Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16
Confidence in the Lord
A Miktam of David.(A)
1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.(B)
2 I[a] said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good besides you.”[b](C)
3 As for the holy people who are in the land,(D)
they are the noble ones.
All my delight is in them.
4 The sorrows of those who take another god
for themselves will multiply;
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
and I will not speak their names with my lips.(E)
5 Lord, you are my portion[c]
and my cup of blessing;
you hold my future.(F)
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.(G)
7 I will bless the Lord who counsels me(H)—
even at night when my thoughts trouble me.[d](I)
8 I always let the Lord guide me.[e]
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.(J)
9 Therefore my heart is glad
and my whole being rejoices;
my body also rests securely.(K)
10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;(L)
you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.(M)
11 You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;(N)
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.(O)
Psalm 17
A Prayer for Protection
A prayer of David.
1 Lord, hear a just cause;(P)
pay attention to my cry;
listen to my prayer—
from lips free of deceit.(Q)
2 Let my vindication come from you,
for you see what is right.(R)
3 You have tested my heart;(S)
you have examined me at night.
You have tried me and found nothing evil;(T)
I have determined that my mouth will not sin.[f]
4 Concerning what people do:
by the words from your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.(U)
5 My steps are on your paths;
my feet have not slipped.(V)
6 I call on you, God,
because you will answer me;(W)
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
7 Display the wonders of your faithful love,(X)
Savior of all who seek refuge(Y)
from those who rebel against your right hand.[g]
8 Protect me as the pupil of your eye;(Z)
hide me in the shadow of your wings(AA)
9 from[h] the wicked who treat me violently,[i]
my deadly enemies who surround me.(AB)
10 They are uncaring;[j](AC)
their mouths speak arrogantly.(AD)
11 They advance against me;[k] now they surround me.(AE)
They are determined[l]
to throw me to the ground.(AF)
12 They are[m] like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.(AG)
13 Rise up, Lord!
Confront him; bring him down.(AH)
With your sword, save me from the wicked.(AI)
14 With your hand, Lord, save me from men,
from men of the world
whose portion is in this life:
You fill their bellies with what you have in store;
their sons are satisfied,
and they leave their surplus to their children.(AJ)
Psalm 22
From Suffering to Praise
For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?(A)
Why are you so far from my deliverance(B)
and from my words of groaning?(C)
2 My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
by night, yet I have no rest.(D)
3 But you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.(E)
4 Our ancestors trusted in you;
they trusted, and you rescued them.(F)
5 They cried to you and were set free;
they trusted in you and were not disgraced.(G)
6 But I am a worm and not a man,(H)
scorned by mankind and despised by people.(I)
7 Everyone who sees me mocks me;
they sneer[a] and shake their heads:(J)
8 “He relies on[b] the Lord;
let him save him;
let the Lord[c] rescue him,
since he takes pleasure in him.”(K)
9 It was you who brought me out of the womb,
making me secure at my mother’s breast.(L)
10 I was given over to you at birth;[d]
you have been my God from my mother’s womb.(M)
11 Don’t be far from me, because distress is near
and there’s no one to help.(N)
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong ones of Bashan encircle me.(O)
13 They open their mouths against me—
lions, mauling and roaring.(P)
14 I am poured out like water,(Q)
and all my bones are disjointed;(R)
my heart is like wax,
melting within me.(S)
15 My strength is dried up like baked clay;(T)
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.(U)
You put me into the dust of death.(V)
16 For dogs have surrounded me;(W)
a gang of evildoers has closed in on me;
they pierced[e] my hands and my feet.(X)
17 I can count all my bones;
people[f] look and stare at me.(Y)
18 They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.(Z)
19 But you, Lord, don’t be far away.(AA)
My strength, come quickly to help me.(AB)
20 Rescue my life from the sword,(AC)
my only life[g] from the power of these dogs.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,(AD)
from the horns of wild oxen.
You answered me![h]
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;
I will praise you in the assembly.(AE)
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!(AF)
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere him!(AG)
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the torment of the oppressed.(AH)
He did not hide his face from him(AI)
but listened when he cried to him for help.(AJ)
25 I will give praise in the great assembly
because of you;(AK)
I will fulfill my vows
before those who fear you.[i](AL)
26 The humble will eat and be satisfied;(AM)
those who seek the Lord will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!(AN)
27 All the ends of the earth will remember
and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before you,(AO)
28 for kingship belongs to the Lord;
he rules the nations.(AP)
29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before him—
even the one who cannot preserve his life.(AQ)
30 Their descendants will serve him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord.(AR)
31 They will come and declare his righteousness;
to a people yet to be born
they will declare what he has done.(AS)
Zedekiah’s Final Meeting with Jeremiah
14 King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance of the Lord’s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.”
15 Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will kill me, won’t you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”
16 King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private,(A) “As the Lord lives, who has given us this life,(B) I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who intend to take your life.”
17 Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon,(C) then you will live, this city will not be burned, and you and your household will survive. 18 But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans.(D) They will burn it, and you yourself will not escape from them.’”
19 But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans. They may hand me over to the Judeans to abuse me.”(E)
20 “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord in what I am telling you, so it may go well for you and you can live. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the verdict[a] that the Lord has shown me: 22 ‘All the women[b] who remain in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and will say to you,[c]
“Your trusted friends[d] misled[e] you
and overcame you.
Your feet sank into the mire,
and they deserted you.”
23 All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans.(F) You yourself will not escape from them, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon and this city will burn.’”
24 Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation[f] or you will die. 25 The officials may hear that I have spoken with you(G) and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; don’t hide anything from us and we won’t kill you. Also, what did the king say to you?’ 26 If they do, tell them, ‘I was bringing before the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”(H) 27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah, and they questioned him. He reported the exact words to them the king had commanded, and they quit speaking with him because the conversation[g] had not been overheard. 28 Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was there when it happened.[h]
Resurrection Essential to the Gospel
15 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand(A) 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.(B) 3 For I passed on to you(C) as most important what I also received: that Christ died(D) for our sins according to the Scriptures,(E) 4 that he was buried,(F) that he was raised on the third day(G) according to the Scriptures,(H) 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,(I) then to the Twelve.(J) 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time;(K) most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James,(L) then to all the apostles.(M) 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,[a](N) he also appeared to me.(O)
9 For I am the least of the apostles,(P) not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted(Q) the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.(R) 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.
John the Baptist Doubts
11 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.(A) 2 Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples(B) 3 and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (C)
4 Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,(D) 6 and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”(E)
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