Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 40
Thanksgiving and a Cry for Help
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He turned to me and heard my cry for help.(A)
2 He brought me up from a desolate[a] pit,
out of the muddy clay,(B)
and set my feet on a rock,
making my steps secure.(C)
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.(D)
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.(E)
4 How happy is the man
who has put his trust in the Lord
and has not turned to the proud
or to those who run after lies!(F)
5 Lord my God, You have done many things—
Your wonderful works and Your plans for us;
none can compare with You.
If I were to report and speak of them,
they are more than can be told.(G)
6 You do not delight in sacrifice and offering;
You open my ears to listen.[b]
You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.(H)
7 Then I said, “See, I have come;
it is written about me in the volume of the scroll.(I)
8 I delight to do Your will, my God;(J)
Your instruction lives within me.”[c](K)
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
see, I do not keep my mouth closed[d]—
as You know, Lord.(L)
10 I did not hide Your righteousness in my heart;
I spoke about Your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal Your constant love and truth
from the great assembly.(M)
11 Lord, do not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your constant love and truth will always guard me.(N)
12 For troubles without number have surrounded me;
my sins have overtaken me; I am unable to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my courage leaves me.(O)
13 Lord, be pleased to deliver me;
hurry to help me, Lord.(P)
Psalm 54
Prayer for Deliverance
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”(A)
1 God, save me by Your name,
and vindicate me by Your might!(B)
2 God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth.(C)
3 For strangers rise up against me,
and violent men seek my life.
They have no regard for God.[a](D)
Psalm 51
A Prayer for Restoration
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.(A)
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to Your faithful love;
according to Your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.(B)
2 Wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.(C)
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.(D)
4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in Your sight.(E)
So You are right when You pass sentence;
You are blameless when You judge.(F)
5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.(G)
6 Surely You desire integrity in the inner self,
and You teach me wisdom deep within.(H)
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.(I)
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones You have crushed rejoice.(J)
9 Turn Your face away[a] from my sins
and blot out all my guilt.(K)
10 God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast[b] spirit within me.(L)
11 Do not banish me from Your presence
or take Your Holy Spirit from me.(M)
12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me,
and give me a willing spirit.[c](N)
13 Then I will teach the rebellious Your ways,
and sinners will return to You.(O)
14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God,(P)
the God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.(Q)
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare Your praise.(R)
16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it;
You are not pleased with a burnt offering.(S)
17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is[d] a broken spirit.
God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.(T)
Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem
2 During the month of Nisan[a] in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,(A) when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, 2 so the king said to me, “Why are you[b] sad, when you aren’t sick? This is nothing but depression.”[c](B)
I was overwhelmed with fear 3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I[d] not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”(C)
4 Then the king asked me, “What is your request?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven(D) 5 and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried,[e](E) so that I may rebuild it.”(F)
6 The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time,(G) and it pleased the king to send me.
7 I also said to the king: “If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates River,(H) so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah.(I) 8 And let me have a letter written to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress,(J) the city wall, and the home where I will live.”[f](K) The king granted my requests, for I was graciously strengthened by my God.[g](L)
9 I went to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters.(M) The king had also sent officers of the infantry and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite(N) and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites, they were greatly displeased.(O)
Preparing to Rebuild the Walls
11 After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,(P) 12 I got up at night and took a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took[h] was the one I was riding. 13 I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s[i] Well and the Dung Gate,(Q) and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.(R) 14 I went on to the Fountain Gate(S) and the King’s Pool,(T) but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through. 15 So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then heading back, I entered through the Valley Gate(U) and returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews, priests, nobles, officials, or the rest of those who would be doing the work. 17 So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned down.(V) Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall,(W) so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” 18 I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me,(X) and what the king had said to me.
They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and they were encouraged[j] to do this good work.
19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official,(Y) and Geshem the Arab(Z) heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, “What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I gave them this reply, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”(AA)
The Sixth Seal
12 Then I saw Him open[a] the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth(A) made of goat hair; the entire moon[b] became like blood; 13 the stars[c] of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; 14 the sky separated like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.(B) 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us(C) from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of Their[d] wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”(D)
The Sealed of Israel
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,(E) restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel, who had the seal of the living God rise up from the east. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered[e] to harm the earth and the sea: 3 “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.(A) 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds[a] among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s slaves(B) came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this!’ he told them.
“‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him.
29 “‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn.’”
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