Book of Common Prayer
A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness
A Psalm of David.
25 To (A)You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I (B)trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed;
(C)Let not my enemies triumph over me.
3 Indeed, let no one who [a]waits on You be ashamed;
Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
4 (D)Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.
6 Remember, O Lord, (E)Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.
7 Do not remember (F)the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
(G)According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
9 The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11 (H)For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
12 Who is the man that fears the Lord?
(I)Him shall [b]He teach in the way He chooses.
13 (J)He himself shall dwell in [c]prosperity,
And (K)his descendants shall inherit the earth.
14 (L)The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
15 (M)My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
For He shall [d]pluck my feet out of the net.
16 (N)Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
For I am [e]desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart have enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses!
18 (O)Look on my affliction and my pain,
And forgive all my sins.
19 Consider my enemies, for they are many;
And they hate me with [f]cruel hatred.
20 Keep my soul, and deliver me;
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.
22 (P)Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all their troubles!
Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Righteous Judgments
To the Chief Musician. To the tune of [a]“Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.
9 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
2 I will be glad and (A)rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, (B)O Most High.
3 When my enemies turn back,
They shall fall and perish at Your presence.
4 For You have maintained my right and my cause;
You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.
5 You have rebuked the [b]nations,
You have destroyed the wicked;
You have (C)blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 O enemy, destructions are finished forever!
And you have destroyed cities;
Even their memory has (D)perished.
7 (E)But the Lord shall endure forever;
He has prepared His throne for judgment.
8 (F)He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.
9 The Lord also will be a (G)refuge[c] for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
10 And those who (H)know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!
(I)Declare His deeds among the people.
12 (J)When He avenges blood, He remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the [d]humble.
13 Have mercy on me, O Lord!
Consider my trouble from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 That I may tell of all Your praise
In the gates of [e]the daughter of Zion.
I will (K)rejoice in Your salvation.
15 (L)The [f]nations have sunk down in the pit which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.
16 The Lord is (M)known by the judgment He executes;
The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.
(N)Meditation.[g] Selah
The Character of Those Who May Dwell with the Lord
A Psalm of David.
2 He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the (B)truth in his heart;
3 He who (C)does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
(D)Nor does he [b]take up a reproach against his friend;
4 (E)In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who (F)swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things (G)shall never be moved.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened (A)the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, (B)you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and (C)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
God’s Covenant with Creation
20 Then Noah built an (D)altar to the Lord, and took of (E)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered (F)burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled (G)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again (H)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the (I)imagination[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; (J)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
Our Compassionate High Priest
14 Seeing then that we have a great (A)High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, (B)let us hold fast our confession. 15 For (C)we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but (D)was in all points tempted as we are, (E)yet without sin. 16 (F)Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Qualifications for High Priesthood
5 For every high priest taken from among men (G)is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can [a]have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to (H)weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for (I)himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as (J)Aaron was.
A Priest Forever
5 (K)So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
(L)“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”
6 As He also says in another place:
(M)“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;
The Discerner of Hearts
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the (A)signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He (B)knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for (C)He knew what was in man.
The New Birth
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 (D)This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for (E)no one can do these signs that You do unless (F)God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, (G)unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, (H)unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is (I)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 (J)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, (K)“How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 (L)Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and (M)you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 (N)No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man [b]who is in heaven. 14 (O)And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so (P)must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever (Q)believes in Him should [c]not perish but (R)have eternal life.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.