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.
21 Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, close beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; and after these things,
2 Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money.
3 Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you.
4 And Ahab [already depressed by the Lord’s message to him] came into his house [more] resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no food.
5 But Jezebel his wife came and said to him, Why is your spirit so troubled that you eat no food?
6 And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.
7 Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you not govern Israel? Arise, eat food, and let your heart be happy. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent them to the elders and nobles who dwelt with Naboth in his city.
9 And in the letters she said, Proclaim a fast and set Naboth up high among the people.
10 And set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, You cursed and renounced God and the king. Then carry him out and stone him to death.
11 And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt there, did as Jezebel had directed in the letters sent them.
12 They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people.
13 Two base fellows came in and sat opposite him and they charged Naboth before the people, saying, Naboth cursed and renounced God and the king. Then he was carried out of the city and stoned to death.
14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead.
15 Then Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to sell you, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
16 When Ahab heard that, he arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.
1 Paul, summoned by the will and purpose of God to be an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church (assembly) of God which is in Corinth, to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, [who are] selected and called to be saints (God’s people), together with all those who in any place call upon and give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace (favor and spiritual blessing) be to you and [heart] peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God at all times for you because of the grace (the favor and spiritual blessing) of God which was bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
5 [So] that in Him in every respect you were enriched, in full power and readiness of speech [to speak of your faith] and complete knowledge and illumination [to give you full insight into its meaning].
6 In this way [our] witnessing concerning Christ (the Messiah) was so confirmed and established and made sure in you
7 That you are not [consciously] falling behind or lacking in any special spiritual endowment or Christian grace [[a]the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating in your souls by the Holy Spirit], while you wait and watch [constantly living in hope] for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and [His] being made visible to all.
8 And He will establish you to the end [keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication; He will be your warrant against all accusation or indictment so that you will be] guiltless and irreproachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
9 God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in perfect harmony and full agreement in what you say, and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.
11 For it has been made clear to me, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions and wrangling and factions among you.
12 What I mean is this, that each one of you [either] says, I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas (Peter), or I belong to Christ.
13 Is Christ (the Messiah) divided into parts? Was Paul crucified on behalf of you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 Lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name.
16 [Yes] I did baptize the household of Stephanas also. More than these, I do not remember that I baptized anyone.
17 For Christ (the Messiah) sent me out not to baptize but [to evangelize by] preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel), and that not with verbal eloquence, lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power and rendered vain (fruitless, void of value, and of no effect).
18 For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing.(A)
4 Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.
2 And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.(A)
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [[a]loaves of] bread.
4 But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.(B)
5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on [b]a turret (pinnacle, [c]gable) of the temple [d]sanctuary.(C)
6 And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.(D)
7 Jesus said to him, [e]On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, [f]test thoroughly, or [g]try exceedingly the Lord your God.(E)
8 Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.
9 And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.
10 Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.(F)
11 Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation