Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5
For the Music Director. With the flutes. A Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my meditation.
2 Listen to the voice of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to You will I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning You will hear my voice;
in the morning I will direct my prayer to You,
and I will watch expectantly.
4 For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness,
nor will evil dwell with You.
5 Those who boast will not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You will destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors
the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, in the abundance of Your mercy
I will enter Your house;
in fear of You I will worship
at Your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make Your way straight before me.
9 For there is no uprightness in their mouth;
destruction is in their midst;
their throat is an open tomb;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Declare them guilty, O God;
may they fall by their own counsels;
cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
for they have rebelled against You.
11 But may all those who seek refuge in You rejoice;
may they ever shout for joy,
because You defend them;
may those who love Your name be joyful in You.
12 For You, Lord, will bless the righteous;
You surround him with favor like a shield.
Psalm 6
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
nor discipline me in the heat of Your anger.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are terrified.
3 My soul is greatly troubled,
but You, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, rescue my soul.
Save me for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
in Sheol who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning;
all night I flood my bed with weeping;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away from grief;
it grows weak because of all those hostile to me.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 May all my enemies be ashamed and greatly terrified;
may they turn back and be suddenly ashamed.
Psalm 10
1 Why do You stand far off, O Lord?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecutes the poor;
let them be caught in the devices they have planned.
3 For the wicked boasts of his soul’s desire;
he blesses the greedy and despises the Lord.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek God;
God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
Your judgments are high and distant from him;
as for all his enemies, they scoff at him.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
for generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
in the secret places he murders the innocent;
his eyes lurk against the unfortunate.
9 He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den;
he lies in wait to catch the poor;
he catches the poor, drawing them into his net.
10 He crouches; he lies low,
so that the unfortunate fall by his strength.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten;
He hides His face; He will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the humble.
13 Why do the wicked despise God?
He says in his heart,
“You will require an account.”
14 You have seen it, for You observe trouble and grief,
to repay it with Your hand.
The unfortunate one entrusts it to You;
You are the helper of the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
seek out his wickedness
until You find none.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever;
the nations perished from His land.
17 The desire of the humble You have heard, O Lord;
You make their heart attentive; You bend Your ear
18 to judge the orphan and the oppressed;
man on earth no longer trembles.
Psalm 11
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 In the Lord I seek refuge;
how do you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain,
2 for the wicked bend their bow;
they make ready their arrow on the string,
that they may treacherously shoot
the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are broken,
what can the righteous do?”
4 The Lord is in His holy temple,
His throne is in heaven;
His eyes see,
His eyes examine mankind.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
but the wicked and one who loves violence
His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain
coals of fire and brimstone and a burning wind;
this will be the portion of their cup.
7 For the righteous Lord
loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.
38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “God save King Solomon!” 40 All the people came up to see him and played flutes and greatly rejoiced, so that the earth shook at the sound.
41 Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard the commotion as they were finishing their meal, and when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city so loud and in an uproar?”
42 While he was speaking, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said to him, “Come in, for you are a valiant man and bring good tidings.”
43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, saying, “Surely our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Kerethites, and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king’s mule. 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from their rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you heard. 46 Also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47 Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon better than your name and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself upon the bed. 48 The king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day so that I could see with my own eyes.’ ”
49 All the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid and rose up and went on their way. 50 Adonijah feared Solomon. So he got up and went to the altar and held on to its horns. 51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah fears King Solomon, for he has caught hold of the horns on the altar, saying ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.’ ”
52 And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53 So King Solomon sent for him, and they brought him down from the altar, and he came and bowed himself to King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”
David’s Charge to Solomon(A)
2 Now it was coming close to the day of David’s death, and he gave his son Solomon a charge, saying:
2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself to be a man. 3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways, keeping His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may carry out His word that He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in faithfulness with all their hearts and with all their souls, you shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
Paul Appeals to Agrippa to Believe
24 So as he made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are mad. Much learning is turning you to madness.”
25 Paul said, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus. I speak the words of truth and reason. 26 The king, before whom I also speak freely, knows about these things. For I am persuaded that none of this is hidden from him, for this was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.”
29 Paul said, “I pray to God that not only you, but all who hear me this day, might become not only almost, but thoroughly and altogether, what I am, except for these chains.”
30 When he had said this, the king rose, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them. 31 When they had gone aside, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing deserving death or imprisonment.”
32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Paul Sails for Rome
27 When it was decided that we should sail into Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan Regiment, named Julius. 2 Boarding a ship from Adramyttium, we put out to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.
3 The next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be given care. 4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. 5 Sailing across the sea off of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. 7 We sailed slowly for many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to proceed, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. 8 Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
The Lesson of the Fig Tree(A)
28 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When her branch is yet tender and puts outs leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things come to pass, know that it is near, even at the doors. 30 Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
The Unknown Day and Hour(B)
32 “But concerning that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 For the Son of Man is like a man leaving on a far journey who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 “Watch therefore—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, or at midnight, or at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you I say to all: Watch!”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.