Book of Common Prayer
God Sustains His Servant.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
40 I (A)waited [a]patiently for the Lord;
And He reached down to me and (B)heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the (C)pit of [b]destruction, out of the mud;
And (D)He set my feet on a rock, (E)making my footsteps firm.
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 the Lord.
4 How (H)blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And (I)has not turned to the [c]proud, nor to those who (J)become involved in falsehood.
5 Many, Lord my God, are (K)the wonders which You have done,
And Your (L)thoughts toward us;
There is no one to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They (M)would be too numerous to count.
6 (N)You have not desired [d]sacrifice and meal offering;
You have [e]opened my ears;
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
It is [f]written of me in the scroll of the book.
8 (O)I delight to do Your will, my God;
(P)Your Law is within my [g]heart.”
9 I have (Q)proclaimed good news of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will (R)not restrain my lips,
Lord, (S)You know.
10 I have (T)not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have (U)spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your mercy and Your truth from the great congregation.
11 You, Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
[h]Your (V)mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.
12 For evils beyond number have (W)surrounded me;
My (X)guilty deeds 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, Lord, to rescue me;
(AB)Hurry, Lord, to help me.
14 May those be (AC)ashamed and humiliated together
Who (AD)seek my [j]life to destroy it;
May those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [k]in my hurt.
15 May those (AE)be [l]appalled because of their shame
Who (AF)say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 (AG)May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation continually (AH)say,
“The Lord be exalted!”
17 But (AI)I am afflicted and needy;
(AJ)May the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my savior;
Do not delay, my God.
Prayer for Defense against Enemies.
For the music director; on stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David, [b]when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is David not keeping himself hidden among us?”
54 Save me, God, by (A)Your name,
And [c]vindicate me by (B)Your power.
2 (C)Hear my prayer, God;
(D)Listen to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have (E)risen against me
And (F)violent men have (G)sought my [d]life;
They have (H)not set God before them. Selah
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
For the music 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, God, according to Your faithfulness;
According to the greatness of (B)Your compassion, (C)wipe out my wrongdoings.
2 (D)Wash me thoroughly from my guilt
And (E)cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I (F)know my wrongdoings,
And my sin is constantly before me.
4 (G)Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is (H)evil in Your sight,
So that (I)You [b]are justified [c]when You speak
And [d]blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was (J)brought forth in guilt,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire (K)truth in the [e]innermost being,
And in secret You will (L)make wisdom known to me.
7 [f]Purify me (M)with hyssop, and I will be clean;
[g]Cleanse me, and I will be (N)whiter than snow.
8 [h]Let me hear (O)joy and gladness,
Let the (P)bones You have broken rejoice.
9 (Q)Hide Your face from my sins
And wipe out all my guilty deeds.
10 (R)Create [i]in me a (S)clean heart, God,
And renew 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 wrongdoers Your ways,
And sinners will [j]be (Z)converted to You.
14 Save me from (AA)the guilt of bloodshed, God, (AB)the God of my salvation;
Then my (AC)tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 Lord, [k](AD)open my lips,
So that my mouth may (AE)declare Your praise.
16 For You (AF)do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a (AG)broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.
Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered
2 And it came about in the month Nisan, (A)in the twentieth year of King (B)Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and (C)I picked 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 ill? (D)This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 And I said to the king, “(E)May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad (F)when the city, the [a]site of my fathers’ tombs, is desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “[b]What would you request?” (G)So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, I request that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and (H)I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me (I)for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, so that they will allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s (J)forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of (K)the citadel which is by the [c]temple, 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 Euphrates River and gave them the king’s letters. Now (N)the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 And when (O)Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [d]official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
11 So I (P)came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. 12 And I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my [e]mind 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 Dung Gate, and I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem (R)which were broken down and its (S)gates which had been consumed by fire. 14 Then I passed on to (T)the Fountain Gate and (U)the King’s Pool, but there was no place for [f]my mount to pass. 15 So I was going up at night by the (V)ravine and inspecting the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. 16 However, 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 bad situation we are in, that (W)Jerusalem is desolate and its gates have been burned by fire. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” 18 And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let’s arise and build.” (X)So they put their hands to the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [g]official, and (Y)Geshem the Arab heard about it, (Z)they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? (AA)Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 So I answered them and said to them, “(AB)The God of heaven will make us successful; therefore we His servants will arise and build, (AC)but you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”
The Sixth Seal: Terror
12 And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great (A)earthquake; and the (B)sun became as 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 drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 (F)The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and (G)every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then (H)the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *(I)said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the [a]sight of Him (J)who sits on the throne, and from the (K)wrath of the Lamb; 17 for (L)the great day of Their wrath has come, and (M)who is able to stand?”
An Interlude
7 After this I saw (N)four angels standing at the (O)four corners of the earth, holding back (P)the four winds of the earth (Q)so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending (R)from the rising of the sun, holding the (S)seal of (T)the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the (U)four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “(V)Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have (W)sealed the bond-servants of our God on their (X)foreheads.”
The 144,000
4 And I heard the (Y)number of those who were sealed: (Z)144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
Weeds among Wheat
24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “(A)The kingdom of heaven [a]is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed [b]weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 And when the [c]wheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident. 27 And 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 weeds?’ 28 And he said to them, ‘[e]An 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; while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but (B)gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
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