Book of Common Prayer

38 O Lord, don’t punish me while you are angry! ² Your arrows have struck deep; your blows are crushing me. ^3-4 Because of your anger, my body is sick, my health is broken beneath my sins. They are like a flood, higher than my head; they are a burden too heavy to bear. ^5-6 My wounds are festering and full of pus. Because of my sins, I am bent and racked with pain. My days are filled with anguish. ⁷ My loins burn with inflammation,^[a] and my whole body is diseased. ⁸ I am exhausted and crushed; I groan in despair.^[b]

⁹ Lord, you know how I long for my health once more. You hear my every sigh. ¹⁰ My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind. ¹¹ My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance.

¹² Meanwhile my enemies are trying to kill me. They plot my ruin and spend all their waking hours planning treachery. ^13-14 But I am deaf to all their threats; I am silent before them as a man who cannot speak. I have nothing to say. ¹⁵ For I am waiting for you, O Lord my God. Come and protect me. ¹⁶ Put an end to their arrogance, these who gloat when I am cast down!

¹⁷ How constantly I find myself upon the verge of sin;^[c] this source of sorrow always stares me in the face. ¹⁸ I confess my sins; I am sorry for what I have done. ¹⁹ But my enemies persecute with vigor and continue to hate me—though I have done nothing against them to deserve it. ²⁰ They repay me evil for good and hate me for standing for the right.

²¹ Don’t leave me, Lord; don’t go away! ²² Come quickly! Help me, O my Savior.

²⁵ I am completely discouraged—I lie in the dust. Revive me by your Word. ²⁶ I told you my plans and you replied. Now give me your instructions. ²⁷ Make me understand what you want; for then I shall see your miracles.

²⁸ I weep with grief; my heart is heavy with sorrow; encourage and cheer me with your words. ^29-30 Keep me far from every wrong; help me, undeserving as I am, to obey your laws, for I have chosen to do right. ³¹ I cling to your commands and follow them as closely as I can. Lord, don’t let me make a mess of things. ³² If you will only help me to want your will, then I will follow your laws even more closely.

^33-34 Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey. ³⁵ Make me walk along the right paths, for I know how delightful they really are.

³⁶ Help me to prefer obedience to making money! ³⁷ Turn me away from wanting any other plan than yours.^[a] Revive my heart toward you. ³⁸ Reassure me that your promises are for me, for I trust and revere you.

³⁹ How I dread being mocked for obeying, for your laws are right and good. ^40-42 I long to obey them! Therefore in fairness renew my life, for this was your promise—yes, Lord, to save me! Now spare me by your kindness and your love. Then I will have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust your promises.

⁴³ May I never forget your words, for they are my only hope. ^44-46 Therefore I will keep on obeying you forever and forever, free within the limits of your laws. I will speak to kings about their value, and they will listen with interest and respect.

⁴⁷ How I love your laws! How I enjoy your commands! ⁴⁸ “Come, come to me,” I call to them, for I love them and will let them fill my life.

¹⁸ The names of Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.)^{[a] 19} From these three sons of Noah came all the nations of the earth.

^20-21 Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard, and he made wine. One day as he was drunk and lay naked in his tent, ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and went outside and told his two brothers. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it over their shoulders and, walking backwards into the tent, let it fall across their father to cover his nakedness as they looked the other way. ^24-25 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, and learned what had happened and what Ham, his younger son, had done, he cursed Ham’s descendants:^[b]

^26-27 Then he said,

²⁸ Noah lived another 350 years after the flood ²⁹ and was 950 years old at his death.

6 Let us stop going over the same old ground again and again, always teaching those first lessons about Christ. Let us go on instead to other things and become mature in our understanding, as strong Christians ought to be. Surely we don’t need to speak further about the foolishness of trying to be saved by being good, or about the necessity of faith in God; ² you don’t need further instruction about baptism and spiritual gifts^[a] and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

³ The Lord willing, we will go on now to other things.

⁴ There is no use trying to bring you back to the Lord again if you have once understood the Good News and tasted for yourself the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and know how good the Word of God is, and felt the mighty powers of the world to come, ⁶ and then have turned against God. You cannot bring yourself to repent again if you have nailed the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting him, holding him up to mocking and to public shame.

⁷ When a farmer’s land has had many showers upon it and good crops come up, that land has experienced God’s blessing upon it. ⁸ But if it keeps on having crops of thistles and thorns, the land is considered no good and is ready for condemnation and burning off.

⁹ Dear friends, even though I am talking like this I really don’t believe that what I am saying applies to you. I am confident you are producing the good fruit that comes along with your salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not unfair. How can he forget your hard work for him, or forget the way you used to show your love for him—and still do—by helping his children? ¹¹ And we are anxious that you keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, so that you will get your full reward.

¹² Then, knowing what lies ahead for you, you won’t become bored with being a Christian nor become spiritually dull and indifferent, but you will be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience.

²² Afterwards Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and stayed for a while in Judea and baptized there.

^23-24 At this time John the Baptist was not yet in prison. He was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. ²⁵ One day someone began an argument with John’s disciples, telling them that Jesus’ baptism was best.^{[a] 26} So they came to John and said, “Master, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River—the one you said was the Messiah—he is baptizing too, and everybody is going over there instead of coming here to us.”

²⁷ John replied, “God in heaven appoints each man’s work. ²⁸ My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him. You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him—that is all. ²⁹ The crowds will naturally go to the main attraction^[b]—the bride will go where the bridegroom is! A bridegroom’s friends rejoice with him. I am the Bridegroom’s friend, and I am filled with joy at his success. ³⁰ He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

³¹ “He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! ^33-34 Those who believe him discover that God is a fountain of truth. For this one—sent by God—speaks God’s words, for God’s Spirit is upon him without measure or limit. ³⁵ The Father loves this man because he is his Son, and God has given him everything there is. ³⁶ And all who trust him—God’s Son—to save them have eternal life; those who don’t believe and obey him shall never see heaven, but the wrath of God remains upon them.”