Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I (Psalms 1-41)
The Righteous and the Wicked[a]
1 How blessed is the person,
who does not take[b] the advice of the wicked,
who does not stand on the path with sinners,
and who does not sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But he delights in the Lord’s instruction,[c]
and meditates in his instruction[d] day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
yielding its fruit in its season,
and whose leaf does not wither.
He will prosper in everything he does.
4 But this is not the case with the wicked.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not escape[e] judgment,
nor will sinners have a place[f] in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will be destroyed.
The Nations and God’s Anointed
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and their people involved in a vain plot?
2 As the kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say,[g]
3 “Let us tear off their shackles from us,[h]
and cast off their chains.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 In his anger he rebukes them,
and in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I have set my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
The Anointed King Speaks
7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord
that he told me:
“You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
you will shatter them like pottery.”
10 Therefore, kings, act wisely!
Earthly rulers, be warned!
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss[i] the son before he becomes[j] angry,
and you die where you stand.[k]
Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him.
A Davidic Psalm, when he fled from his son Absalom.
God Delivers His Servants
3 Lord, I have so many persecutors!
Many are rising up against me!
2 Many are saying about me,
“God will never deliver him!”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud[l] to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep,
I wake up, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear multitudes of[m] people,
who set themselves against me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
For you strike the jaw of all my enemies,
and you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic Psalm
Trust God under Adversity
4 When I call, answer me,
my righteous God![n]
When I was in distress, you set me free.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 You people,
how long will you malign my reputation?
How long will you love what is vain[o]
and what is false?
3 But understand this:[p]
the Lord has set apart the godly for himself!
The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him!
A Davidic psalm,[a] which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.
A Prayer for Vindication
7 Lord, my God,
I seek refuge in you.
Deliver me from those who persecute me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me to shreds like a lion,
tearing me[b] apart with no one to rescue me.[c]
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this thing,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil,
if I have plundered my enemy without justification,
5 then, let my enemy pursue me,
let him overtake me,
and let him trample my life to the ground.
Let him put my honor into the dust.
6 Get up, Lord, in your anger!
Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies;
Arouse yourself for me;
you have ordained justice.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and you will sit[d] high above them.
8 For the Lord will judge the peoples.
Judge me according to my righteousness, Lord,
and according to my integrity, Exalted One.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
For you are the righteous God
who discerns the inner thoughts.[e]
10 God is my shield,[f]
the one who delivers the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry with sinners[g] every day.
12 If the ungodly one[h] doesn’t repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and prepare it.
13 He prepares weapons of death for himself,
he makes his arrows into fiery shafts.
14 But the wicked one[i] travails with evil,
he conceives malice and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit, even excavates it;
then he fell into the hole that he had made.
16 The trouble[j] he planned will return on his own head,
and his violence will descend on his skull.
17 But as for me,
I will praise the Lord for his righteousness,
and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
A Warning to Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Israel
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they sold the righteous for money,
and the poor for sandals,
7 moving quickly[a] to rub the face[b] of the needy in the dirt.
Corrupting[c] the ways of the humble,
a man and his father go to the same woman,
deliberately defiling my holy name.
8 They lay down beside every altar,
on garments pledged as collateral,[d]
drinking wine paid for through fines
imposed by the temple of their gods.
9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
though their height seemed like a cedar,[e]
though their strength seemed like an oak,
but whose fruit I destroyed from above
and the roots from beneath.
10 Furthermore, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
leading you in the wilderness for 40 years,
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up your sons to be prophets,
and from your young men I raised up Nazirites.[f]
Is this not true, people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
12 “But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine,
and commanded the prophets,
‘You are not to prophesy!’
13 “Oh, how I am burdened down with you,
as a wagon is overloaded with harvested grain!
14 So the swift runner will not escape,[g]
the valiant will not fortify his strength,
and the mighty warrior will not save his life.
15 The skilled archer will not be able to stand,
the swift runner will not survive,
and the mounted rider will not preserve his own life.
16 Even the bravest of elite troops will run away naked at that time,”
declares the Lord.
Greetings
1 From:[a] Simeon[b] Peter, a servant[c] and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.[d]
To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.[e]
2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
We are Called to Holy Living
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4 Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, 6 your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, 7 your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.[f] 9 For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.
10 So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail. 11 For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.[g]
The King Enters Jerusalem(A)
21 When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead and 2 told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them, and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and that person will send them at once.”
4 Now this happened to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet when he said,
5 “Tell the daughter[a] of Zion,
‘Look, your king is coming to you![b]
He is humble and mounted on a donkey,
even on a colt of a donkey.’”[c]
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them, and he sat upon them. 8 Many people in the crowd spread their own coats on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting,
“Hosanna[d] to the Son of David!
How blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord![e]
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”[f]
10 When he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was trembling with excitement. The people[g] were asking, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the man from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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