Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
The Great Psalm on the Law of the Lord[a]
Aleph: Blessed Are the Blameless
1 How blessed are those who are blameless in their way,
who walk in the law[b] of the Lord.
2 How blessed are those who keep[c] his testimonies.
With all their heart they seek him.
3 Indeed, they do no wrong.
They walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded that your precepts[d] be kept completely.
5 If only my ways were unwavering in keeping your statutes![e]
6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.
7 I will thank you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous judgments.[f]
8 I will keep your statutes.
Do not abandon me completely.
Bet: Hidden in My Heart
9 How can a young man keep his path pure?
By guarding it with your words.[g]
10 With all my heart I seek you.
Do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your sayings[h] in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord!
Teach me your statutes.
13 With my lips I tell about all the judgments
that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way that is taught by your testimonies
as much as I delight in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts,
and I will consider your paths.
16 In your statutes I delight.
I will not forget your words.
Gimel: Open My Eyes
17 Reward your servant.
Then I will live, and I will keep your words.
18 Uncover my eyes, and I will behold wonders from your law.
19 I am an alien on earth.
Do not hide your commandments from me.
20 My soul is overwhelmed by desire for your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed,
those who stray from your commandments.
22 Remove scorn and contempt from me,
for I guard your testimonies.
23 Though officials sit together and speak against me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Yes, your testimonies are my delights.
They are my advisors.
Psalm 12
Proud Words vs. Pure Words
Heading
For the choir director. According to sheminith.[a] A psalm by David.
The Proud Words of the Ungodly
1 Save us, Lord, for the merciful have disappeared.
The faithful have vanished from among mankind.
2 Everyone speaks falsehood to his neighbor.
Their flattering lips speak double-talk.[b]
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips.
May he cut off every tongue that speaks boastfully,
4 which says, “With our tongues we will establish our power.
We say what we please.[c] Who is lord over us?”
The Pure Words of the Lord
5 “Because of the destruction of the oppressed,
because of the groaning of the poor,
now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will keep him safe from the one who puffs against him.”[d]
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7 You, Lord, will keep them safe.
You will protect them from such people forever.
8 The wicked strut around
when depravity is honored by the children of Adam.
Psalm 13
How Long, O Lord?
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
Anguished Questions
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I experience worries in my soul,
sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy tower over me?
An Urgent Prayer
3 Look at me. Answer me, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes
so I do not sleep in death,
4 so my enemy does not say, “I have overcome him,”
so my foes do not rejoice when I fall.
A Solid Answer
5 But I trust in your mercy.
My heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has accomplished his purpose for me.
Psalm 14
The Fool
(Psalm 53)
Heading
For the choir director. By David.
A Description of the Fool
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt. They do disgusting things.
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all the children of Adam
to see if there is anyone who understands, anyone who seeks God.
3 Every one of them has turned away.
Altogether they have become rotten.
There is no one who does good.
There is not even one.
The Final Fate of the Fool
4 Don’t any of these evildoers understand,
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread?
They do not call on the Lord.
5 There they are! They are terrified
because God is present in the circle of the righteous.
6 You try to put the plans of the poor to shame,
but the Lord is their refuge.
Closing Prayer
7 Who will provide salvation for Israel from Zion?[e]
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
3 Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with Zephaniah son of Ma’aseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah to request, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people, for they had not yet put him into prison. 5 Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah.
7 The Lord, the God of Israel, says to tell this to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me. Be warned. Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will go back to Egypt, to their own land. 8 Then the Chaldeans will return and attack this city. They will capture it and burn it down.
9 The Lord says: “Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely leave us.’ They will not. 10 For even if you would defeat the whole Chaldean army attacking you, and there were only wounded men left who were confined to their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”
11 When the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem to face Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin to claim his share of the property among the people there. 13 But as he arrived at the Benjamin Gate, the sentry who was in charge there, named Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet. He said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”
14 But Jeremiah said, “That is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.”
But Irijah did not listen to him. He seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Angry with Jeremiah, they beat him, and they imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the scribe, because they were using that house as a prison.
16 Jeremiah was kept in a vaulted cistern[a] for a long time. 17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
Jeremiah answered, “There is. He said, ‘You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.’”
18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets now, who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? 20 Now, my lord the king, please listen to me. Let my petition come before you: Please do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”
21 Then Zedekiah the king ordered that Jeremiah be placed in the courtyard of the guard. Every day they gave him a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
13 That is why a person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding[a] is unfruitful. 15 So what is to be done? I will pray using my spirit, and I will pray also using my understanding. I will sing using my spirit, and I will sing also using my understanding. 16 Otherwise, how will an uninformed person[b] say the “Amen” after you give thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 To be sure, you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking, but be like babies in regard to evil, and be mature in your thinking. 21 It is written in the law, “By different tongues and by foreign lips I will speak to this people, and even so, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”[c] 22 Therefore, tongues are a sign meant for unbelievers, not believers, whereas prophecy is for believers, not unbelievers. 23 So if the whole church comes together in the same place and all speak in tongues, and uninformed visitors or unbelievers come in, won’t they say that you are crazy? 24 But if all prophesy and some unbeliever or uninformed visitor comes in, he is reproved by all and judged by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are revealed, and under those circumstances he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring, “God really is among you!”
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor is a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If the master of the house was called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
26 “So do not be afraid of them, because there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?[a] Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without the knowledge and consent of your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
32 “Everyone who confesses me before others, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.