Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption
A Psalm of David.
26 Vindicate (A)me, O Lord,
For I have (B)walked in my integrity.
(C)I have also trusted in the Lord;
I shall not slip.
2 (D)Examine me, O Lord, and [a]prove me;
Try my mind and my heart.
3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And (E)I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not (F)sat with idolatrous mortals,
Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
5 I have (G)hated the assembly of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence;
So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,
7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
And tell of all Your wondrous works.
8 Lord, (H)I have loved the habitation of Your house,
And the place [b]where Your glory dwells.
9 (I)Do[c] not gather my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 In whose hands is a sinister scheme,
And whose right hand is full of (J)bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
12 (K)My foot stands in an even place;
In the congregations I will bless the Lord.
Rejoicing in Answered Prayer
A Psalm of David.
28 To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock:
(A)Do not be silent to me,
(B)Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
(C)When I lift up my hands (D)toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not [a]take me away with the wicked
And with the workers of iniquity,
(E)Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.
4 (F)Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
Give them according to the work of their hands;
Render to them what they deserve.
5 Because (G)they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His hands,
He shall destroy them
And not build them up.
Man’s Wickedness and God’s Perfections
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
36 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:
(A)There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.
3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
(B)He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 (C)He devises wickedness on his bed;
He sets himself (D)in a way that is not good;
He does not [a]abhor (E)evil.
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the [b]great mountains;
(F)Your judgments are a great deep;
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men (G)put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8 (H)They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from (I)the river of Your pleasures.
9 (J)For with You is the fountain of life;
(K)In Your light we see light.
10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been cast down and are not able to rise.
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my (A)tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
2 (B)I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was [a]musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, (C)make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but (D)vapor. Selah
6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they [b]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My (E)hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me (F)the reproach of the foolish.
9 (G)I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was (H)You who did it.
10 (I)Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty (J)melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. Selah
16 (A)Better is a little with the fear of the Lord,
Than great treasure with trouble.
17 (B)Better is a dinner of [a]herbs where love is,
Than a fatted calf with hatred.
18 (C)A wrathful man stirs up strife,
But he who is slow to anger allays contention.
19 (D)The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns,
But the way of the upright is a highway.
20 (E)A wise son makes a father glad,
But a foolish man despises his mother.
21 (F)Folly is joy to him who is destitute of [b]discernment,
(G)But a man of understanding walks uprightly.
22 (H)Without counsel, plans go awry,
But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
25 (L)The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,
But (M)He will establish the boundary of the widow.
26 (N)The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
(O)But the words of the pure are pleasant.
27 (P)He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house,
But he who hates bribes will live.
28 The heart of the righteous (Q)studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
And a good report makes the bones [e]healthy.
Fight the Good Fight
18 This [a]charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are (A)Hymenaeus and (B)Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to (C)blaspheme.
Pray for All Men
2 Therefore I [b]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 (D)for kings and (E)all who are in [c]authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and [d]reverence. 3 For this is (F)good and acceptable in the sight (G)of God our Savior, 4 (H)who desires all men to be saved (I)and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 (J)For there is one God and (K)one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 (L)who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 (M)for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth [e]in Christ and not lying—(N)a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Men and Women in the Church
8 I desire therefore that the men pray (O)everywhere, (P)lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
A Tree Known by Its Fruit(A)
33 “Either make the tree good and (B)its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 (C)Brood[a] of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? (D)For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure [b]of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Scribes and Pharisees Ask for a Sign(E)
38 (F)Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and (G)adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 (H)For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 (I)The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and (J)condemn it, (K)because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 (L)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.