Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
Prayer for Help and Praise to God
40 I waited expectantly[a] for the Lord,
and he took notice of me
and heard my cry.
2 He plucked me out of a pit of confusion,[b]
even out of the quicksand;
he placed my feet on a rock
and established my steps.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
praise to our God!
Many will watch and be in awe,
and they will place their trust in the Lord.
4 How blessed is that strong person
who places his trust in the Lord,
and who has not acknowledged the proud
nor resorted to lies.
5 Lord, my God,
You have done great things:
marvelous works and your thoughts toward us.
There is no one who compares to you!
I will try to recite your actions,[c]
even though there are too many to number.
6 You take no delight in sacrifices and offerings—
you have prepared my ears to listen—[d]
you require no burnt offerings or sacrifices for sin.
7 Then I said, “Here I am! I have come!
In the scroll of the book it is written about me.
8 I delight to do your will, my God.
Your Law is part of my inner being.”
9 In the great congregation I have proclaimed the righteous good news.
Behold, I did not seal my lips, Lord, as you know.
10 I have not ignored[e] your righteousness in my heart;
instead, I have proclaimed your faithfulness and deliverance.
I have not concealed your gracious love and truthfulness
from the great congregation.
11 Lord, do not withhold your mercy[f] from me,
for your gracious love and truthfulness will keep me safe continuously.
12 Innumerable evils have surrounded me;
my iniquities have overtaken me so that I cannot see.
They are more in number than the hair on my head,
and my courage[g] has forsaken me.
13 Be pleased, Lord, to deliver me;
Lord, hurry up and help me!
14 May those who seek to destroy my life be ashamed and confounded;
let them be driven backwards and humiliated,
particularly those who wish me evil.
15 Let shame be the reward for those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
16 Let all who seek you shout for joy and be glad in you.
May those who love your deliverance say,
“The Lord be magnified!” continuously.
17 But I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think about me.
You are my help and deliverer.
My God, do not tarry too long!
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic instruction,[a] when the Ziphites came and told Saul, “David is hiding among us, is he not?”
A Prayer in Times of Trouble
54 God, by your name deliver me,
and by your power vindicate me.
2 God, listen to my prayer,
and pay attention to the words of my mouth.
3 For the arrogant have arisen against me;
oppressors have sought to take my life.
They do not keep God in mind![b]
4 Look, God is my helper;
the Lord is with those who are guarding my life.
5 He will turn the evil upon those who lie in wait for me.
Cut them off with your truth.
6 With a free will offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, Lord,
because it is good,
7 for he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eyes have seen the end of[c] my enemies.
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
51 Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love,
according to your unlimited compassion,
erase my transgressions.
2 Wash me from my iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgression;
my sin remains continuously before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and done what was evil in your sight.
As a result, you are just in your pronouncement
and clear in your judgment.
5 Indeed, in iniquity I was brought forth;
in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Indeed, you are pleased with truth in the inner person,
and you will teach me wisdom in my[a] innermost parts.
7 Purge me with hyssop,
and I will be clean.
Wash me,
and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me know[b] joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your countenance from my sins
and erase the record of my iniquities.
10 God, create a pure heart in me,
and renew a right attitude within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence;
do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and let a willing attitude control me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors about your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood,[c]
God, God of my salvation.
Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 Indeed, you do not delight in sacrifices,
or I would give them,
nor do you desire burnt offerings.
17 True sacrifice to God[d] is a broken spirit.
A broken and chastened heart, God,
you will not despise.
18 Show favor to Zion in your good pleasure;
and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with right sacrifices,
with burnt offerings, and with whole burnt offerings.
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
Nehemiah’s Conversation with the King
2 It came about in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, during the month of Nissan, the king was about to drink some wine that I was preparing for him.[a] Now I had never looked troubled in his presence.
2 The king asked me, “Why do you look so troubled, since you’re not ill? This cannot be anything else but troubles of the heart.”
Then I was filled with fear. 3 I replied to the king, “May the king live forever. Why shouldn’t I be troubled, since the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located lies waste, with its gates burned by fire?”
4 The king answered, “What do you want?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven 5 and I replied to the king, “If it seems good to you, and if your servant has found favor with you, would you send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located, so I can rebuild it?”
6 With his queen seated beside him, the king asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” The king thought it was a good idea[b] to send me, so I presented him with a prepared plan.[c]
7 I also asked the king, “If it seems good to you, order that letters of authorization be given me for the Trans-Euphrates[d] governors, so they will allow me to pass through to Judah, 8 along with a letter to Asaph, the royal Commissioner of Forests, so that he will supply me with timber to craft beams for the gatehouses of the Temple, for the city walls, and for the house in which I will be living.”
The king granted this for me, according to the good hand of my God. 9 So I went to the Trans-Euphrates[e] governors and gave them the king’s letters of authorization. The king also sent army officers and cavalry to accompany me.
Opposition and Inspection
10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and his servant Tobiah the Ammonite heard of this, they were greatly distressed because someone had come to do good for the Israelis. 11 I arrived in Jerusalem and remained there for three days. 12 Then I got up at night, along with a few men with me. I had not confided to any person what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. Furthermore, there was no other animal with me except for the one I was riding.
13 So I went out during the night through the Valley Gate toward Dragon’s[f] Well, and from there to the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and burned by fire. 14 I proceeded to the Fountain Gate, and then to the King’s Pool, but there wasn’t sufficient clearance for the animal I was riding[g] to pass. 15 I traveled the valley by night to inspect the wall, returning through the Valley Gate. 16 The local officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done—I informed neither the Judeans, nor the priests, nor the nobles, nor the officials, nor any of the rest who would be doing the work.
17 Later I told them, “You all are watching the predicament we’re in, how Jerusalem lies desolate, with its gates burned by fire. Let’s rebuild the Jerusalem wall so we’re no longer a disgrace.” 18 Then I told them how good my God had been to[h] me, and about what the king had told me.
They replied, “Let’s get out there and build!” So they encouraged themselves to do good.
Nehemiah Replies to Sanballat
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, his servant Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard about it,[i] they jeered at us and despised us when they said, “What is this thing that you’re doing? You’re rebelling against the king, aren’t you?”
20 In reply to them, I said, “The God of Heaven will prosper us. That’s why we’re preparing to build. But as far as you’re concerned, there exists no ancestral heritage, no legal right, nor any historic claim in Jerusalem.
The Vision of the Sixth Seal Opened
12 Then I saw the lamb[a] open the sixth seal. There was a powerful earthquake. The sun turned as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon turned as red as blood.[b] 13 The stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree drops its fruit when it is shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people concealed themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains. 16 They told the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to endure it?”
The Vision of the Sealing of 144,000 People
7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 I saw another angel coming from the east having the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the land and sea, 3 “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”
4 I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of Israel:
The Parable about the Weeds among the Wheat
24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom from[a] heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 While people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 When the crop came up and bore grain, the weeds appeared, too.
27 “The owner’s servants came and asked him, ‘Master, you sowed good seed in your field, didn’t you? Then where did these weeds come from?’
28 “He told them, ‘An enemy did this!’
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them out?’
29 “He said, ‘No! If you pull out the weeds, you might pull out the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning, but bring the wheat into my barn.”’”
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