Book of Common Prayer
The One Who Rescues Me
For the choir director. Of David. A Psalm.
40 I (A)hoped [a]earnestly for Yahweh;
And He inclined to me and (B)heard my cry for help.
2 He brought me up out of the (C)pit of destruction, out of the [b]miry clay,
And (D)He set my feet upon a high rock, (E)He established my steps.
3 He put a (F)new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will (G)see and fear
And will trust in Yahweh.
4 How (H)blessed is the man who has made Yahweh his trust,
And (I)has not [c]turned to the proud, nor to those who (J)stray into falsehood.
5 Many, O Yahweh my God, are (K)the wondrous deeds You have done,
And Your (L)thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
I would declare and speak of them,
But they (M)are too numerous to recount.
6 [d](N)Sacrifice and meal offering [e]You have not desired;
My ears You have [f]opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is [g]written of me.
8 (O)I desire to do Your will, O my God;
(P)Your law is within my inner being.”
9 I (Q)proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly;
Behold, I do (R)not restrain my lips,
O Yahweh, (S)You know.
10 I do (T)not conceal Your righteousness within my heart;
I (U)speak of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I do not hide Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.
11 You, O Yahweh, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
[h]Your (V)lovingkindness and Your truth will continually guard me.
12 For evils beyond number have (W)surrounded me;
My (X)iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are (Y)more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my (Z)heart has [i]failed me.
13 (AA)Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me;
Make (AB)haste, O Yahweh, to help me.
14 Let those be (AC)ashamed and humiliated together
Who (AD)seek my [j]life to sweep it away;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in [k]evil against me.
15 Let those (AE)be [l]appalled because of their shame
Who (AF)say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 (AG)Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation (AH)say continually,
“Yahweh be magnified!”
17 As for me, (AI)I am afflicted and needy,
[m](AJ)May the Lord think of me.
You are my help and the One who rescues me;
Do not delay, O my God.
God Is My Helper
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David. [b]When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
54 O God, save me by (A)Your name,
And render justice to me by (B)Your might.
2 (C)O God, hear my prayer;
(D)Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have (E)risen against me
And (F)ruthless men have (G)sought my [c]life;
They have (H)not set God before them. [d]Selah.
Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God
For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When [a]Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 (A)Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the abundance of (B)Your compassion (C)blot out my transgressions.
2 (D)Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And (E)cleanse me from my sin.
3 For [b]I (F)know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4 (G)Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is (H)evil in Your sight,
So that (I)You [c]are justified [d]when You speak
And pure when You judge.
5 Behold, I was (J)brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You delight in (K)truth in the [e]innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will (L)make me know wisdom.
7 [f]Purify me (M)with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
[g]Wash me, and I shall be (N)whiter than snow.
8 [h]Make me to hear (O)joy and gladness,
Let the (P)bones which You have crushed rejoice.
9 (Q)Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 (R)Create [i]in me a (S)clean heart, O God,
And renew [j]a (T)steadfast spirit within me.
11 (U)Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your (V)Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the (W)joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a (X)willing spirit.
13 Then I will (Y)teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will [k]be (Z)converted to You.
14 Deliver me from (AA)bloodguiltiness, O God, (AB)the God of my salvation;
Then my (AC)tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, [l](AD)open my lips,
That my mouth may (AE)declare Your praise.
16 For You (AF)do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a (AG)broken spirit;
A broken and a [m]contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
God’s Hand Was on Nehemiah
2 Now it happened in the month Nisan, (A)in the twentieth year of King (B)Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and (C)I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? (D)This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “(E)Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad (F)when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” (G)So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, “If it is good for the king, and if your servant is good before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it was good to the king to send me, and (H)I gave him a set time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given me (I)for the governors of the provinces beyond the [a]River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s (J)forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of (K)the fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because (L)the good hand of my God was on me.
9 Then I came to (M)the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now (N)the king had sent with me commanders of the military force and horsemen. 10 Then (O)Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [b]official heard about it, and it was a very great evil to them that someone had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
11 So I (P)came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem; and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. 13 So I went out at night by (Q)the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Spring and on to the [c]Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem (R)which were broken down and its (S)gates which were consumed by fire. 14 Then I passed on to (T)the Spring Gate and (U)the King’s Pool, but there was no place for [d]my animal to pass. 15 So I went up at night by the (V)ravine and inspected the wall. Then I turned and entered the Valley Gate and turned around. 16 Now the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who were doing the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the calamity we are in, that (W)Jerusalem lies waste and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.” 18 And I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king’s words which he had said to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” (X)So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19 But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [e]official and (Y)Geshem the Arab heard it. And (Z)they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? (AA)Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 So I responded to them with a word and said to them, “(AB)The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, (AC)but you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem.”
12 Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great (A)earthquake; and the (B)sun became black as (C)sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and (D)the stars of the sky fell to the earth, (E)as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 (F)And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and (G)every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then (H)the kings of the earth and the great men and the [a]commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man (I)hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *(J)said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the [b]presence of Him (K)who sits on the throne, and from the [c](L)wrath of the Lamb, 17 for (M)the great (N)day of their [d]wrath has come, and (O)who is able to stand?”
The 144,000
7 After this I saw (P)four angels standing at the (Q)four corners of the earth, holding back (R)the four winds of the earth, (S)so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending (T)from the rising of the sun, having the (U)seal of (V)the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the (W)four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “(X)Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have (Y)sealed the slaves of our God on their (Z)foreheads.”
4 And I heard the (AA)number of those having been sealed, (AB)144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
The Parable of Tares Among Wheat
24 He presented another parable to them, saying, “(A)The kingdom of heaven [a]may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed [b]tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the [c]wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? [d]How then does it have tares?’ 28 And he said to them, ‘An [e]enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but (B)gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
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