Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Deliverance and Confidence in God
For the music director, according to The Silent Dove of Distant Lands.
Of David. A miktam.
When the Philistines seized him in Gath.[a]
56 Be gracious to me, O God, because humankind has trampled me;
fighting all the day he oppresses me.
2 My enemies[b] trample all day,
because many are attacking me proudly.
3 When[c] I fear, I trust you.
4 God, whose word I praise,
God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 All day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They attack,[d] they hide, they watch my steps,[e]
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Because of iniquity will they escape?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You have kept count of my wonderings.
Put my tears in your bottle;
are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back when[f] I call.[g]
This I know because[h] God is for me.
10 God, whose word I praise,
Yahweh, whose word I praise,
11 God I trust; I do not fear.
What can mere humankind do to me?
12 My vows to you, O God, are binding upon me.
I will pay thank offerings to you,
13 because you have delivered my soul from death.
Have you not kept my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of the living?
Prayer for Rescue from Enemies
For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
Of David. A miktam.
When he fled from Saul into the cave.[i]
57 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
because in you my soul takes refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge
until destruction passes by.
2 I will call to God Most High,
to God who accomplishes things concerning me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
he will reproach the one who tramples me. Selah
God will send his loyal love and his faithfulness.
4 My soul is among lions.
I lie down among those who devour—
the children[j] of humankind whose teeth are spears and arrows
and whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God.
Let your glory be above all the earth.
6 They have set a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down.
They have dug a pit before me;
they have fallen into the midst of it. Selah
7 My heart is steadfast, O God;
My heart is steadfast.
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory;
Awake, harp and lyre.
I will awake the dawn.[k]
9 I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord;
I will give you praise among the nations.
10 Because your loyal love is high to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God.
Let your glory be above all the earth.
Judgment on the Wicked
For the music director, according to Do not Destroy.
Of David. A miktam.[l]
58 Do you really speak what is right when silent?[m]
Do you judge fairly the children of humankind?[n]
2 No, in your heart you plan injustices;
in the land[o] you weigh out the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their venom is like snake venom;
They are like a deaf viper that closes its ear
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or the skilled caster of spells.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth.
Break off the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.
7 Let them run away like water that runs off.
When he bends the bow, let his arrows be as though they were cut off.[p]
8 Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes;
like the stillborn of woman that do not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of a thornbush,
whether green or dry,[q] he will sweep it away.[r]
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And people[s] will say, “Surely there is a reward[t] for the righteous.
Surely there is a God who judges in the land.”[u]
A Plea for Divine Retribution
For the music director. A psalm of David.[a]
64 Hear my voice, O God, in my lamenting.
Preserve my life from the fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots[b] of evildoers,
from the unrest of those who do iniquity,
3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword.
They bend their bow to shoot their arrows—bitter words,
4 to shoot from[c] their[d] hiding places at the blameless.
Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
5 They encourage themselves in the evil matter.
They talk of secretly laying snares.
They say, “Who will see them?”
6 They carefully plot[e] injustices saying,
“We have perfected the perfect plot!”[f]
Both the inner thought[g] and heart of a man are deep.
7 But God will shoot them;
with an arrow they will suddenly be wounded.
8 [h] And they who would cause him[i] to stumble,
their own tongue will be against them.
All who gaze on them will shake.[j]
9 And then[k] all men[l] will fear,
and will declare the working of God,
and will understand his doing.
10 The righteous will rejoice in Yahweh and take refuge in him,
and all the upright in heart will boast.
Thanksgiving for God’s Provision
For the music director. A psalm of David. A song.[m]
65 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion,
and to you the vow shall be fulfilled.
2 O you who hear prayer,
to you all flesh will come.
3 Iniquities[n] prevail over me.
As for our transgressions, you will forgive[o] them.
4 Blessed is one whom you choose and bring near,
that he may abide in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
5 By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us,
O God of our salvation,
you who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth
and of the far-off seas,
6 who established the mountains by his strength,
the one who is girded with might,
7 who stills the roar of the seas,
the roar of their waves,
and the commotion of the peoples,
8 so that[p] the inhabitants of the farthest reaches are in awe of your signs.
You make the dawn and sunset sing for joy.
9 You care for[q] the land[r] and water it;
you greatly enrich it.
The stream of God is filled with waters.
You provide their grain,
for so you have established it.
10 You drench its furrows,
penetrating its ridges.
With rains you soften it;
its growth you bless.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,[s]
and your wagon paths drip with richness.[t]
12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
and the hills gird themselves with joy.
13 The pasturelands put on flocks,
and the valleys clothe themselves with grain.
They shout in triumph;
they even sing.
Enemies Foiled
6 Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that no gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not erected doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they planned to do evil to me. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I am not able to come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you all?” 4 And they sent a message to me four times like this, and I returned an answer like this to them. 5 And Sanballat sent his servant with an open letter, another word like this to me a fifth time, in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It has been reported among the nations, and Gashmu also is saying it, that you and the Jews are considering rebellion. Therefore, truly you are building the wall and you are becoming their king, according to these words. 7 You have also set up prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now it will be proclaimed to the king according to these words. Now, come and we will plan together.” 8 So I sent to him saying, “None of these words you have spoken has happened. You are indeed saying things created in your own mind”— 9 for all of them sought to frighten us, saying, “their hands will not do the work.” And now, God, strengthen my hands.
10 Now I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, and he said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple; for they are coming to kill you—during the night they are coming to kill you.” 11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? And would a man like me go into the temple so that he can save his life? I will not go in!” 12 Then I look and realized God had not sent him; rather, he had spoken the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this reason he was hired: to frighten me so that I would act and sin, so that they would have a bad report so they could taunt me. 14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to their works, and also Noadiah the prophetess, and the remainder of the prophets who were frightening me.
The Wall is Completed
15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When our enemies heard of this, all of the nations surrounding us were afraid and lost their confidence.[a] They knew that this work had been done with the help of our God. 17 Also, in those days the nobles of Judah increasingly sent their letters to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah returned to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah. His son Jehohanan took as a wife the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 They also were speaking of his good deeds in my presence, and they were sending my words out to him. Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
The Angel and the Little Scroll
10 And I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, and a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire,[a] 2 and holding in his hand a little scroll that was opened. And he put his right foot on the sea and his[b] left on the land. 3 And he cried out with a loud voice like a lion roars, and when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded[c] their own voices. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke,[d] I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them!”
5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by the one who lives forever and ever[e], who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days of the sound of the seventh angel, whenever he is about to blow the trumpet, then[f] the mystery of God is completed, as he announced to his own slaves the prophets.”
8 And the voice that I had heard from heaven was speaking with me again and saying, “Go, take the opened scroll in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 And I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll, and he said to me, “Take and eat it up, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it up, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth, and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11 And they said to me, “It is necessary for you to prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
The Parable of the Weeds Interpreted
36 Then he left the crowds and[a] came into the house, and his disciples came to him saying, “Explain the parable of the darnel in the field to us.” 37 So he answered and[b] said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world. And the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one. 39 And the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Thus just as the darnel is gathered and burned[c] with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and those who do lawless deeds, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace.[d] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.[e] The one who has ears, let him hear!
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