Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16
A Poem of David; [probably] intended to record memorable thoughts.
1 Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have found refuge, and in You do I put my trust and hide myself.
2 I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You.
3 As for the godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are the excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who choose another god; their drink offerings of blood will I not offer or take their names upon my lips.
5 The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion, my cup; You hold and maintain my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good heritage.
7 I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety,
10 For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.(A)
11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.(B)
Psalm 17
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear the right (my righteous cause), O Lord; listen to my shrill, piercing cry! Give ear to my prayer, that comes from unfeigned and guileless lips.
2 Let my sentence of vindication come from You! May Your eyes behold the things that are just and upright.
3 You have proved my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and find nothing [no evil purpose in me]; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent (the paths of the destroyer).
5 My steps have held closely to Your paths [to the tracks of the One Who has gone on before]; my feet have not slipped.
6 I have called upon You, O God, for You will hear me; incline Your ear to me and hear my speech.
7 Show Your marvelous loving-kindness, O You Who save by Your right hand those who trust and take refuge in You from those who rise up against them.
8 Keep and guard me as the pupil of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
9 From the wicked who despoil and oppress me, my deadly adversaries who surround me.
10 They are enclosed in their own prosperity and have shut up their hearts to pity; with their mouths they make exorbitant claims and proudly and arrogantly speak.
11 They track us down in each step we take; now they surround us; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground,
12 Like a lion greedy and eager to tear his prey, and as a young lion lurking in hidden places.
13 Arise, O Lord! Confront and forestall them, cast them down! Deliver my life from the wicked by Your sword,
14 From men by Your hand, O Lord, from men of this world [these poor moths of the night] whose portion in life is idle and vain. Their bellies are filled with Your hidden treasure [what You have stored up]; their children are satiated, and they leave the rest [of their] wealth to their babes.
15 As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake [to find myself] beholding Your form [and having sweet communion with You].
Psalm 22[a]
To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar [the hind of the morning dawn]. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?(A)
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You answer not; and by night I am not silent or find no rest.
3 But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].
4 Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in, leaned on, and confidently relied on You, and were not ashamed or confounded or disappointed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; I am the scorn of men, and despised by the people.(B)
7 All who see me laugh at me and mock me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,(C)
8 He trusted and rolled himself on the Lord, that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him, seeing that He delights in him!(D)
9 Yet You are He Who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from my very birth; from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.
12 Many [foes like] bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have hedged me in.(E)
13 Against me they opened their mouths wide, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is softened [with anguish] and melted down within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; [with thirst] my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have brought me into the dust of death.(F)
16 For [like a pack of] dogs they have encompassed me; a company of evildoers has encircled me, they pierced my hands and my feet.(G)
17 I can count all my bones; [the evildoers] gaze at me.(H)
18 They part my clothing among them and cast lots for my raiment (a long, shirtlike garment, a seamless undertunic). (I))
19 But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me!
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my dear life [my only one] from the power of the dog [the agent of execution].
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; for You have answered me [kindly] from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.(J)
23 You who fear (revere and worship) the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him. Fear (revere and worship) Him, all you offspring of Israel.
24 For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him.
26 The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord—they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow down and worship before You,
28 For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s, and He is the ruler over the nations.
29 All the mighty ones upon earth shall eat [in thanksgiving] and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve Him; they shall tell of the Lord to the next generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born—that He has done it [that it is finished]!(K)
5 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that he was anointed king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David.
2 And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
3 You know how David my father could not build a house to the Name of the Lord his God because wars were about him on every side, until the Lord put his foes under his feet.(A)
4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil confronting me.
5 And I purpose to build a house to the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, Your son whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house to My Name and Presence.
6 So, Hiram, command them to hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; my servants shall join yours, and I will give you whatever wages you set for your servants. For you know that no one among us can equal the skill of the Sidon men in cutting timber.
7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, Who has given David a wise son to be over this great people.
8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things for which you sent to me; I will do all you wish concerning the cedar and cypress timber.
9 My servants shall bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, make them into rafts, and float them by sea to the place that you direct. I will have them released there, and you shall take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by providing food for my household.
10 So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and cypress trees he desired,
11 And Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 measures of wheat for food for his household, and 20 measures of pure, beaten oil. He gave these to Hiram yearly.
12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty.
13 King Solomon raised a levy [of forced labor] out of all Israel; and the levy was 30,000 men.
14 He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month by divisions; one month they were in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was over the levy.
15 And Solomon had 70,000 burden bearers and 80,000 hewers [of stone] in the hill country of Judah,
16 Besides Solomon’s 3,300 overseers in charge of the people doing the work.
17 The king commanded, and they hewed and brought out [a]great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stone.
18 Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the hewing and prepared the timber and stones to build the house.
6 And 480 years after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the second month, Ziv, he began to build the Lord’s house.
7 When the house was being built, its stone was made ready at the quarry, and no hammer, ax, or tool of iron was heard in the house while it was in building.
28 After we were safe on the island, we knew and recognized that it was called Malta.
2 And the natives showed us unusual and remarkable kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed and received us all, since it had begun to rain and was cold.
3 Now Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and he was laying them on the fire when a viper crawled out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.
4 When the natives saw the little animal hanging from his hand, they said to one another, Doubtless this man is a murderer, for though he has been saved from the sea, Justice [[a]the goddess of avenging] has not permitted that he should live.
5 Then [Paul simply] shook off the small creature into the fire and suffered no evil effects.
6 However, they were waiting, expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead; but when they had watched him a long time and saw nothing fatal or harmful come to him, they changed their minds and kept saying over and over that he was a god.
7 In the vicinity of that place there were estates belonging to the head man of the island, named Publius, who accepted and welcomed and entertained us with hearty hospitality for three days.
8 And it happened that the father of Publius was sick in bed with recurring attacks of fever and dysentery; and Paul went to see him, and after praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.
9 After this had occurred, the other people on the island who had diseases also kept coming and were cured.
10 They showed us every respect and presented many gifts to us, honoring us with many honors; and when we sailed, they provided and put on [board our ship] everything we needed.
11 It was after three months’ stay there that we set sail in a ship which had wintered in the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers [Castor and Pollux] as its figurehead.
12 We landed at Syracuse and remained there three days,
13 And from there we made a circuit [following the coast] and reached Rhegium; and one day later a south wind sprang up, and the next day we arrived at Puteoli.
14 There we found some [Christian] brethren and were entreated to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.
15 And the [Christian] brethren there, having had news of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and received new courage.
16 When we arrived at Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
27 And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away this night [that is, you will be caused to stumble and will begin to distrust and desert Me], for it stands written, I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.(A)
28 But after I am raised [to life], I will go before you into Galilee.
29 But Peter said to Him, Even if they all fall away and are caused to stumble and distrust and desert You, yet I will not [do so]!
30 And Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night, before a cock crows twice, you will utterly deny Me [disclaiming all connection with Me] three times.
31 But [Peter] said more vehemently and repeatedly, [Even] if it should be necessary for me to die with You, I will not deny or disown You! And they all kept saying the same thing.
32 Then they went to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, Sit down here while I pray.
33 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be [a]struck with terror and amazement and deeply troubled and depressed.
34 And He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sad (overwhelmed with grief) so that it almost kills Me! Remain here and keep awake and be watching.
35 And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and kept praying that if it were possible the [[b]fatal] hour might pass from Him.
36 And He was saying, Abba, [which means] Father, everything is possible for You. Take away this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You [will].
37 And He came back and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Have you not the strength to keep awake and watch [with Me for] one hour?
38 Keep awake and watch and pray [constantly], that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
39 He went away again and prayed, saying the same words.
40 And again He came back and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what answer to give Him.
41 And He came back a third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough [of that]! The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinful men (men [c]whose way or nature is to act in opposition to God).
42 Get up, let us be going! See, My betrayer is at hand!
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