Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
31 (A)In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never (B)be ashamed;
(C)In Your righteousness deliver me.
2 (D)Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a (E)rock of [a]strength,
A stronghold to save me.
3 For You are my [b]rock and (F)my fortress;
For (G)Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
4 You will (H)pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my (I)strength.
5 (J)Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have (K)ransomed me, O Lord, (L)God of [c]truth.
6 I hate those who (M)regard [d]vain idols,
But I (N)trust in the Lord.
7 I will (O)rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness,
Because You have (P)seen my affliction;
You have known the troubles of my soul,
8 And You have not (Q)given me over into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for (R)I am in distress;
My (S)eye is wasted away from grief, (T)my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with (U)sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My (V)strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And (W)my [e]body has wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries, I have become a (X)reproach,
Especially to my (Y)neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I am (Z)forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the [f](AA)slander of many,
(AB)Terror is on every side;
While they (AC)took counsel together against me,
They (AD)schemed to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “(AE)You are my God.”
15 My (AF)times are in Your hand;
(AG)Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your (AH)face to shine upon Your servant;
(AI)Save me in Your lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be (AJ)put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon You;
Let the (AK)wicked be put to shame, let them (AL)be silent in [g]Sheol.
18 Let the (AM)lying lips be mute,
Which (AN)speak arrogantly against the righteous
With pride and contempt.
19 How great is Your (AO)goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who (AP)take refuge in You,
(AQ)Before the sons of men!
20 You hide them in the (AR)secret place of Your presence from the (AS)conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a [h]shelter from the (AT)strife of tongues.
21 (AU)Blessed be the Lord,
For He has made (AV)marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged (AW)city.
22 As for me, (AX)I said in my alarm,
“I am (AY)cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You (AZ)heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried to You.
Prayer for Rescue from Enemies.
A Psalm of David.
35 Contend, O Lord, with those who (A)contend with me;
Fight against those who (B)fight against me.
2 Take hold of [a](C)buckler and shield
And rise up for (D)my help.
3 Draw also the spear and [b]the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me;
Say to my soul, “I am (E)your salvation.”
4 Let those be (F)ashamed and dishonored who seek my [c]life;
Let those be (G)turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be (H)like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and (I)slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7 For (J)without cause they (K)hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a [d]pit for my soul.
8 Let (L)destruction come upon him unawares,
And (M)let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very (N)destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall (O)rejoice in the Lord;
It shall (P)exult in His salvation.
10 All my (Q)bones will say, “Lord, (R)who is like You,
Who delivers the afflicted from him (S)who is too strong for him,
And (T)the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”
11 (U)Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They (V)repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
13 But as for me, (W)when they were sick, my (X)clothing was sackcloth;
I (Y)humbled my soul with fasting,
And my (Z)prayer kept returning to my bosom.
14 I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I (AA)bowed down [e]mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
15 But (AB)at my [f]stumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together;
The [g](AC)smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me,
They [h](AD)slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like godless jesters at a feast,
They (AE)gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 Lord, (AF)how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul (AG)from their ravages,
My (AH)only life from the lions.
18 I will (AI)give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will (AJ)praise You among a mighty throng.
19 (AK)Do not let those who are wrongfully (AL)my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those (AM)who hate me without cause [i](AN)wink maliciously.
20 For they do not speak peace,
But they devise (AO)deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They (AP)opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, “(AQ)Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”
22 (AR)You have seen it, O Lord, (AS)do not keep silent;
O Lord, (AT)do not be far from me.
23 (AU)Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 (AV)Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness,
And (AW)do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their heart, “(AX)Aha, our desire!”
Do not let them say, “We have (AY)swallowed him up!”
26 Let (AZ)those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be (BA)clothed with shame and dishonor who (BB)magnify themselves over me.
Haggai Begins Temple Building
1 In the (A)second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet (B)Haggai to (C)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, (D)governor of Judah, and to (E)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of [a]hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”’” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house (F)lies desolate?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “[b]Consider your ways! 6 You have (G)sown much, but [c]harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is [d]not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “[e]Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the [f]mountains, bring wood and (H)rebuild the [g]temple, that I may be (I)pleased with it and be (J)glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “(K)You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I (L)blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which (M)lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the (N)sky has withheld [h]its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 I called for a (O)drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on (P)men, on cattle, and on (Q)all the labor of [i]your hands.”
12 Then (R)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and (S)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, (T)obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people [j](U)showed reverence for the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the (V)messenger of the Lord, spoke [k]by the commission of the Lord to the people saying, “‘(W)I am with you,’ declares the Lord.” 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of (X)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, (Y)governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the (Z)remnant of the people; and they came and (AA)worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
Message to Thyatira
18 “And to the angel of the church in (A)Thyatira write:
(B)The Son of God, (C)who has [a]eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
19 ‘(D)I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and [b]perseverance, and that your [c]deeds of late are greater than [d]at first. 20 But (E)I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman (F)Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they (G)commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 (H)I gave her time to repent, and she (I)does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her [e]on a bed of sickness, and those who (J)commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of [f]her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with [g]pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who (K)searches the [h]minds and hearts; and (L)I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24 But I say to you, the rest who are in (M)Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the (N)deep things of Satan, as they call them—I (O)place no other burden on you. 25 Nevertheless (P)what you have, hold fast (Q)until I come. 26 (R)He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds (S)until the end, (T)to him I will give authority over the [i]nations; 27 and he shall [j](U)rule them with a rod of iron, (V)as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him (W)the morning star. 29 (X)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
27 “(A)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “(B)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, that you (C)are [a]sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, (D)you brood of vipers, how [b]will you escape the [c]sentence of [d](E)hell?
34 “(F)Therefore, behold, (G)I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will (H)scourge in your synagogues, and (I)persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous (J)Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the (K)son of Berechiah, whom (L)you murdered between the [e]temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon (M)this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
37 “(N)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who (O)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, (P)the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, (Q)your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘(R)Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
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