Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Silent Dove Among Those Far Away.” Of David. A record of memorable thoughts when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample me or devour me; all the day long the adversary oppresses me.
2 They that lie in wait for me would swallow me up or trample me all day long, for they are many who fight against me, O Most High!
3 What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.
4 By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh, do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words and trouble my affairs; all their thoughts are against me for evil and my hurt.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they watch my steps, even as they have [expectantly] waited for my life.
7 They think to escape with iniquity, and shall they? In Your indignation bring down the peoples, O God.
8 You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
9 Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I cry out; this I know, for God is for me.(A)
10 In God, Whose word I praise, in the Lord, Whose word I praise,
11 In God have I put my trust and confident reliance; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
12 Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render praise to You and give You thank offerings.
13 For You have delivered my life from death, yes, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life and of the living.
Psalm 57
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David when he fled from Saul in the cave.
1 Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, be merciful and gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge and finds shelter and confidence in You; yes, in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge and be confident until calamities and destructive storms are passed.
2 I will cry to God Most High, Who performs on my behalf and rewards me [Who brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them]!
3 He will send from heaven and save me from the slanders and reproaches of him who would trample me down or swallow me up, and He will put him to shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! God will send forth His mercy and loving-kindness and His truth and faithfulness.
4 My life is among lions; I must lie among those who are aflame—the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!
6 They set a net for my steps; my very life was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way; into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody.
8 Awake, my glory (my inner self); awake, harp and lyre! I will awake right early [I will awaken the dawn]!
9 I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great, reaching to the heavens, and Your truth and faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth.
Psalm 58
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David.
1 Do you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? [Or is the righteousness, rightness, and justice you should speak quite dumb?] Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.
3 The ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,
5 Which listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.
8 Let them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like [the child to which] a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns [that are placed under them for fuel], He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.
10 The [unyieldingly] righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Men will say, Surely there is a reward for the [uncompromisingly] righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.
Psalm 64
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; guard and preserve my life from the terror of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel and conspiracy of the ungodly, from the scheming of evildoers,
3 Who whet their tongues like a sword, who aim venomous words like arrows,
4 Who shoot from ambush at the blameless man; suddenly do they shoot at him, without self-reproach or fear.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose, they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who will discover us?
6 They think out acts of injustice and say, We have accomplished a well-devised thing! For the inward thought of each one [is unsearchable] and his heart is deep.
7 But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them; and suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 And they will be made to stumble, their own tongues turning against them; all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away.
9 And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.
10 The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise.
Psalm 65
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A song.
1 To You belongs silence (the submissive wonder of reverence which bursts forth into praise) and praise is due and fitting to You, O God, in Zion; and to You shall the vow be performed.
2 O You Who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities and much varied guilt prevail against me; [yet] as for our transgressions, You forgive and purge them away [make atonement for them and cover them out of Your sight]!
4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.
5 By fearful and glorious things [that terrify the wicked but make the godly sing praises] do You answer us in righteousness (rightness and justice), O God of our salvation, You Who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas;
6 Who by [Your] might have founded the mountains, being girded with power,
7 Who still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples,
8 So that those who dwell in earth’s farthest parts are afraid of [nature’s] signs of Your presence. You make the places where morning and evening have birth to shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and saturate it with water; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide them with grain when You have so prepared the earth.
10 You water the field’s furrows abundantly, You settle the ridges of it; You make the soil soft with showers, blessing the sprouting of its vegetation.
11 You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness.
12 The [luxuriant] pastures in the uncultivated country drip [with moisture], and the hills gird themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.
40 Moreover, the Lord said to Job,
2 Shall he who would find fault with the Almighty contend with Him? He who disputes with God, let him answer it.
3 Then Job replied to the Lord:
4 Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand upon my mouth.(A)
5 I have spoken once, but I will not reply again—indeed, twice [have I answered], but I will proceed no further.
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, saying,
7 Gird up your loins now like a man; I will demand of you, and you answer Me.
8 Will you also annul (set aside and render void) My judgment? Will you condemn Me [your God], that you may [appear] righteous and justified?
9 Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 [Since you question the manner of the Almighty’s rule] deck yourself now with the excellency and dignity [of the Supreme Ruler, and yourself undertake the government of the world if you are so wise], and array yourself with honor and majesty.
11 Pour forth the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him;
12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low, and tread down the wicked where they stand [if you are so able, Job].
13 [Bury and] hide them all in the dust together; [and] shut them up [in the prison house of death].
14 [If you can do all this, Job, proving yourself of divine might] then will I [God] praise you also [and acknowledge that] your own right hand can save you.
15 Behold now the behemoth (the hippopotamus), which I created as I did you; he eats grass like an ox.
16 See now, his strength is in his loins, and his power is in the sinews of his belly.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are twisted together [like a rope].
18 His bones are like tubes of bronze; his limbs [or ribs] are like bars of iron.
19 [The hippopotamus] is the first [in magnitude and power] of the works of God [in animal life]; [only] He Who made him provides him with his [swordlike tusks, or only God Who made him can bring near His sword to master him].
20 Surely the mountains bring him food, where all the wild animals play.
21 He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reeds in the marsh.
22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, if a river is violent and overflows, he does not tremble; he is confident, though the Jordan [River] swells and rushes against his mouth.
24 Can any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?
36 And after some time Paul said to Barnabas, Come, let us go back and again visit and help and minister to the brethren in every town where we made known the message of the Lord, and see how they are getting along.
37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark [his near relative].
38 But Paul did not think it best to have along with them the one who had quit and deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.
39 And there followed a sharp disagreement between them, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
40 But Paul selected Silas and set out, being commended by the brethren to the grace (the favor and mercy) of the Lord.
41 And he passed through Syria and Cilicia, establishing and strengthening the churches.
16 And [Paul] went down to Derbe and also to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer [she had become [a]convinced that Jesus is the Messiah and the Author of eternal salvation, and yielded obedience to Him]; but [Timothy’s] father was a Greek.
2 He [Timothy] had a good reputation among the brethren at Lystra and Iconium.
3 Paul desired Timothy to go with him [[b]as a missionary]; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, all of whom knew that his father was a Greek.
4 As they went on their way from town to town, they delivered over [to the assemblies] for their observance the regulations decided upon by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were strengthened and made firm in the faith, and they increased in number day after day.
55 Now the Jewish Passover was at hand, and many from the country went up to Jerusalem in order that they might purify and consecrate themselves before the Passover.
56 So they kept looking for Jesus and questioned among themselves as they were standing about in the temple [[a]area], What do you think? Will He not come to the Feast at all?
57 Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it to them, so that they might arrest Him.
12 So six days before the Passover Feast, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had died and whom He had raised from the dead.
2 So they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at the table with Him.
3 Mary took a pound of ointment of pure liquid nard [a rare perfume] that was very expensive, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the one of His disciples who was about to betray Him, said,
5 Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii [a year’s wages for an ordinary workman] and that [money] given to the poor (the destitute)?
6 Now he did not say this because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief; and having the bag (the money box, the purse of the Twelve), he took for himself what was put into it [pilfering the collections].
7 But Jesus said, Let her alone. It was [intended] that she should keep it for the time of My preparation for burial. [She has kept it that she might have it for the time of My [b]embalming.]
8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation