Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5
With You the Wicked Cannot Dwell
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For the choir director. For flutes. A psalm by David.
Access in Prayer
1 Turn your ear to my words, O Lord.
Understand me when I sigh.
2 Pay attention to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
In the morning I lay out my requests in front of you,
and I watch for your answer.
No Access
4 For you are not a God who takes pleasure in evil.
With you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand before your eyes.
You hate all evildoers.
6 You put to death those who speak lies.
The Lord is disgusted with bloodthirsty, deceitful men.
Access in Prayer
7 But as for me, by your great mercy
I will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
with reverence for you.
8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness.
Because of those who slander me,
make your way straight before me.
Lying Tongues
9 Nothing reliable comes out of their mouth.
From within them comes destruction.
Their throat is an open grave.
With their tongue they flatter.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let them fall because of their own schemes.
For their many treacherous deeds banish them,
because they have rebelled against you.
Praising Tongues
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad.
Let them sing for joy forever.
You cover them with protection,
so those who love your name rejoice in you.
12 Yes, you bless the righteous, Lord.
You surround them with your favor as a shield.
Psalm 6
Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
According to sheminith.[a] A psalm by David.
Anxious Prayer
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Do not discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am fading away.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are trembling,
3 and my soul is terrified.
But you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul.
Save me because of your mercy.
5 For in death no one remembers you.
In the grave who praises you?
6 I am worn out from my groaning.
I flood my bed all night long.
With my tears I drench my couch.
7 My eyes are blurred by sorrow.
They are worn out because of all my foes.
Confident Trust
8 Turn away from me, all you evildoers,
because the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord accepts my prayer.
10 They will be put to shame.
All my enemies will be terrified.
They will turn back.
They will be put to shame in an instant.
Psalm 10
Break the Arm of the Wicked Man
An Opening Appeal for Action
1 Why, Lord, do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide in times of distress?
A Portrait of the Wicked
2 Because of the pride of the wicked, the oppressed burn.[a]
They are caught in the schemes that the wicked plan.
3 Yes, the wicked man boasts about his heart’s desires.
He blesses the robber. He despises the Lord.[b]
4 With his nose in the air, the wicked does not seek God.
There is no room at all for God in his thoughts.
5 His ways are prosperous all the time.
He is haughty. Your judgments do not concern him.
He snorts at all of his foes.
6 He says in his heart, “I will not be shaken.
Through age after age I will have no trouble.”
7 Cursing fills his mouth, along with lies and threats.
Trouble and evil lie under his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush by the villages.
In hidden places he murders the innocent.
His eyes are spying on the helpless.
9 He lies in ambush. He hides like a lion in a thicket.
He lies in ambush to catch the oppressed.
He catches the oppressed by dragging them in his net.
10 The helpless are crushed. They sink down.
They fall under his strength.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.
He hides his face. He never sees.”
An Appeal for Divine Justice
12 Rise up, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why does the wicked man despise God?
Why does he say in his heart,
“You do not seek justice”?
14 But you do see. You notice trouble and grief.
You take it into your own hands.
The helpless one abandons himself to you.
For the fatherless you are indeed a helper.
15 Break the arm of the wicked.
You pursue the wickedness of the evil man
until you find no more.[c]
Confidence in Divine Justice
16 The Lord is King forever and ever.
The nations will perish from his land.
17 Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted.
You strengthen their hearts,
and your ear pays attention,
18 to obtain justice for the fatherless and the crushed,
so that the worldly man[d] may no longer terrify.
Psalm 11
Faith, Not Flight
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For the choir director. By David.
The Fear of the Fainthearted
1 In the Lord I take refuge.
How can you say to my soul:
“Flee to your mountain like a bird.
2 Look! The wicked bend their bow.
They set their arrow against the string
to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart.
3 When the foundations are being torn down,
what can the righteous do?”
David’s Answer
4 The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord is on his throne in heaven.
His eyes observe.
He focuses on[e] the children of Adam.[f]
5 The Lord is righteous.
He examines the wicked.
He really hates[g] those who love violence.
6 On the wicked he will rain down fiery coals and sulfur.[h]
A scorching wind will be the cup given to them.
7 Indeed, the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness.
The upright will view his face.
Towns for the Levites
35 The Lord spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:
2 Command the people of Israel to give the Levites cities[a] to live in from the territory assigned to them as their possession. They will also give the Levites the pasturelands around those cities. 3 The Levites will then have cities to live in. Their pasturelands will be for their cattle, their flocks and herds, and all their other animals.
Cities of Refuge
9 The Lord told Moses 10 to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:
When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 you are to designate some cities to be cities of refuge for yourselves, so that a person who has killed someone by taking someone’s life unintentionally may flee there. 12 The cities will serve as a refuge for you from the avenger,[a] so that a person who has killed someone will not die until he stands trial before the community. 13 The cities which you will set aside will serve as the six cities of refuge for you. 14 You are to set aside three cities east of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They will serve as cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for Israelites, for resident aliens, and for temporary residents living among them so that everyone who has taken someone’s life unintentionally may flee there.
30 Everyone who has taken someone’s life is to be put to death as a murderer on the testimony of witnesses, but no one is to die on the testimony of only one witness.
31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, because he must certainly be put to death.
32 You are not to accept a ransom for the one who has fled to a city of refuge in order to allow him to return to live in his land before the death of the priest.
33 So you are not to pollute the land where you are, because bloodshed pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land where blood has been shed except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You are not to defile the land in which you are living, where I am dwelling in its midst, for I, the Lord, am dwelling in the midst of the people of Israel.
Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love
31 What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?
33 Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus,[a] who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! 35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 Just as it is written:
For your sake we are being put to death all day long.
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.[b]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors[c] through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Woes and Warnings
13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven right in front of people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor do you permit those who are trying to enter to do so.[a] 15 Woe to you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel the sea and the land to make one convert, and then when he is converted, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ 17 You blind fools! After all, which is greater: the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’ 19 You blind men! After all, which is greater: the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it. 21 Also, whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven, swears by God’s throne and by him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give ten percent of your mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. You should have done these things and not failed to do the other things. 24 Blind guides, you strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of a cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish so that the outside may become clean too.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.