Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 20[a]
Prayer in Praise of the Messiah King
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
2 May the Lord answer you in times of trouble;
may the name[c] of the God of Jacob protect you.
3 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.[d]
4 May he remember[e] all your sacrifices
and accept all your burnt offerings. Selah
5 May he give you your heart’s desire[f]
and grant you success in all your plans.
6 May we shout with joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.[g]
May the Lord grant your every request.
7 Now I know that the Lord will grant victory to his anointed;[h]
he will answer him from his holy heaven,
granting mighty victories with his right hand.
8 [i]Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God.
9 They will collapse and fall,
but we will rise up and stand firm.
10 O Lord, save the king,
and answer us when we call upon you.[j]
Psalm 21[k]
Thanksgiving for Messianic Blessings
1 For the director.[l] A psalm of David.
2 O Lord, the king rejoices in your strength;
your victories fill him with great joy.[m]
3 You have granted him the desire of his heart[n]
and not withheld from him the request of his lips. Selah
4 You welcomed him with choice blessings[o]
and placed a crown of pure gold upon his head.
5 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.[p]
6 He has achieved great glory through your victory;
you have bestowed upon him splendor and majesty.[q]
7 You have conferred everlasting blessings[r] on him;
you gladdened him with the joy of your presence.
8 For the king places his trust in the Lord;
through the kindness[s] of the Most High he will not fall.
9 [t]Your hand will lay hold of all your enemies;
your right hand will overcome all your foes.
10 On the day when you appear,[u]
you will cast them into a fiery furnace.
The Lord’s anger will engulf them,
and fire will consume them.
11 You will blot out their descendants from the earth
and rid the human race of their posterity.[v]
12 They have devised wicked schemes against you,
but, plot though they may, they will not succeed.
13 For you will force them to retreat
when you aim your bows at them.
14 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength;[w]
we will sing and praise your power.
Psalm 110[a]
The Messiah—King, Prophet, and Conqueror
1 A psalm of David.
The Lord says to my Lord:[b]
“Sit at my right hand
until I have made your enemies a footstool for you.”
2 The Lord will stretch forth from Zion
your scepter of power.[c]
The Lord says:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies![d]
3 Yours is royal dignity in the day of your birth;
in holy splendor, before the daystar,
like the dew, I have begotten you.”[e]
4 The Lord has sworn,
and he will not retract his oath:
“You are a priest forever[f]
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord stands forth at your right hand;[g]
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He[h] will judge the nations,
filling their land with corpses
and crushing rulers throughout the earth.
7 He will drink from the stream on his journey,
and then he will lift up his head in triumph.[i]
Psalm 116[a]
Thanksgiving to God for Help Received
1 I love the Lord because he has heard my voice
and listened to my cry for mercy,[b]
2 because he has inclined his ear to me
on the day when I called out to him.[c]
3 The bonds of death[d] encompassed me;
the snares of the netherworld held me tightly.
I was seized by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I cried out in the name[e] of the Lord:
“O Lord, I entreat you to preserve my life.”
5 Gracious is the Lord and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord watches over his little ones;[f]
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Be at peace once again, O my soul,
for the Lord has shown mercy to you.
8 He has delivered my soul[g] from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.[h]
10 I believed; therefore, I said,[i]
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 In my dismay I cried out,
“All men are liars.”[j]
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the good he has done for me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation[k]
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows[l] to the Lord
in the presence of his people.
15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death[m] of his faithful ones.
16 O Lord, I am your servant.
I am your servant, the child of your handmaid;[n]
you have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia.[o]
Psalm 117[p]
Universal Praise of God
19 This reply so infuriated Nebuchadnezzar against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his countenance became distorted. He ordered that the furnace was to be heated seven times more than customary, 20 and he commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and hurl them into the fiery furnace.
21 The three young men were then bound while still wearing their cloaks, their trousers, their head coverings, and their other garments and thrown into the fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s command was so urgent and the heat of the furnace was so intense, the raging flames killed the men who were carrying Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 However, the three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell, bound, into the fiery furnace.
Two Inspired Additions of Prayer Texts
24 The Prayer of Azariah.[a] They walked amidst the flames, all the while singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. 25 Azariah then stood up, surrounded by flames, and said this prayer:
26 “Blessed are you and deserving of all praise,
O Lord, the God of our fathers,
and glorious is your name forever.
27 For you have shown justice in all you have done for us;
all your deeds are true, all your ways are right,
and all your judgments are correct.
28 You have made proper judgments
in all that you have brought upon us
and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors.
By a judgment, you have done all this
because of our sins.
29 “For we have sinned and broken your law
in our rebellion against you;
we have fallen short in every way.
30 We have neglected to obey your commandments
and have failed to do what you commanded for our own good.
The Message of Love[a]
11 For from the beginning
you have heard the message
that we should love one another,
12 unlike Cain who was from the evil one
and slew his brother.
And why did he slay him?
Because his own deeds were evil
while those of his brother were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brethren,
if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed
from death to life
because we love our brethren.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates his brother
is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him.
16 This is how we know what love is:
he laid down his life for us,
and we in turn must be prepared
to lay down our lives for our brethren.
17 If anyone is rich in worldly possessions
and sees a brother in need
but refuses to open his heart,
how can the love of God abide in him?
18 Dear children,
let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.[b]
Chapter 4
Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil.[a] 1 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert 2 for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. During that time he ate nothing, and at the end of it he was famished.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to be transformed into bread.” 4 Jesus answered him: “As it states in Scripture:
‘Man does not live by bread alone.’ ”
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world, 6 saying to him, “To you will I give all this dominion with its accompanying glory, for it has been delivered into my power, and I can bestow it on whomever I choose. 7 All this will be yours if you worship me.” 8 Jesus answered him: “Scripture says:
‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him alone shall you serve.’ ”
9 Next the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the summit of the temple. Then he said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for according to Scripture:
‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,’
11 and:
‘With their hands they will raise you up
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 Jesus answered him, “Scripture says:
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
13 When the devil had ended all his tempting, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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