Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 26
A Psalm of David.
1 Judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted in the Lord;
I will not slip.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and test me;
try my affections and my heart.
3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
and I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not sat with the worthless,
nor will I go with hypocrites.
5 I have hated the congregation of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence;
thus I will go around Your altar, O Lord,
7 that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all Your wondrous works.
8 Lord, I have loved the refuge of Your house,
and the place where Your honor dwells.
9 Do not gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with murderers,
10 in whose hands is wickedness,
and their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands in an even place;
with the congregations I will bless the Lord.
Psalm 28
A Psalm of David.
1 To You, O Lord, will I cry;
my Rock, do not be silent to me;
lest if You were silent to me,
then I would become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry to You,
when I lift up my hands
toward Your most holy place.
3 Do not draw me away with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity,
who speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds,
and according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
give them according to the work of their hands;
return to them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
nor the work of His hands,
He will destroy them
and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusted in Him, and I was helped;
therefore my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will thank Him.
8 The Lord is the strength of His people,
and He is the saving strength of His anointed.
9 Save Your people,
and bless Your inheritance;
feed them and lift them up forever.
Psalm 36
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.
1 An oracle within my heart
about the transgression of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
2 For they flatter themselves in their own eyes,
that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of their mouth are wickedness and deceit;
they have ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 They devise mischief on their bed;
they set themselves on a path that is not good;
they do not reject evil.
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains,
Your judgments like the great deep;
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore mankind
seeks refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
8 They will drink their fill from the abundance of Your house,
and You will cause them to drink from the river of Your pleasures.
9 For with You is the fountain of life;
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 Do not let the foot of the arrogant come against me,
and do not let the hand of the wicked cause me to wander.
12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
they are cast down and not able to rise.
Psalm 39
For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will take heed of my ways
so that I do not sin with my tongue;
I will keep my mouth muzzled
while the wicked are before me.”
2 I was speechless in silence;
I was silent to no avail,
but my anguish was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
while I was musing, the fire burned,
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know my end,
and what is the measure of my days,
that I may know how transient I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreadth,
and my age is as nothing before You;
indeed every man at his best is as a breath.” Selah
6 Surely every man walks in a mere shadow;
surely he goes as a breath;
he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was speechless, I did not open my mouth,
because You did it.
10 Remove Your blow from me;
I am consumed by the hostility of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct a man for iniquity,
You consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely every man is vapor. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not be silent at my tears,
for I am a stranger with You,
and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Turn Your gaze of displeasure from me, that I may smile,
before I go away and am no more.
15 Then Rahab lowered them by a rope through the window, for her home was set into the wall where she lived. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hill country so that the pursuers do not find you. Hide there three days until the pursuers return. After that, you can go on your way.”
17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath that you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you tie this red cord to the window through which you let us down. You must bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all who belong to your father’s household into your home. 19 Anyone who comes out of the doors of your house into the street is responsible for his own blood, and we will be innocent. Yet for anyone who stays with you inside the house, we are responsible for his blood if someone should lay a hand on him. 20 But if you tell about this business of ours, then we will be released from the oath that you have made us swear.”
21 She said, “Let it be so, according to your words.”
Then she sent them off, and they departed. Then she tied the red cord in the window.
22 They went and came to the hill country. They stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had sought them all along the way but had not found them. 23 So the two men returned. They descended from the hill country. They crossed the river, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that they had discovered. 24 They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands! Indeed, all the inhabitants of the land melt in terror before us.”
13 For I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I may make my kinsmen jealous and may save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the first portion of the dough is holy, the batch is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the root and richness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. If you boast, remember you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. 19 You will say then, “The branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.” 20 This is correct. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God—severity toward those who fell, but goodness toward you, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And these also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
The Parable of the Talents(A)
14 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them. 15 To one he gave five talents,[a] to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his ability. And immediately he took his journey. 16 He who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. 17 So also, he who had received two gained another two. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 He who had received five talents came and brought the other five talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted to me five talents. Look, I have gained five talents more.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your master.’
22 “He who had received two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more talents besides them.’
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your master.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow. 25 So I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
26 “His master answered, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not winnowed. 27 Then you ought to have given my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
28 “ ‘So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.