Book of Common Prayer
Praise to the Lord, and Warning against Unbelief.
95 O come, let us (A)sing for joy to the Lord,
Let us shout joyfully to (B)the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us (C)come before His presence (D)with [a]thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him (E)with [b]psalms.
3 For the Lord is a (F)great God
And a great King (G)above all gods,
4 In whose hand are the (H)depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
5 [c]The sea is His, for it was He (I)who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us (J)worship and bow down,
Let us (K)kneel before the Lord our (L)Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And (M)we are the people of His [d](N)pasture and the sheep of His hand.
(O)Today, [e]if you would hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at [f](P)Meribah,
As in the day of [g](Q)Massah in the wilderness,
9 “When your fathers (R)tested Me,
They tried Me, though they had seen My work.
10 “For (S)forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
11 “Therefore I (T)swore in My anger,
Truly they shall not enter into My (U)rest.”
God Sustains His Servant.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
40 I (A)waited [a]patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and (B)heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the (C)pit of destruction, out of the [b]miry clay,
And (D)He set my feet upon a rock (E)making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a (F)new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will (G)see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.
4 How (H)blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And (I)has not [c]turned to the proud, nor to those who (J)lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are (K)the wonders which You have done,
And Your (L)thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They (M)would be too numerous to count.
6 [d](N)Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have [e]opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is [f]written of me.
8 (O)I delight to do Your will, O my God;
(P)Your Law is within my heart.”
9 I have (Q)proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will (R)not restrain my lips,
O Lord, (S)You know.
10 I have (T)not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have (U)spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.
11 You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
[g]Your (V)lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
12 For evils beyond number have (W)surrounded me;
My (X)iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are (Y)more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my (Z)heart has [h]failed me.
13 (AA)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
Make (AB)haste, O Lord, to help me.
14 Let those be (AC)ashamed and humiliated together
Who (AD)seek my [i]life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [j]in my hurt.
15 Let those (AE)be [k]appalled because of their shame
Who (AF)say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 (AG)Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation (AH)say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17 Since (AI)I am afflicted and needy,
[l](AJ)Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
Prayer for Defense against Enemies.
For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David, [b]when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
54 Save me, O God, by (A)Your name,
And [c]vindicate me by (B)Your power.
2 (C)Hear my prayer, O God;
(D)Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have (E)risen against me
And (F)violent men have (G)sought my [d]life;
They have (H)not set God before them. [e]Selah.
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when [a]Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 (A)Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of (B)Your compassion (C)blot out my transgressions.
2 (D)Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And (E)cleanse me from my sin.
3 For [b]I (F)know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4 (G)Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is (H)evil in Your sight,
So that (I)You [c]are justified [d]when You speak
And [e]blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was (J)brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire (K)truth in the [f]innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will (L)make me know wisdom.
7 [g]Purify me (M)with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
[h]Wash me, and I shall be (N)whiter than snow.
8 [i]Make me to hear (O)joy and gladness,
Let the (P)bones which You have broken rejoice.
9 (Q)Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 (R)Create [j]in me a (S)clean heart, O God,
And renew [k]a (T)steadfast spirit within me.
11 (U)Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your (V)Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the (W)joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a (X)willing spirit.
13 Then I will (Y)teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will [l]be (Z)converted to You.
14 Deliver me from (AA)bloodguiltiness, O God, (AB)the God of my salvation;
Then my (AC)tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, [m](AD)open my lips,
That my mouth may (AE)declare Your praise.
16 For You (AF)do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a (AG)broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Joseph Interprets a Dream
40 Then it came about after these things, (A)the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was (B)furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in confinement in the house of the (C)captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. 4 The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he [a]took care of them; and they were in confinement for [b]some time. 5 Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. 6 [c]When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, [d]behold, they were dejected. 7 He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “[e](D)Why are your faces so sad today?” 8 Then they said to him, “(E)We have [f]had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “(F)Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.”
9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, [g]behold, there was a vine in front of me; 10 and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. 11 Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s [h]hand.” 12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is the (G)interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; 13 within three more days Pharaoh will [i]lift up your head and restore you to your [j]office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only [k]keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please (H)do me a kindness [l]by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. 15 For (I)I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the [m]dungeon.”
16 When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; 17 and in the top basket there were some of all [n]sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” 18 Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; 19 within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”
20 Thus it came about on the third day, which was (J)Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; (K)and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his [o]office, and (L)he put the cup into Pharaoh’s [p]hand; 22 but (M)he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but (N)forgot him.
16 (A)Do you not know that (B)you are a [a]temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the [b]temple of God, God will destroy him, for the [c]temple of God is holy, and [d]that is what you are.
18 (C)Let no man deceive himself. (D)If any man among you thinks that he is wise in (E)this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For (F)the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is (G)the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “(H)The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” 21 So then (I)let no one boast in men. For (J)all things belong to you, 22 (K)whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or (L)life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and (M)you belong to Christ; and (N)Christ belongs to God.
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and (A)all the [a]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
Levi (Matthew) Called
14 (B)As He passed by, He saw [b](C)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “(D)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
15 And it *[c]happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and [d]sinners [e]were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When (E)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “(F)Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and [f]sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “(G)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18 (H)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, [g]the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the (I)days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews [h]a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise [i]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.