Book of Common Prayer
Prayer in Time of Chastening
A Psalm of David. (A)To bring to remembrance.
38 O Lord, do not (B)rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am [a]troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
11 My loved ones and my friends (C)stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar off.
12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response.
15 For [b]in You, O Lord, (D)I hope;
You will [c]hear, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”
17 (E)For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will (F)declare my iniquity;
I will be (G)in [d]anguish over my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
20 Those also (H)who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, (I)be not far from me!
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!
ד DALETH
25 (A)My soul clings to the dust;
(B)Revive me according to Your word.
26 I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
(C)Teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So (D)shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28 (E)My soul [a]melts from [b]heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
30 I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31 I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32 I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall (F)enlarge my heart.
ה HE
33 (G)Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
34 (H)Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36 [c]Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to (I)covetousness.
37 (J)Turn[d] away my eyes from (K)looking at worthless things,
And revive me in [e]Your way.
38 (L)Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness.
ו WAW
41 Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—
Your salvation according to Your word.
42 So shall I have an answer for him who [f]reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I have hoped in Your ordinances.
44 So shall I keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever.
45 And I will walk [g]at (M)liberty,
For I seek Your precepts.
46 (N)I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48 My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments,
Which I love,
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
25 “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and (A)do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 (B)I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not [a]prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord (C)will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And (D)there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, (E)which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 (F)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in [b]distress, and all these things come upon you in the (G)latter days, when you (H)turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31 (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor (I)destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
23 Moreover (A)I call God as witness against my soul, (B)that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. 24 Not (C)that we [a]have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for (D)by faith you stand.
Paul Urges Forgiveness
2 But I determined this within myself, (E)that I would not come again to you in sorrow. 2 For if I make you (F)sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
Forgive the Offender
3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, (G)I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, (H)having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much [b]affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, (I)not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
5 But (J)if anyone has caused grief, he has not (K)grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted (L)by the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 (M)so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are (N)obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For [c]if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Triumph in Christ
12 Furthermore, (O)when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and (P)a [d]door was opened to me by the Lord, 13 (Q)I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us [e]diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ (R)among those who are being saved and (S)among those who are perishing. 16 (T)To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And (U)who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as [f]so many, (V)peddling[g] the word of God; but as (W)of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them (A)his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with [a]prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the [b]pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, (B)I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But (C)when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven (D)and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, [c]‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 (E)for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, (F)for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.