Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Mercy in Time of Trouble.
For the music director; with stringed instruments, [a]upon an eight-string lyre. A Psalm of David.
6 Lord, (A)do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor discipline me in Your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am (B)frail;
(C)Heal me, Lord, for (D)my bones are horrified.
3 And my (E)soul is greatly horrified;
But You, Lord—(F)how long?
4 Return, Lord, (G)rescue my [b]soul;
Save me because of Your mercy.
5 For (H)there is no [c]mention of You in death;
In [d]Sheol, who will praise You?
God, a Helper against the Treacherous.
For the music director; [a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, for (A)the godly person has come to an end,
For the faithful have disappeared from the sons of mankind.
2 They (B)speak [b]lies to one another;
They speak with [c](C)flattering lips and a double heart.
3 May the Lord cut off all [d]flattering lips,
The tongue that (D)speaks great things;
4 Who (E)have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are [e]our own; who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the (F)devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now (G)I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will (H)put him in the safety for which he longs.”
The Lord Implored to Avenge His People.
94 Lord, God of [a](A)vengeance,
God of [b]vengeance, [c](B)shine forth!
2 (C)Rise up, (D)Judge of the earth,
Pay back retribution (E)to the proud.
3 How long, Lord, shall the wicked—
How long shall the (F)wicked triumph?
4 They pour out words, they (G)speak arrogantly;
All who do injustice (H)boast.
5 They (I)crush Your people, Lord,
And (J)afflict Your inheritance.
6 They (K)kill the widow and the stranger
And murder the orphans.
7 (L)They have said, “[d]The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob perceive.”
8 Pay attention, you (M)stupid ones among the people;
And when will you understand, (N)foolish ones?
9 He who (O)planted the ear, [e]does He not hear?
Or He who formed the eye, [f]does He not see?
10 He who [g](P)disciplines the nations, will He not rebuke,
He who (Q)teaches mankind knowledge?
11 The Lord (R)knows human thoughts,
[h]That they are mere breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom (S)You discipline, [i]Lord,
And (T)whom You teach from Your Law,
13 So that You may grant him (U)relief from the (V)days of adversity,
Until (W)a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For (X)the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He (Y)abandon His inheritance.
15 For [j](Z)judgment [k]will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart [l]will follow it.
16 Who will (AA)stand up for me against evildoers?
Who will take his stand for me (AB)against those who do injustice?
17 If (AC)the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.
18 If I should say, “(AD)My foot has slipped,”
Your faithfulness, Lord, will support me.
19 When my anxious thoughts [m]multiply within me,
Your (AE)comfort delights my soul.
20 Can a [n](AF)throne of destruction be allied with You,
One (AG)which devises [o]mischief by decree?
21 They (AH)band themselves together against the [p]life of the righteous
And (AI)condemn [q]the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has been my (AJ)refuge,
And my God the (AK)rock of my refuge.
23 He has (AL)brought back their injustice upon them,
And He will [r](AM)destroy them in their evil;
The Lord our God will [s]destroy them.
17 Zion (A)stretches out with her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has (B)commanded regarding Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
(C)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (D)righteous,
For I have (E)rebelled against His [a]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And (F)see my pain;
(G)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 I (H)called to my lovers, but they deserted me;
My (I)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to (J)restore their [b]strength themselves.
20 See, Lord, for I am in distress;
My [c](K)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very (L)rebellious.
In the street the sword has made women childless;
In the house it is like death.
21 They have heard that I (M)groan;
There is no one to comfort me,
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
They are (N)joyful that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become (O)like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before You;
And (P)deal with them just as You have dealt with me
For all my wrongdoings.
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
8 For (A)we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our (B)affliction which occurred in [a](C)Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 [b]Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10 who (D)rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He [c](E)on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11 if you also join in (F)helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by (G)many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.
Paul’s Integrity
12 For our [d]proud confidence is this: the testimony of (H)our conscience, that in holiness and (I)godly sincerity, (J)not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. 13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand (K)until the end; 14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on (L)the day of our Lord Jesus.
15 In this confidence I intended at first to (M)come to you, so that you might [e]twice receive a [f](N)blessing; 16 [g]that is, to (O)pass [h]your way into (P)Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be (Q)helped on my journey to Judea. 17 Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I decide, do I decide (R)according to the flesh, so that with me there will be [i]yes, yes and no, no at the same time? 18 But as (S)God is faithful, (T)our word to you is not yes and no. 19 For (U)the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and (V)Silvanus and (W)Timothy—was not yes and no, but has been yes (X)in Him. 20 For (Y)as many as the promises of God are, (Z)in Him they are yes; therefore through Him also is (AA)our Amen to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who (AB)establishes us with you in Christ and (AC)anointed us is God, 22 who also (AD)sealed us and (AE)gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a [j]pledge.
Jesus’ Authority Questioned
27 And they *came again to Jerusalem. (A)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders *came to Him, 28 and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” 29 But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” 31 And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the [a]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. 33 Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”
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