Book of Common Prayer
A Davidic Psalm for the dedication of the Temple.
Thanksgiving for Deliverance
30 I exalt you, Lord,
for you have lifted me up,
and my enemies could not gloat over me.
2 Lord, my God!
I cried out to you for help
and you healed me.
3 Lord, you brought me from death;[a]
you kept me alive so that I did not descend into the Pit.[b]
4 You, his godly ones,
sing to the Lord,
give thanks at the mention of his holiness.
5 For his wrath is only momentary;
yet his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may lodge for the night,
but shouts of joy will come in the morning.
6 As for me,
I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”
7 By your favor, Lord,
you established me as a strong mountain;
Then you hid your face,
and I was dismayed.
8 I cried out to you, Lord,
and I make supplication to the Lord:
9 “What profit is there in my death[c] if I go down to the Pit?[d]
Can dust worship you?
Can it proclaim your faithfulness?”
10 Hear me, Lord,
and have mercy on me!
Lord, help me!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with a garment of joy,
12 so that I may sing praise to you
and not remain silent.
Lord, my God,
I will give you thanks forever!
A Davidic instruction.[a]
The Blessings of Forgiveness
32 How blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 How blessed is the person against whom the Lord does not charge iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent about my sin,[b]
my body[c] wasted away
by my groaning all day long.
4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night;
my strength was exhausted
as in a summer drought.
5 My sin I acknowledged to you;
my iniquity I did not hide.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave the guilt of my sin!
6 Therefore every godly person should pray to you at such a time.[d]
Surely a flood of great waters will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will deliver me from trouble
and surround me with shouts of deliverance.
8 I will instruct you and teach you
concerning the path you should walk;
I will direct you with my eye.
9 Don’t be like a horse or mule,
without understanding.
They are held in check by a bit and bridle in their mouths;
otherwise they will not remain near you.
10 The wicked have many sorrows,
but gracious love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11 Righteous ones, be glad in the Lord and rejoice!
Shout for joy, all of you who are upright in heart!
BOOK II (Psalms 42-72)
To the Director: An instruction[a] of the Sons of Korah.
Hope in God When Times of Trouble Come
42 As an antelope pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When may I come and appear in God’s presence?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while people[b] keep asking me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I will recall as I pour out my troubles[c] within me:
I used to go with the crowd in a procession to the house of God,
accompanied with shouts of joy and thanksgiving.
5 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
for once again I will praise him,
since his presence saves me.
6 My God, my soul feels depressed[d] within me;
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
from the heights of Hermon,
even from the foothills.[e]
7 Deep waters call out to what is deeper still;[f]
at the roar of your waterfalls
all your breakers and your waves swirled over me.
8 By day the Lord will command his gracious love,
and by night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will ask God, my Rock, “Why have you forsaken me?
Why do I go around mourning under the enemy’s oppression?”
10 Like the shattering of my bones are the taunts of my oppressors,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
for once again I will praise him,
since his presence saves me
and he is my God.
God is my Hope during Times of Trouble
43 [g]You be my judge,[h] God,
and plead my case against an unholy nation;
rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 Since you are the God who strengthens me,
why have you forsaken me?
Why do I go around mourning under the enemy’s oppression?”
3 Send forth your light and your truth
so they may guide me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain and to your dwelling places.[i]
4 Then I will approach the altar of God,
even to God in whom my joy finds its source.[j]
Then I will praise you with the lyre,
God, my God,
5 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God,
because I will praise him once again,
since his presence saves me
and he is my God.
Isaiah’s Son is Born
8 The Lord also told me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus[a] pen, ‘For Maher-shalal-hash-baz’.[b] 2 Then I will call[c] Uriah the priest and Jeberechiah’s son Zechariah as reliable witnesses to testify on my behalf.”
3 After this, I was intimate with the prophetess and she conceived. Later, she bore a son, and then the Lord told me,[d] “Call him[e] ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’ 4 for before the young lad knows how to call out to his father or mother,[f] the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
Invasion by Assyria
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people have rejected the gently-flowing waters of Shiloah, and because[g] they keep rejoicing in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, 7 watch out! The Lord God[h] is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates[i] River against them, mighty and strong.[j]
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. 8 He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters[k] reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”
9 “Band together,[l] you peoples,
but be shattered!
Listen, all you distant countries!
Strap on your armor,
but be shattered.[m]
10 Take counsel together,
but it will all be for nothing;
go ahead and talk,
but[n] it will all be for nothing,[o]
for God is with us.”[p]
Waiting on God
11 For[q] this is what the Lord spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:[r]
12 “Don’t call conspiracy everything
that this people calls conspiracy,
and don’t fear what they fear,
or live in terror.
13 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies—
he’s the one you are to regard as holy.
Let him be the one whom you fear,
and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror!
14 Then he will be a sanctuary,
but for both houses of Israel
he’ll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself,
a rock one stumbles over,
a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble on them;
They’ll fall and be broken;
They’ll be snared and captured.
6 In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[a] we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is living in idleness[b] and not living[c] according to the tradition that they received[d] from us. 7 For you yourselves know what you must do to imitate us. We never lived in idleness[e] among you. 8 We did not eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, with toil and labor we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you. 9 It is not as though we did not have that right, but we wanted[f] to give you an example to follow. 10 While we were with you, we gave this order: “If anyone doesn’t want to work, he shouldn’t eat.”
11 We hear that some of you are living in idleness.[g] You are not busy working[h]—you are busy interfering[i] in other people’s lives! 12 We order and encourage such people by the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[j] to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers, do not get tired of doing what is right.
14 If anyone does not obey what we say[k] in this letter, take note of him. Have nothing to do with him so that he will feel ashamed. 15 Yet, don’t treat him like an enemy, but warn[l] him like a brother. 16 Now may the Lord of peace give you his peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with all of you.
Final Greeting
17 I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine. It is the way I write. 18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[m] be with all of you. Amen.[n]
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial(A)
31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail. When you have come back, you must strengthen your brothers.”
33 Peter[a] told him, “Lord, I am ready to go even to prison and to die with you!”
34 But Jesus[b] said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.”
Be Prepared for Trouble
35 Then Jesus[c] asked his disciples,[d] “When I sent you out without a wallet, traveling bag, or sandals, you didn’t lack anything, did you?”
They replied, “Nothing at all.”
36 Then he told them, “But now whoever has a wallet must take it along, and his traveling bag, too. And the one who has no sword must sell his coat and buy one. 37 Because I tell you, what has been written about me must be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the criminals.’[e] Indeed, what is written about me must be fulfilled.”
38 So they said, “Lord, look! Here are two swords.”
He answered them, “Enough of that!”[f]
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