Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31
Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
A Declaration of Confidence
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge.
Petition
Let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me.
2 Turn your ear toward me.
Hurry! Rescue me!
Be a rock where I take refuge,
a fortified place that saves me.
The Basis for Confidence
3 Yes, you are my rocky cliff and my stronghold.
For the sake of your name you will lead me and guide me.
4 You will pull me out of the net that they hid for me,
because you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.
6 I hate those who keep worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy,
because you saw my affliction.
You knew the distress of my soul.
8 You have not left me in the hand of the enemy.
You have made my feet stand in a wide-open space.
The Prayer for Delivery
9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress.
My eye grows weak with sorrow—
my soul and my body too.
10 Yes, my life is consumed by grief,
and my years by groaning.
My strength fails because of my guilt,
and my bones grow weak.
11 Because of all my foes,
I am a disgrace, especially to my neighbors.
I am dreaded by those who know me.
Those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I have been forgotten like a dead man, gone from memory.[a]
I have become like a broken pot.
13 Yes, I hear the slander of many.
There is terror on every side.
When they conspire together against me,
they plot to take my life.
Confident Petition
14 But I—I trust in you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies
and from those who pursue me.
16 Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your mercy.
17 Do not allow me to be put to shame, O Lord,
because I have cried out to you.
But let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them be silent in the grave.[b]
18 Let lying lips be silenced,
those who speak against the righteous
impudently with pride and contempt.
Closing Praise
19 How great is your goodness,
which you store up for those who fear you,
which you deliver for those who take refuge in you
in the presence of the people.
20 You hide them in your presence from the schemes of man.
You conceal them in your shelter from accusing tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
because he made his mercy wonderful for me
when I was in a besieged city.
22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from before your eyes!”
But you heard the sound of my cry for mercy
when I cried out to you.
23 Love the Lord, all his favored ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but he pays back in full the one who acts proudly.
24 Be strong, and let your heart be firm,
all you who wait confidently for the Lord.
Psalm 35
David’s Defender
Heading
By David.
Opening Prayer
1 Lord, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Put on your armor and shield.[a]
Rise up to help me.
3 Wield a spear and block the way[b] of those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
First Petition
4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame.
May those who plot to harm me be turned back and dismayed.
5 May they be like chaff driven by the wind.
May an angel of the Lord drive them away.
6 May their path be dark and slippery.
May an angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 Without cause they hid their net to catch me.
Without cause they dug a pit to trap me.
8 May devastation overtake him before he knows it.
May the net which he hid catch him.
May he fall into it to his own destruction.
First Vow
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord.
It will delight in his salvation.
10 All my bones[c] will say, “Lord, who is like you?
You rescue the poor from the one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from the one who robs him.”
The Attacks of the Wicked
11 Malicious witnesses arise.
They ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me with evil instead of good.
They rob my soul of happiness.
13 But when they were sick, I dressed in sackcloth.
I afflicted myself with fasting.
My prayers returned unanswered.[d]
14 I walked around mourning,
as if mourning for a friend or for my brother.
I bowed down, dirty with ashes,[e]
as though mourning for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they were happy.
They gathered together.
Yes, attackers gathered together against me
though I did not expect it.
They ripped me and were never quiet.
16 Like profane mockers,[f] they gnashed their teeth at me.
Second Petition
17 Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my life from their devastating attacks,
my precious life from these young lions.
Second Vow
18 I will give thanks to you in the great assembly.
In a large crowd I will praise you.
Third Petition
19 Do not let them rejoice over me—
those who are my enemies without cause.
Do not let those who hate me without reason mock me.[g]
20 For they do not speak for peace,
but they devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They also open their mouths wide against me.
They say, “Ha! Ha! We see with our own eyes.”
22 Lord, you have seen all this.
Do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Wake up and rise up to my defense!
My God and Lord, rise to my cause.
24 Judge me according to your righteousness,
O Lord, my God.
Do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Just what we wanted!”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him.”
26 May those who rejoice over my trouble
be put to shame and disgrace.
May those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and contempt.
27 May those who are pleased by my acquittal
shout for joy and be glad.
May they always say, “The Lord is great.
He takes delight in the peace of his servant.”
Third Vow
28 My tongue will report your righteousness
and your praise all day long.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the straight way.
20 Do not be among those who drink too much wine,
or those who eat too much meat,
21 because a drunk and a glutton will become poor,
and drunken stupor dresses a person in rags.
29 Who has trouble? Who has misery?
Who has quarrels? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason? Who has glazed eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go to search for mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32 Later it bites like a snake,
and it strikes like a venomous viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will say senseless things.
34 You will be like someone who tries to sleep in the middle of the sea,
like someone who tries to sleep at the top of a ship’s mast.
35 “They struck me, but I felt no pain.
They beat me, but I was not aware of it.
When will I wake up, so that I can try it again?”
24 Do not envy evil people,
and do not wish to be with them,
2 because their hearts plan violence,
and their lips speak trouble.
Dealing With Elders
17 The elders who lead well should be considered worthy of double honor, especially the ones who work hard in the word and doctrine.[a] 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,”[b] and “The worker is worthy of his pay.”[c] 19 Do not accept an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 20 In the presence of everyone, rebuke the ones who persist in sin, so that the rest may be afraid.
21 I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that you follow these instructions without prejudice, doing nothing out of partiality. 22 Do not lay hands on anyone hastily and do not take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23 Stop drinking just water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent sicknesses.
24 The sins of some people are obvious, going on ahead of them to judgment, but the sins of others follow them there. 25 In the same way, good works are also obvious, and the ones that are not obvious cannot stay hidden.
Mustard Seed and Yeast
31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 It is one of the smallest of seeds. But when it grows, it is larger than the other plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
33 He spoke another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and mixed into a bushel[a] of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds. He did not speak to them without telling a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.[b]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.