Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving for Answered Prayer
A psalm; a song for the dedication of the house.[a] Of David.[b]
30 I will exalt you, O Yahweh,
because you have drawn me up,
and have not made my enemies rejoice over me.
2 O Yahweh, my God,
I cried for help to you,
and you healed me.
3 O Yahweh, you have brought my life up from Sheol.
You preserved me alive
from among those going down [c] to the pit.
4 Sing praises to Yahweh, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy fame.[d]
5 For there is a moment in his anger;
there is a lifetime in his favor.
Weeping lodges for the evening,
but in the morning comes rejoicing.
6 But as for me, I had said in my prosperity,
“I shall not be moved ever.”
7 O Yahweh, by your favor
you caused my strong mountain to stand.
You hid your face. I was bewildered.
8 To you, O Yahweh, I called,
and to the Lord I pleaded for grace saying,
9 “What gain is there in my death,[e]
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 “O Yahweh, hear and be gracious to me.
O Yahweh, be my helper.”
11 You have turned my wailing into my dancing.
You have removed my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy
12 so that I[f] may sing praises to you
and not be quiet.
O Yahweh, my God,
I will give thanks to you forever.
Thanksgiving for Forgiveness of Sins
Of David. A maskil.[a]
32 Happy is he whose transgression is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy is a person to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity
and in whose spirit there is not deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones were worn out
due to my groaning all the day.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
My vigor was changed into the dry heat of summer. Selah
5 I made known my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not cover.
I said, “I will confess concerning my transgressions to Yahweh,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
at the time for finding you.
Surely at the flood of many waters they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place;
from trouble you preserve me.
With cries of deliverance you surround me. Selah
8 I[b] will instruct you and teach you
in the way that you should go.
I will advise you with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or like a mule, without understanding;
that needs his tackle—bridle and rein—for restraint
or he would not come near you.
10 Many are the pains of the wicked,
but for the one who trusts Yahweh
loyal love surrounds him.
11 Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright of heart.
Hope in God in the Midst of Despair
For the music director. A maskil of the sons of Korah.[a]
42 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[b]
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These I remember and I pour out my soul within me:
that I would go with the multitude;
I led them in procession to the house[c] of God,
with a voice of rejoicing and thanksgiving,
a crowd celebrating a festival.
5 Why are you in despair,[d] O my soul,
and disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
for the salvation of his presence.
6 O my God, within me my soul is in despair;[e]
therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.
7 Deep is calling to deep
at[f] the thunder of your waterfalls.
All your breakers and your waves
have passed over me.
8 By day Yahweh commands his loyal love,
and in the night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a shattering in my bones
my oppressors taunt me,
while they say to me all day,[g]
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair,[h] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I shall again praise him,
my salvation[i] and my God.
A Prayer for Rescue
43 Judge me, O God, and plead my case
against[j] an unfaithful[k] nation.
From a man of deceit and wickedness rescue me,
2 because you are the God of my refuge.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send your light and your truth;
they shall lead[l] me.
They shall bring me to your holy mountain[m]
and to your dwelling places.
4 Then[n] I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my surpassing joy,[o]
and I will praise you with lyre,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you in despair,[p] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
my salvation[q] and my God.
Saul Takes Revenge on the Priests Who Helped David
22 David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s household[a] heard, they came down to him there. 2 Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became their commander.[b] Now there were about four hundred men with him. 3 And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay[c] with you until I know what God will do for me.” 4 So he brought them before the king of Moab,[d] and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.
5 Then Gad the prophet said to David, “You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and came to the forest of Hereth. 6 Now Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been located. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at Ramah. Now his spear was in his hand and all his servants were stationed around him. 7 Then Saul said to the servants who were standing around him, “Please listen, Benjaminites![e] Will the son of Jesse give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8 For all of you have conspired against me, and no one discloses to me[f] the making[g] of an agreement between my son and the son of Jesse! None of you have had sympathy for me or disclosed to me[h] that my son commissioned my servant against me to ambush me[i] as has been done this day!”
9 But Doeg the Edomite, who was stationed among the servants of Saul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” 11 So the king sent to summon Ahimelech the son of Ahitub the priest, and all his father’s household, the priests who were at Nob. So all of them came to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen please, son of Ahitub.” He said, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 Then Saul said to him, “Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush me as has been done this day?” 14 But Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David? He is the son-in-law of the king who moves quickly to safeguard you and is honored in your house. 15 Only today I began to inquire of God for him. Far be it from me that the king should impute anything against his servant[j] or against my father’s household, for your servant has not known any of this matter, little or much.” 16 Then the king said, “You must certainly die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” 17 So the king said to the runners who were stationed around him, “Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because they also support David[k] and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not disclose it to me.”[l] But the servants of the king were not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19 And he put to the sword[m] Nob, the city of the priests, from man to woman, from child to infant, and ox and donkey and sheep;[n] all to the sword.[o]
20 But, one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, whose name was Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh. 22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day that Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I am responsible for the deaths of all your father’s household![p] 23 Stay with me! Do not fear, because he who seeks my life seeks your life. You are in good care with me.”
26 “Men and brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God—to us the message of this salvation has been sent! 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they[a] did not recognize this one, and the voices of the prophets that are read on every Sabbath, fulfilled them[b] by[c] condemning him.[d] 28 And although they[e] found no charge worthy of death, they asked Pilate that he be executed. 29 And when they had carried out all the things that were written about him, they took him[f] down from the tree and[g] placed him[h] in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 who appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem—who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we proclaim the good news to you: that the promise that was made to the fathers, 33 this promise[i] God has fulfilled to our children[j] by[k] raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm,
‘You are my Son;
today I have fathered you.’[l]
34 But that he has raised him from the dead, no more going to return to decay, he has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the reliable divine decrees of David.’[m] 35 Therefore he also says in another psalm,[n]
‘You will not permit your Holy One to experience decay.’[o]
36 For David, after[p] serving the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was buried with[q] his fathers, and experienced decay. 37 But he whom God raised up did not experience decay.
38 “Therefore let it be known to you, men and brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and from all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, 39 by this one everyone who believes is justified! 40 Watch out, therefore, lest what is stated by the prophets come upon you:[r]
41 ‘Look, you scoffers,
and be astonished and perish!
For I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you would never believe
even if someone were to tell it[s] to you.’”[t]
Response to the Message in Pisidian Antioch
42 And as[u] they were going out, they began urging[v] that these things be spoken about to them on the next Sabbath. 43 And after[w] the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout[x] proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and[y] were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.
19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
A House Divided Cannot Stand
20 And he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they were not even able to eat a meal. 21 And when[a] his family[b] heard this,[c] they went out to restrain him, for they were saying, “He has lost his mind!”
22 And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul!” and “By the ruler of the demons he expels the demons!” 23 And he called them to himself and[d] was speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan expel Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but is at an end! 27 But no one is able to enter into the house of a strong man and[e] plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he can thoroughly plunder his house.
28 “Truly I say to you that all the sins and the blasphemies will be forgiven the sons of men, however much they blaspheme. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness forever,[f] but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31 And his mother and his brothers arrived, and standing outside, they sent word to him to summon him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers[g] are outside looking for you.” 33 And he answered them and[h] said, “Who is my mother or[i] my brothers?” 34 And looking around at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, this person is my brother and sister and mother.”
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