Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[a] to the tune of[b] “A Silent Dove Far Away,” when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
A Prayer about Trust in God
56 Have mercy on me, God,
because men have harassed me.
Those who oppress me have fought against me all day long.
2 Those who watch me all day have harassed me,
for there are many who fight against me out of conceit.
3 On days when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man[c] can do to me.
5 All day long people[d] distort what I say;
all their schemes against me are for evil purposes.
6 They gather together
and hide in ambush.
They watch my every step
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Cast them away because of their wickedness.
In wrath, God, cast down these[e] people!
8 You have kept count of my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle—
have not you recorded them in your book?
9 My enemies will retreat when I call on you.[f]
This has been my experience,
because God is with me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I will put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man can do to me.
12 God, I have taken vows before you;[g]
therefore I will offer thanksgiving sacrifices to you.
13 For you have delivered me[h] from death
and my feet from stumbling,
so that I may walk before God in the light of the living!
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[i] to the tune of[j] “Do Not Destroy,” when he fled from Saul into a cave.
A Prayer for Deliverance
57 Have mercy on me, God, have mercy,
for in you I[k] have placed my trust.
Even in the shadow of your wings
will I find my refuge until this calamity passes.
2 I call upon the God Most High;
to the God who completes what he began[l] in me.
3 He will send help from heaven to deliver me
from those who harass and despise me.
God will send his gracious love and truth.
4 I am[m] surrounded by lions.
I lie down with those who burn with fire—
that is, with people whose teeth are like spears and arrows—
whose tongues are like sharp swords.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, God!
May your glory cover the earth!
6 They have set a snare for my feet,
which makes me[n] depressed.
They dug a pit in front of me,
but they are the ones who fell into it!
7 My heart is committed, God,
my heart is committed,
so I will sing and play music.
8 Wake up, my soul,[o]
wake up, lyre and harp!
I will awaken at dawn.
9 I will exalt you among the peoples, Lord.
I will play music among the nations.
10 For your gracious love is great,
extending even to the heavens,
and your truth even to the skies.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, God!
May your glory cover the earth!
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[p] to the tune of[q] “Do Not Destroy”.
A Prayer for Justice
58 How is it that by remaining silent you can speak righteously?
How can you judge people fairly?
2 As a matter of fact, in your heart you plan iniquities!
In the land your hands are violent!
3 The wicked go astray from the womb;
they go astray, telling lies even from birth.
4 Their venom is like a poisonous snake;
even like a deaf serpent that shuts its ears,
5 refusing to hear the voice of the snake charmer,
the cunning enchanter.
6 God, shatter their teeth in their mouths;
Lord, break the fangs of the young lions!
7 May they flow away like rain water that runs off,
may they become like someone who shoots broken arrows.
8 May they be like a snail that dries up as it crawls;
like a woman’s stillborn baby, who never saw the sun.
9 Before your clay pots are placed on a fire of burning[r] thorns—
whether green or ablaze—
wrath will sweep them away like a storm.
10 The righteous person will rejoice when he sees your[s] vengeance;
when he washes his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 A person will say,
“Certainly, the righteous are rewarded;
certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer for Protection
64 Hear, God, as I express my concern;
protect me[a] from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the mob of those who practice evil,
3 who sharpen their tongues like swords,
and aim their bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting at the innocent from concealment.
Suddenly they shoot, fearing nothing.
5 They concoct an evil scheme for themselves;
they enumerate their hidden snares;
they say, “Who will see them?”[b]
6 They devise wicked schemes, saying,
“We have completed our plans,
hiding them deep in our hearts.”
7 But God shot an arrow at them,
and they were wounded immediately.
8 They tripped over their own tongues,
and everyone who was watching ran away.
9 Everyone was gripped with fear
and acknowledged God’s deeds,
understanding what he had done.
10 The righteous rejoiced in the Lord,
because they had fled to him for refuge.
Let all the upright in heart exult.
To the Director: A song. Lyrics[c] by David.
A Song of Praise to God
65 In Zion, God, praise silently awaits you,
and vows will be paid to you.
2 Since you hear prayer,
everybody will come to you.
3 My acts of iniquity—they overwhelm me!
Our transgressions—you blot them out!
4 How blessed is the one you choose,
the one you cause to live in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
yes, even with the holiness of your Temple.
5 With awesome deeds of justice[d]
you will answer us, God our Deliverer;
you are[e] the confidence for everyone at the ends of the earth,
even for those far away overseas.
6 The One who established the mountains by his strength
is clothed with omnipotence.
7 He calmed the roar of seas,
the roaring of the waves,
and the turmoil of the peoples.
8 Those living at the furthest ends of the earth[f] are seized by fear because of your miraculous deeds.
You make the going forth of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You take care of the earth,
you water it,
and you enrich it greatly with the river of God that overflows with water.
You provide grain for them,
for you have ordained it this way.
10 You fill the furrows of the field with water
so that their ridges overflow.
You soften them with rain showers;
their sprouts you have blessed.
11 You crown the year with your goodness;
your footsteps drop prosperity behind them.
12 The wilderness pastures drip with dew,[g]
and the hills wrap themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout for joy;
yes, they burst out in song!
A Diversion is Attempted
6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had completed the wall and that no break remained in it (even though by that time I hadn’t yet installed the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word[a] to me, saying “Come, let’s meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain.” But they were just trying to do me harm.
3 So I sent messengers to them, replying “I am involved in a great endeavor, so I can’t leave. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?” 4 They sent me this message four times, and I answered them the same way.
5 Then Sanballat sent his assistant to me the fifth time. But this time the letter was sent[b] unsealed, and 6 in it was written:
It is reported among the nations—and Gashmu confirms this—that you and the Jews are planning a revolt, and that you’re rebuilding the wall in order to declare yourself king. According to these reports, 7 you also have appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, “There is a king in Judah!” Since these words are being reported to the king, come and let’s meet together.
8 I sent word back[c] to him, “Nothing has happened as you’ve claimed. You’re making up these charges[d] in your imagination.”[e] 9 For they all were trying to make us afraid by saying, “Their hands will become tired from laboring, so the work won’t be completed.”
“Therefore, Lord,[f] strengthen my hands!”
A Conspiracy Charge Emerges
10 Later I visited Delaiah’s son Shemaiah, a grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined at home. He kept urging me, “Let’s meet together at the house of God, within the Temple, and take refuge there,[g] because they’re coming to kill you. In fact, they’re coming at night to kill you!”
11 But I asked him, “Should a man like me run? Should someone like me run into the Temple to save his life? I won’t go there!” 12 I perceived that God had not sent him. Instead, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to pronounce this prophecy against me. 13 He had been hired to make me afraid so I would sin by doing what he suggested.[h] Then they could create a slanderous report to use against me.
14 “Remember me, my God, and take note of what Tobiah and Sanballat are doing. Also take note of the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who intend to make me afraid.”
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul in 52 days.
Tobiah’s Continued Harassment
16 When all of our enemies—including the surrounding nations—heard this, they became very discouraged, since they saw that the work had been done by our God. 17 Meanwhile, at that time the nobles of Judah continued to send many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah kept sending letters[i] to them. 18 For many Judeans had sworn allegiance to him, since he was son-in-law to Arah’s son Shecaniah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berechiah’s son Meshullam. 19 Furthermore, they kept reporting Tobiah’s[j] good deeds to me, and kept repeating what I told him. Tobiah kept sending letters to intimidate me.
The Vision of the Powerful Angel
10 Then I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire. 2 He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write, but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”
5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay. 7 When the time approaches[a] for the seventh angel to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan[b] will be fulfilled, as he had announced to his servants, the prophets.”
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go and take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. “Take it and eat it,” he told me. “It will turn bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach. 11 Then the seven thunders[c] told me, “You must prophesy again about many people, nations, languages, and kings.”
Jesus Explains the Parable about the Weeds
36 Then Jesus[a] left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to him and asked, “Explain to us the parable about the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The person who sowed good seed is the Son of Man, 38 while the field is the world. The good seed are those who belong to[b] the kingdom, while the weeds are those who belong to[c] the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the Devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Just as weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at end of the[d] age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes others to sin and those who practice lawlessness 42 and they will throw them into a blazing furnace. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.[e] 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let the person who has ears[f] listen!”
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