Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 40
I Desire to Do Your Will
(Psalm 40:13-17 parallels Psalm 70)
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For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
Messiah’s Prayer of Thanks
1 I waited and waited for the Lord.
Then he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 Then he pulled me up from the deadly quicksand,
from the mud and muck.
He made my feet stand on a rock to keep my steps from slipping.
3 Then he put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear.
They will trust in the Lord.
4 How blessed is everyone who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud
or to those who turn aside to falsehood.
5 Many are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God.
No one can explain to you all your thoughts for us.[a]
If I try to speak and tell about them,
they are too many to count.
Messiah’s Willing Sacrifice
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
Ears you have opened for me.[b]
You did not ask for burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come.
The book written on a scroll tells about me.
8 My God, I take pleasure in doing your will.
Your law[c] is in my heart.”
Messiah’s Preaching of Good News
9 I preach righteousness in the great assembly.
Indeed, I do not hold back my lips, O Lord, as you know.
10 I do not conceal your righteousness deep in my heart.
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not hide your mercy and your truth from the great assembly.
Messiah’s Prayer in Distress
11 Lord, you do not hold back your compassion from me.
Let your mercy and your truth always protect me,
12 although troubles without number surround me.
Punishments for my guilt have smothered me, so I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head, so my courage deserts me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to save me.
Lord, hurry to help me.
14 Let all who seek to end my life be frustrated and completely confused.[d]
Let everyone who desires my ruin be turned back and disgraced.
15 Let those who say to me, “Aha! We got you!” be dismayed,
because they have been put to shame.
16 But let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation always say,
“The Lord is great!”
17 Yet I am poor and needy.
May the Lord think about me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 54
Ruthless Men Seek My Life
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
A maskil by David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself with us?”[a]
The Plea
1 God, save me by your name.
By your power judge me justly.
2 God, hear my prayer.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
The Problem
3 For strangers have risen up against me.
Ruthless men seek my life. Interlude
They pay no attention to God.
The Solution
4 Indeed, God is my helper.
The Lord is the one who preserves my life.
5 Let evil return on those who oppress me.
In your faithfulness destroy them.
The Outcome
6 I will sacrifice willingly to you.
I will praise your name, O Lord, because it is good.
7 Surely, from all my distress he has delivered me.
My eyes have looked down on my enemies.
Psalm 51
Cleanse Me From My Sin
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For the choir director. A psalm by David.
When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.[a]
David’s Plea for Forgiveness
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to your mercy.
Erase my acts of rebellion
according to the greatness of your compassion.
2 Scrub me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
David’s Confession
3 For I admit my rebellious acts.
My sin is always in front of me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and I have done this evil in your eyes.
So you are justified when you sentence me.
You are blameless when you judge.
5 Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
David’s Need for Renewal
6 Since you desire truth on the inside,
in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.
7 Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness.
Let the bones you have crushed celebrate.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Erase all my guilty deeds.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God.
Renew an unwavering spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence.
Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Sustain me with a willing spirit.
David’s Pledge of Renewed Service
13 I will teach rebels your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
the God who saves me.
My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it.
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit.
A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
David’s Prayer for the People
18 As it pleases you, do good for Zion.
Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices,
burnt offerings and whole offerings.
Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.
Job’s Soliloquy[a]
The Happiness of the Good Old Days
29 Job resumed his discourse. He said:
24 If I placed my confidence in gold,
and if I said to pure gold, “You are my security,”
25 if I rejoiced because I was so rich
and because my hand had obtained so much,
26 if I saw the shining sun and the moon moving in its splendor,
27 if my heart was gullible enough to worship them in secret,
and I kissed my hand to honor them,
28 that would have made me guilty and deserving of judgment,
for I would have denied God above.
29 If I rejoiced at the misfortune of someone who hates me,
or I was thrilled because trouble caught up with him—
30 but no, I have not savored sin by asking for a curse on his life.
31 Did the men in my tent ever have to say
that there was someone who had not been filled with meat from Job?[a]
32 No stranger ever had to spend the night outside.
I have opened my door to the traveler.
33 If I had covered up my sin like Adam,[b]
and I had hidden my guilt in my heart,
34 because I was frightened of the crowd,
and the contempt of the clans filled me with terror,
so that I was silent and I did not go out of a door—
35 Oh how I wish I had someone to listen to me!
Look, here is my seal on my testimony.
Let the Almighty answer me!
Let me see the written indictment from my accuser.
36 I would lift it up on my shoulder.
I would place it on my head as a crown.
37 I would account to him for every single step.
I would approach him like the chief of a tribe.
38 If my soil cries out against me,
and its furrows weep because of me,
39 if I have consumed its wealth without paying for it,
if I have caused the death of its owners,
40 then let a thorn bush grow up instead of wheat,
and stinkweeds instead of barley.
The words of Job are concluded.
12 The whole assembly fell silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul, who reported all the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
13 After they finished speaking, James responded, “Gentlemen, brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has reported how God for the first time has visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:
16 After these things I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,
17 so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord—
even all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does these things.[a]
18 “Long ago he made these things known. 19 So it is my judgment that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient times Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, since he is being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
30 Now Jesus had not yet gone into the village, but was still where Martha met him. 31 The Jews who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw that she got up quickly and left. So they followed her, supposing[a] she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.
34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone.
Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.