Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 69
A Plea for Rescue
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.”(A) Of David.
1 Save me, God,
for the water has risen to my neck.(B)
2 I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing;
I have come into deep water,
and a flood sweeps over me.(C)
3 I am weary from my crying;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail, looking for my God.(D)
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more numerous than the hairs of my head;
my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me,
are powerful.(E)
Though I did not steal, I must repay.(F)
5 God, you know my foolishness,
and my guilty acts are not hidden from you.(G)
6 Do not let those who put their hope in you
be disgraced because of me,
Lord God of Armies;
do not let those who seek you
be humiliated because of me,
God of Israel.(H)
7 For I have endured insults because of you,
and shame has covered my face.(I)
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers
and a foreigner to my mother’s sons(J)
9 because zeal for your house has consumed me,(K)
and the insults of those who insult you
have fallen on me.(L)
10 I mourned and fasted,
but it brought me insults.(M)
11 I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
and I was a joke to them.
12 Those who sit at the city gate talk about me,
and drunkards make up songs about me.(N)
13 But as for me, Lord,
my prayer to you is for a time of favor.
In your abundant, faithful love, God,
answer me with your sure salvation.(O)
14 Rescue me from the miry mud; don’t let me sink.
Let me be rescued from those who hate me
and from the deep water.(P)
15 Don’t let the floodwaters sweep over me
or the deep swallow me up;
don’t let the Pit close its mouth over me.(Q)
16 Answer me, Lord,
for your faithful love is good.
In keeping with your abundant compassion,
turn to me.(R)
17 Don’t hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress.
Answer me quickly!(S)
18 Come near to me and redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies.(T)
19 You know the insults I endure—
my shame and disgrace.
You are aware of all my adversaries.(U)
20 Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I waited for sympathy,
but there was none;
for comforters, but found no one.(V)
21 Instead, they gave me gall for my food,
and for my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink.(W)
22 Let their table set before them be a snare,
and let it be a trap for their allies.(X)
23 Let their eyes grow too dim to see,
and let their hips continually quake.(Y)
24 Pour out your rage on them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.(Z)
25 Make their fortification desolate;
may no one live in their tents.(AA)
26 For they persecute the one you struck
and talk about the pain of those you wounded.(AB)
27 Charge them with crime on top of crime;
do not let them share in your righteousness.(AC)
28 Let them be erased from the book of life
and not be recorded with the righteous.(AD)
29 But as for me—poor and in pain—
let your salvation protect me, God.(AE)
30 I will praise God’s name with song
and exalt him with thanksgiving.(AF)
31 That will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with horns and hooves.(AG)
32 The humble will see it and rejoice.
You who seek God, take heart!(AH)
33 For the Lord listens to the needy
and does not despise
his own who are prisoners.(AI)
BOOK III
(Psalms 73–89)
Psalm 73
God’s Ways Vindicated
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God is indeed good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.(B)
2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped;
my steps nearly went astray.(C)
3 For I envied the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(D)
4 They have an easy time until they die,[a]
and their bodies are well fed.[b](E)
5 They are not in trouble like others;
they are not afflicted like most people.(F)
6 Therefore, pride is their necklace,
and violence covers them like a garment.(G)
7 Their eyes bulge out from fatness;
the imaginations of their hearts run wild.(H)
8 They mock, and they speak maliciously;
they arrogantly threaten oppression.(I)
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues strut across the earth.(J)
10 Therefore his people turn to them[c]
and drink in their overflowing words.[d](K)
11 The wicked say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High know everything?” (L)
12 Look at them—the wicked!
They are always at ease,
and they increase their wealth.(M)
13 Did I purify my heart
and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?(N)
14 For I am afflicted all day long
and punished every morning.(O)
15 If I had decided to say these things aloud,
I would have betrayed your people.[e](P)
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless[f](Q)
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary.
Then I understood their destiny.(R)
18 Indeed, you put them in slippery places;
you make them fall into ruin.(S)
19 How suddenly they become a desolation!
They come to an end, swept away by terrors.(T)
20 Like one waking from a dream,
Lord, when arising, you will despise their image.(U)
21 When I became embittered
and my innermost being[g] was wounded,(V)
22 I was stupid and didn’t understand;
I was an unthinking animal toward you.(W)
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.(X)
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me up in glory.[h](Y)
25 Who do I have in heaven but you?
And I desire nothing on earth but you.(Z)
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[i] of my heart,
my portion forever.(AA)
27 Those far from you will certainly perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.(AB)
28 But as for me, God’s presence is my good.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so I can tell about all you do.(AC)
6 Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died.(A) 7 But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous(B) so that the land was filled with them.
8 A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.(C) 10 Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”(D) 11 So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.(E) They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities(F) for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread[a] the Israelites. 13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly(G) 14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.(H)
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives—the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah— 16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God(I) and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them;(J) they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”(K)
20 So God was good to the midwives,(L) and the people multiplied and became very numerous. 21 Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.(M) 22 Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”(N)
Unity Yet Diversity in the Body
12 For just as the body is one(A) and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.(B) 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.(C) 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.(D) 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. 23 And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable,(E) we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, 24 which our respectable parts do not need.
Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division(F) in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Peter’s Confession of the Messiah
27 Jesus(A) went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
28 They answered him, “John the Baptist;(B) others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.”(C)
29 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
Peter(D) answered him, “You are the Messiah.”(E) 30 And he strictly warned(F) them to tell no one about him.
His Death and Resurrection Predicted
31 Then(G) he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man(H) to suffer many things and be rejected(I) by the elders,(J) chief priests, and scribes,(K) be killed, and rise(L) after three days.(M) 32 He spoke openly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!(N) You are not thinking about God’s concerns[a] but human concerns.”
Take Up Your Cross
34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself,(O) take up his cross,(P) and follow me.(Q) 35 For whoever wants to save(R) his life will lose it,(S) but whoever loses(T) his life(U) because of me(V) and the gospel(W) will save it.(X) 36 For what does it benefit(Y) someone to gain(Z) the whole world(AA) and yet lose(AB) his life?(AC) 37 What can anyone give in exchange for his life?(AD) 38 For whoever is ashamed(AE) of me and my words(AF) in this adulterous and sinful(AG) generation,(AH) the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory(AI) of his Father(AJ) with the holy(AK) angels.”(AL)
9 Then he said to them, “Truly I tell you,(AM) there are some standing here who will not taste death(AN) until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”(AO)
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