Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. He spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my pillar, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
3 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encircled me,
and the torrents of destruction terrified me.
5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called on the Lord,
and cried for help to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
and my cry for help came before Him to His ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the hills also moved;
they reeled because His anger burned.
8 Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
and fire from His mouth devoured;
coals were kindled by it.
9 He bent the heavens and came down,
and darkness was under His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew;
He flew swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place;
His pavilion was surrounding Him,
dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed by,
hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High gave His voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows and scattered them,
and He shot out lightning and distressed them.
15 Then the channels of waters appeared,
and the foundations of the world were discovered
at Your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He also brought me forth into a large place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
and I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before Him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in His view.
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
with the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 with the pure You will show Yourself pure;
and with the crooked You will show Yourself crooked.
27 For You will save the afflicted people,
but will bring down prideful eyes.
28 For You will cause my lamp to shine;
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can run through a troop,
and by my God I can leap a wall.
30 As for God, His way has integrity;
the word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield
to all those who take refuge in Him.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Or who is a rock besides our God?
32 It is God who clothes me with strength,
and gives my way integrity.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and causes me to stand on my high places.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of Your salvation,
and Your right hand has held me up,
and Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have lengthened my stride under me,
so that my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not return until they were destroyed.
38 I wounded them, and they were not able to rise;
they are fallen under my feet.
39 For You clothed me with strength for the battle;
You subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You gave me the necks of my enemies,
and I destroyed those who hate me.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save them;
even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind;
I cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the hostilities of the people,
and You have made me the head of nations;
a people whom I have not known serve me.
44 At hearing a report, they obey me;
foreigners come cringing to me.
45 Foreigners fade away,
and come quaking out of their prisons.
46 The Lord lives! And blessed be my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me
and subdues the people under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
You lift me up above those who rise up against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing praises to Your name.
50 He gives great deliverance to His king,
and shows lovingkindness to His anointed,
to David and to his descendants for evermore.
Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern
38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jukal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malkijah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying: 2 Thus says the Lord: He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live, for he shall have his life as plunder, and shall live. 3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, and he will capture it.
4 Therefore the officials said to the king, “We beseech you, let this man be put to death, for he thus weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.”
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, “Here he is; he is in your hand; for the king cannot do anything against you.”
6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malkijah the son of Hammelech that was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the cistern there was no water, only mud, so Jeremiah sank in the mud.
7 Now Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin. 8 Ebed-Melek went forth out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, 9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern. And he will die by hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men with you from here and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11 So Ebed-Melek took the men under his authority and went into the house of the king under the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah. 12 Then Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and worn-out rags under your armpits under the cords,” so Jeremiah did accordingly. 13 Then they drew Jeremiah up with cords and took him up out of the cistern, and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
All Things to Be Done in Order
26 How is it then, brothers? When you come together, every one of you has a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, and an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him remain silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 If anything is revealed to another that sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is a command of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Therefore, brothers, eagerly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
Not Peace, but a Sword(A)
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 a man’s foes will be those of his own household.’[a]
37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Rewards(B)
40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, he shall in no way lose his reward.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.