Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55[a]
Prayer in Time of Betrayal by a Friend
1 For the director.[b] On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
2 [c]Give ear to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my supplication.
3 Listen to my cry and answer me,
for my troubles afford me no peace.
4 I am terrified by the shouts of the enemy
and the uproar of the wicked.
For they inflict troubles upon me,
and in their anger they revile me.
5 [d]My heart[e] is filled with anguish,
and I am beset by the terrors of death.
6 Fear and trembling overpower me;
horror overwhelms me.
7 I say, “If only I had wings like a dove
so that I could fly away and be at rest!
8 I would flee away
and seek shelter in the wilderness. Selah
9 I would hurry to a place of refuge,
far from the savage wind and tempest.”
10 [f]Restrain the wicked, O Lord, and confound their speech,[g]
for I see violence and strife in the city.
11 Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and within it are iniquity and malice.
12 Destruction is also in its midst;
oppression and treachery pervade its streets.
13 [h]If it was an enemy who reviled me,
I could endure that.
If a foe had treated me with contempt,
I could manage to avoid him.
14 But it was you, one like myself,
a companion and a dear friend,
15 with whom I engaged in pleasant conversation
as we walked with the festive throng
in the house of God.
16 Let death strike my enemies by surprise;
let them descend alive to the netherworld,
for evil dwells in their homes
and in the depths of their hearts.[i]
17 [j]But I make my appeal to God,
and the Lord will save me.
18 Evening, morning, and noon[k]
I will cry out in my distress,
and he will hear my voice.
19 [l]He will deliver me in peace and safety
from those who are arrayed against me,
even though there are many of them.
20 God will hear me and humiliate them,
he who has been enthroned forever. Selah
For they neither change their ways
nor have any fear of God.
21 My companion treats his friends harshly
and breaks his covenant.
22 His speech is smoother than butter,
but war is in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
yet in reality they are drawn swords.
23 Entrust your cares to the Lord,
and he will uphold you;[m]
he will never allow the righteous to waver.
24 But you, O God, will send the wicked
down to the pit of destruction;[n]
those who are bloodthirsty and treacherous
will not live out half their days.
But as for me,
I will put my trust in you.
Psalm 138[a]
Thanksgiving for God’s Favor
1 Of David.
I offer you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart;[b]
before the “gods” I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and I praise your name[c]
for your kindness and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
3 On the day I cried out, you answered me
and granted strength to my spirit.
4 [d]All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord,
when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways of the Lord:
“How great is the Lord’s glory!”
6 For though the Lord is exalted, he cares for the lowly,[e]
but he remains far distant from the proud.
7 Although I walk in the midst of hostility,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and with your right hand[f] you deliver me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his plan for me.
Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever;
do not forsake the work of your hands.[g]
Psalm 139[h]
God’s Infinite Knowledge and Universal Power
1 For the director.[i] A psalm of David.
[j]O Lord, you have examined me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand;[k]
you perceive my thoughts from a distance.
3 You mark when I go out and when I lie down;
all my ways are open to you.
4 A word is not even on my tongue
and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it.
5 You enfold me from in front and from behind,
and you place your hand upon me.[l]
6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension,
far too sublime for me to attain.
7 [m]Where can I go to hide from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn[n]
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your right hand will hold me fast.
11 [o]If I say, “Surely the darkness will conceal me
and the day around me will turn to night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for to you darkness and light are the same.
13 [p]You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am wonderfully made;
awesome are your works,
as I know very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
you saw me in the womb.[q]
16 [r]The sum total of my days
were all recorded in your book.[s]
My life was fashioned
before it had come into being.
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I were to attempt to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,[t]
I am still with you.
19 [u]If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
and the bloodthirsty would leave me![v]
20 They blaspheme your name
and treacherously rise up against you.[w]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and loathe those who rise up against you?
22 My hatred for them is unlimited;
I regard them as my personal enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart;[x]
test me and understand my thoughts.
Chapter 7
1 I too am mortal, like everyone else,
descended from the first being formed out of the earth.[a]
I was molded into flesh inside the womb of my mother,
2 solidified in blood within a period of ten months[b]
from the seed of a man and the pleasure that accompanies marriage.
3 And I too, when I was born, began to breathe the common air
and fell upon an earth equal for everyone;
the first sound I uttered was a cry, as is true of all.
4 I was nurtured in swaddling clothes
and surrounded with care.
5 No king has begun life in any other way,
6 for there is only one way of entering life, and only one way of leaving it.
Wisdom Is Worth More than Any Riches
7 Therefore, I prayed, and understanding was given to me;
I pleaded, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
8 I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted riches as nothing compared with her.[c]
9 Neither did I reckon any precious stone to be her equal,
because, compared with her, all gold is but a few grains of sand,
and beside her, silver is accounted as clay.
10 I loved her more than health and beauty
and preferred her to the light
because her radiance is unceasing.
11 Together with her, all good things came to me,
and in her hands are countless riches.
12 And I delighted in them all, since Wisdom was their source,
although I did not realize at the time that she was their mother.
13 I pass on ungrudgingly what I learned about her with an open mind;
her riches I do not conceal.
14 For she is an inexhaustible treasure for all;
those who acquire her achieve friendship with God,
commended to him by the gifts that derive from her instruction.[d]
12 Characteristics of Life in Common.[a] As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another, and forgive one another if anyone has reason to be offended with another. You must forgive just as the Lord has forgiven you.
14 Over all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it was for this that you were called together in one body. Always be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ[b] with all its richness dwell in you. Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
18 Jesus Answers the Baptist’s Question.[a] When the disciples of John brought him reports about all these things, 19 John designated two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 20 When they came to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask: ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ ”
21 At that time, Jesus had just cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and had restored the sight of many who were blind. 22 And he gave them this reply: “Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. 23 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
24 Jesus Praises John the Baptist.[b]When John’s messengers had departed, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the wind? 25 What did you go out to see? Someone robed in fine clothing? Those who are robed in gorgeous clothing and live luxuriously are to be found in royal palaces. 26 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written:
‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John, and yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 (All the people who heard him, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the saving justice of God, for they had received John’s baptism. 30 However, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who had refused his baptism rejected God’s plan for them.)
31 Indecisive Children.“Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other:
‘We played the flute for you,
but you would not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you refused to mourn.’
33 “For John the Baptist has come, eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say: ‘He is possessed.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say: ‘Look at him! He is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 Yet wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
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