Book of Common Prayer
Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God.
Aleph
119 Blessed are those whose way is [a](A)blameless,
Who (B)walk in the Law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who (C)comply with His [b]testimonies,
And (D)seek Him (E)with all their heart.
3 They also (F)do no injustice;
They walk in His ways.
4 You have [c](G)ordained Your precepts,
[d]That we are to keep them diligently.
5 Oh that my (H)ways may be established
To (I)keep Your statutes!
6 Then I (J)will not be ashamed
When I look at all Your commandments.
7 I will (K)give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
Do not utterly (L)abandon me!
Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By (M)keeping it according to Your word.
10 With (N)all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me (O)wander from Your commandments.
11 I have (P)treasured Your word in my heart,
So that I may not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Lord;
(Q)Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have (R)told of
All the (S)ordinances of Your mouth.
14 I have (T)rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
[e]As much as in all riches.
15 I will (U)meditate on Your precepts
And [f]regard (V)Your ways.
16 I shall [g](W)delight in Your statutes;
I will (X)not forget Your word.
Gimel
17 (Y)Deal generously with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wonderful things from Your Law.
19 I am a (Z)stranger on the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul is crushed [h](AA)with longing
For Your ordinances at all times.
21 You (AB)rebuke the arrogant, [i]the (AC)cursed,
Who (AD)wander from Your commandments.
22 (AE)Take disgrace and contempt away from me,
For I (AF)comply with Your testimonies.
23 Even though (AG)rulers sit and speak against me,
Your servant (AH)meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my (AI)delight;
They are [j]my advisers.
God, a Helper against the Treacherous.
For the music director; [a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, for (A)the godly person has come to an end,
For the faithful have disappeared from the sons of mankind.
2 They (B)speak [b]lies to one another;
They speak with [c](C)flattering lips and a double heart.
3 May the Lord cut off all [d]flattering lips,
The tongue that (D)speaks great things;
4 Who (E)have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are [e]our own; who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the (F)devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now (G)I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will (H)put him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The (I)words of the Lord are pure words;
Like silver (J)refined in a furnace on the ground, filtered seven times.
7 You, Lord, will keep them;
You will (K)protect him from this generation forever.
8 The (L)wicked strut about on every side
When [f](M)vileness is exalted among the sons of mankind.
Prayer for Help in Trouble.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, Lord? Will You (N)forget me forever?
How long (O)will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long am I to (P)feel anxious in my soul,
With (Q)grief in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 (R)Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
(S)Enlighten my eyes, or I will (T)sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will (U)say, “I have overcome him,”
And (V)my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
5 But I have (W)trusted in Your faithfulness;
My heart shall (X)rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will (Y)sing to the Lord,
Because He has (Z)looked after me.
Foolishness and Wickedness of People.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
14 The fool has (AA)said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts;
There is (AB)no one who does good.
2 The Lord has (AC)looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind
To see if there are any who [g](AD)understand,
Who (AE)seek God.
3 They have all (AF)turned aside, together they are corrupt;
There is (AG)no one who does good, not even one.
3 Yet (A)King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and (B)the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “(C)Please pray to the Lord our God in our behalf.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still coming and going among the people, for they had not yet (D)put him in prison. 5 Meanwhile, (E)Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they (F)withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 7 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘(G)This is what you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, (H)Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt. 8 Then the Chaldeans will (I)return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.”’ 9 This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not (J)deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will certainly go away from us,” for they will not go. 10 For (K)even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and (L)burn this city with fire.’”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11 Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 that Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to (M)take [a]possession of some property there among the people. 13 While he was at the (N)Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he (O)arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” 14 But Jeremiah said, “(P)A lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Then the officials were (Q)angry at Jeremiah and they beat him, and (R)put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it into the prison. 16 For Jeremiah had come into the [b](S)dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
17 Now King Zedekiah sent men and took him out; and in his palace the king (T)secretly asked him and said, “Is there a (U)word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be (V)handed over to the king of Babylon!” 18 Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “(W)In what way have I sinned against you, or your servants, or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 And (X)where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The (Y)king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20 But now, please listen, my lord the king; please let my (Z)plea [c]come before you and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so that I will not die there.” 21 Then King Zedekiah gave a command, and they placed Jeremiah in custody in the (AA)courtyard of the guardhouse, and gave him a loaf of (AB)bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was (AC)gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue is to pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. 15 (A)What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will (B)sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the mind also. 16 For otherwise, if you bless God [a]in the spirit only, how will the one who occupies the place of the [b]outsider know to say (C)the “Amen” at your (D)giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you are saying? 17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not (E)edified. 18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 nevertheless, in church I prefer to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Instruction for the Church
20 (F)Brothers and sisters, (G)do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil (H)be infants, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In (I)the [c]Law it is written: “(J)By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. 22 So then, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but (K)prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church gathers together and all the people speak in tongues, and [d]outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that (L)you are insane? 24 But if all (M)prophesy, and an unbeliever or an [e]outsider enters, he is (N)convicted by all, he is called to account by all; 25 (O)the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will (P)fall on his face and worship God, (Q)declaring that God is certainly among you.
The Meaning of Discipleship
24 “(A)A [a]disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he may become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. (B)If they have called the head of the house [b](C)Beelzebul, how much more will they insult the members of his household!
26 “So do not (D)fear them, (E)for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 (F)What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim (G)on the housetops. 28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather (H)fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in [c](I)hell. 29 (J)Are two sparrows not sold for an [d]assarion? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But (K)even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not fear; (L)you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.
32 “Therefore, (M)everyone who [e]confesses Me before people, I will also confess [f]him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But (N)whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
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