Book of Common Prayer
Davidic[a]
A Prayer for Help and Forgiveness
25 I will lift up my soul to you, Lord.
2 I trust in you, my God,
do not let me be ashamed;
do not let my enemies triumph over me.
3 Indeed, no one who waits on you will be ashamed,
but those who offend for no reason will be put to shame.
4 Cause me to understand your ways, Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me;
for you are the God who delivers me.
All day long I have waited for you.
6 Remember, Lord, your tender mercies and your gracious love;
indeed, they are eternal!
7 Do not remember my youthful sins and transgressions;
but remember me in light of your gracious love,
in light of your goodness, Lord.
8 The Lord is good and just;
therefore he will teach sinners concerning the way.
9 He will guide the humble[b] to justice;
he will teach the humble[c] his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord lead to gracious love and truth
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.[d]
11 For the sake of your name,[e] Lord,
forgive my sin, for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?
God[f] will teach him the path he should choose.
13 He[g] will experience good things;
his descendants will inherit the earth.
14 The intimate counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him
so they may know his covenant.
15 My eyes look to the Lord continuously,
because he’s the one who releases my feet from the trap.[h]
16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me,
for I am lonely and oppressed.
17 The troubles of my heart have increased;
bring me out of my distress!
18 Look upon my distress and affliction;
forgive all my sins.
19 Look how many enemies I have gained!
They hate me with a vicious hatred.
20 Preserve my life and deliver me;
do not let me be ashamed,
because I take refuge in you.
21 Integrity and justice will preserve me,
because I wait on you.
22 Redeem Israel, God, from all its troubles.
To the Director: Accompanied by female voices.[a] A Davidic Psalm.
A Cry for God’s Justice
9 [b]I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
I will declare all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praises to your name, Most High!
3 When my enemies turn back,
they will stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have brought about justice for me and my cause;
you sit on the throne judging righteously.
5 You rebuked the nations,
you destroyed the wicked,
you wiped out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy has perished,
reduced to ruins forever.
You uprooted their cities,
the very memory of them vanished.
7 But the Lord sits on his throne[c] forever;
his throne is established for judgment.
8 He will judge the world righteously
and make just decisions for the people.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress.
10 Those who know your name will trust you,
for you have not forsaken those who seek you, Lord.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion;
declare his mighty deeds among the peoples.
12 As an avenger of blood, he remembers them;
he has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.
13 Be gracious to me, Lord,
take note of my affliction,
because of those who hate me.
You snatch me away from the gates of death,
14 so I may declare everything for which you should be praised[d]
in the gates of the daughter of Zion,[e]
so I will rejoice in your deliverance.
15 The nations have sunk down into the pit they made,
their feet are ensnared in the trap[f] they set.
16 The Lord has made himself known,
executing judgment.
The wicked are ensnared
by what their hands have made.
17 The wicked will turn back to where the dead are[h]—
all the nations that have forgotten God.
18 For he will not always overlook the plight of the poor,
nor will the hope of the afflicted perish forever.
19 Rise up, Lord,
do not let man prevail!
The nations will be judged in your presence.
20 Make them afraid, Lord,
Let the nations know that they are only human.[i]
A Davidic Psalm.
Welcomed into God’s Presence
15 Lord, who may stay in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
2 The one who lives with integrity,
who does righteous deeds,
and who speaks truth to himself.
3 The one who does not slander with his tongue,
who does no evil to his neighbor,
and who does not destroy his friend’s reputation.
4 The one who despises those who are utterly wicked,
but who honors the one who fears the Lord,
who keeps his word even when it hurts and does not change,
5 who does not loan his money with interest,
and who does not take a bribe against those who are innocent.
The one who does these things will stand firm[a] forever.
The Vision of the Sealing of 144,000 People
7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 I saw another angel coming from the east having the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the land and sea, 3 “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”
4 I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, and 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
A Samaritan Village Refuses to Welcome Jesus
51 When the days grew closer for Jesus[a] to be taken up to heaven,[b] he was determined to continue his journey to Jerusalem. 52 So he sent messengers on ahead of him. On their way they went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. 53 But the people[c] would not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John observed this rejection,[d] they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”[e] 55 But he turned and rebuked them,[f] 56 and they all[g] went on to another village.
The Would-be Followers of Jesus(A)
57 While they were walking along the road, a man told him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus told him,
59 He told another man, “Follow me.”
But he said, “Lord,[j] first let me go and bury my father.”
60 But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to those at home.”
62 Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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