiling Pot
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well. For I will hasten My word to perform it.”
13 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”
And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.”
14 Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north calamity will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord.
And they will come and they will set each one his throne
at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
and against all the walls all around,
and against all the cities of Judah.
16 I will utter My judgments against them
concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me
and have burned incense to other gods,
and have worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 You therefore gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. 18 For indeed, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the officials, against the priests, and against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.
Salutation
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are called by Jesus Christ:
7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers, 10 making request if, by any means, now at last I might find a way in the will of God to come to you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be strengthened. 12 This is so that I may be encouraged together with you by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 Now I would not have you unaware, brothers, that I often intended to come to you (but was prevented until now), that I might have a harvest among you also, even as among the other Gentiles.
14 I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
27 Then His disciples came. They marveled that He talked with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the city and came to Him.
31 Meanwhile His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said one to another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen! I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. 36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit that leads to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this is the saying true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap a crop for which you did not labor. And you have benefited from their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to remain with them. And He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His word.
42 They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this Man is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.