Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31
A Plea for Protection
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(A)
Save me by your righteousness.
2 Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mountain fortress to save me.(B)
3 For you are my rock and my fortress;(C)
you lead and guide me
for your name’s sake.(D)
4 You will free me from the net
that is secretly set for me,
for you are my refuge.(E)
5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit;(F)
you have redeemed me,[a] Lord, God of truth.(G)
6 I[b] hate those who are devoted to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.(H)
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love
because you have seen my affliction.
You know the troubles of my soul(I)
8 and have not handed me over to the enemy.(J)
You have set my feet in a spacious place.(K)
9 Be gracious to me, Lord,
because I am in distress;(L)
my eyes are worn out from frustration—
my whole being[c] as well.(M)
10 Indeed, my life is consumed with grief
and my years with groaning;(N)
my strength has failed
because of my iniquity,[d]
and my bones waste away.(O)
11 I am ridiculed by all my adversaries
and even by my neighbors.
I am dreaded by my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street run from me.(P)
12 I am forgotten: gone from memory
like a dead person—like broken pottery.(Q)
13 I have heard the gossip of many;
terror is on every side.(R)
When they conspired against me,
they plotted to take my life.(S)
14 But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(T)
15 The course of my life is in your power;(U)
rescue me from the power of my enemies
and from my persecutors.(V)
16 Make your face shine on your servant;(W)
save me by your faithful love.(X)
17 Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on you.(Y)
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them be quiet[e][f] in Sheol.(Z)
18 Let lying lips(AA)
that arrogantly speak against the righteous
in proud contempt be silenced.(AB)
19 How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you.
In the presence of everyone[g] you have acted
for those who take refuge in you.(AC)
20 You hide them in the protection of your presence;(AD)
you conceal them in a shelter
from human schemes,
from quarrelsome tongues.(AE)
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me
in a city under siege.(AF)
22 In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight.”(AG)
But you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to you for help.(AH)
Psalm 35
Prayer for Victory
Of David.
1 Oppose my opponents, Lord;
fight those who fight me.(A)
2 Take your shields—large and small—
and come to my aid.(B)
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers,
and assure me, “I am your deliverance.”(C)
4 Let those who intend to take my life
be disgraced and humiliated;
let those who plan to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.(D)
5 Let them be like chaff in the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away.(E)
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.(F)
7 They hid their net for me without cause;
they dug a pit for me without cause.(G)
8 Let ruin come on him unexpectedly,
and let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his ruin.(H)
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will delight in his deliverance.(I)
10 All my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like you,(J)
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor or the needy from one who robs him?” (K)
11 Malicious witnesses come forward;
they question me about things I do not know.(L)
12 They repay me evil for good,
making me desolate.(M)
13 Yet when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting,
and my prayer was genuine.[a](N)
14 I went about mourning as if for my friend or brother;
I was bowed down with grief,
like one mourning for a mother.(O)
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
they gathered against me.
Assailants I did not know
tore at me and did not stop.(P)
16 With godless mockery[b]
they gnashed their teeth at me.(Q)
17 Lord, how long will you look on?(R)
Rescue me from their ravages;
rescue my precious life from the young lions.(S)
18 I will praise you in the great assembly;
I will exalt you among many people.(T)
19 Do not let my deceitful enemies rejoice over me;
do not let those who hate me without cause(U)
wink at me maliciously.(V)
20 For they do not speak in friendly ways,
but contrive fraudulent schemes[c]
against those who live peacefully in the land.(W)
21 They open their mouths wide against me and say,
“Aha, aha! We saw it!” [d](X)
22 You saw it, Lord; do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.(Y)
23 Wake up and rise to my defense,
to my cause, my God and my Lord!(Z)
24 Vindicate me, Lord my God,
in keeping with your righteousness,
and do not let them rejoice over me.(AA)
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Just what we wanted.”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him up!” (AB)
26 Let those who rejoice at my misfortune
be disgraced and humiliated;
let those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and reproach.(AC)
27 These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,(A) and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.(B) She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai was unable to conceive;(C) she did not have a child.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans(D) to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord said to Abram:
Go from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.(E)
2 I will make you into a great nation,(F)
I will bless you,(G)
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.(H)
3 I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,(I)
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed[a] through you.[b](J)
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.(K) 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem,(L) at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c](M) I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to the Lord there, and he called on the name of the Lord.(N)
The Greatness of Melchizedek
7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace. 3 Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God,(A) he remains a priest forever.
4 Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch(B) gave a tenth of the plunder to him. 5 The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people(C)—that is, from their brothers and sisters—though they have also descended from Abraham. 6 But one without this[a] lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.(D) 7 Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives.(E) 9 And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham, 10 for he was still within his ancestor[b] when Melchizedek met him.
A Superior Priesthood
11 Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law(F)), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?(G) 12 For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. 13 For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. 14 Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah,(H) and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.
15 And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical[c] descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it has been testified:
16 “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.”
17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered.
“You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,(A) but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”(B)
21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.(C) 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here,(D) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.[a] Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit,(E) and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”(F)
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah(G) is coming” (who is called Christ(H)). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”(I)
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