Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
Delight in God’s Word
א Alef
1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless,(A)
who live according to the Lord’s instruction!(B)
2 Happy are those who keep His decrees(C)
and seek Him with all their heart.(D)
3 They do nothing wrong;(E)
they follow His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts(F)
be diligently kept.
5 If only my ways were committed
to keeping Your statutes!(G)
6 Then I would not be ashamed(H)
when I think about all Your commands.
7 I will praise You with a sincere heart(I)
when I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
never abandon me.(J)
ב Bet
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping Your[b] word.(K)
10 I have sought You with all my heart;(L)
don’t let me wander from Your commands.(M)
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart(N)
so that I may not sin against You.
12 Lord, may You be praised;
teach me Your statutes.(O)
13 With my lips I proclaim
all the judgments from Your mouth.(P)
14 I rejoice in the way revealed by Your decrees(Q)
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts(R)
and think about Your ways.(S)
16 I will delight in Your statutes;(T)
I will not forget Your word.
ג Gimel
17 Deal generously with Your servant(U)
so that I might live;
then I will keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate
wonderful things from Your instruction.
19 I am a stranger on earth;(V)
do not hide Your commands from me.
20 I am continually overcome
with longing for Your judgments.(W)
21 You rebuke the proud,
the ones under a curse,(X)
who wander from Your commands.(Y)
22 Take insult and contempt away from me,(Z)
for I have kept Your decrees.
23 Though princes sit together speaking against me,(AA)
Your servant will think about Your statutes;(AB)
24 Your decrees are my delight
and my counselors.(AC)
Psalm 12
Oppression by the Wicked
For the choir director: according to Sheminith.(A) A Davidic psalm.
1 Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains;
the loyal have disappeared from the human race.(B)
2 They lie to one another;
they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.(C)
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks boastfully.(D)
4 They say, “Through our tongues we have power;[a]
our lips are our own—who can be our master?”(E)
5 “Because of the oppression of the afflicted
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place.”(F)
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times.(G)
7 You, Lord, will guard us;[b]
You will protect us[c] from this generation forever.(H)
8 The wicked wander[d] everywhere,
and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.(I)
Psalm 13
A Plea for Deliverance
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Lord, how long will You forget me?
Forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?(J)
2 How long will I store up anxious concerns[e] within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?(K)
3 Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;(L)
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
4 My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.(M)
5 But I have trusted in Your faithful love;(N)
my heart will rejoice in Your deliverance.(O)
6 I will sing to the Lord
because He has treated me generously.(P)
Psalm 14
A Portrait of Sinners
For the choir director. Davidic.
1 The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”(Q)
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race(R)
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
3 All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.[f](S)
4 Will evildoers never understand?
They consume My people as they consume bread;(T)
they do not call on the Lord.(U)
Financial Entanglements
6 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,[c](A)
2 you have been trapped by the words of your lips[d]—
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
4 Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.(B)
5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,[e]
like a bird from a fowler’s trap.[f](C)
Laziness
6 Go to the ant,(D) you slacker!(E)
Observe its ways and become wise.
7 Without leader, administrator, or ruler,
8 it prepares its provisions in summer;
it gathers its food during harvest.(F)
9 How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,(G)
11 and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.(H)
The Malicious Man
12 A worthless person,(I) a wicked man
goes around speaking dishonestly,(J)
13 winking(K) his eyes, signaling with his feet,
and gesturing with his fingers.
14 He always plots evil(L) with perversity in his heart—
he stirs up trouble.(M)
15 Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly;
he will be shattered instantly—beyond recovery.(N)
What the Lord Hates
16 The Lord hates six things;
in fact, seven are detestable to Him:
17 arrogant eyes,(O) a lying tongue,(P)
hands that shed innocent blood,(Q)
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,(R)
feet eager to run to evil,(S)
19 a lying witness who gives false testimony,(T)
and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.(U)
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God,(A) and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey[a] His commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden,(B) 4 because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. 5 And who is the one who conquers the world(C) but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D)
The Certainty of God’s Testimony
6 Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water(E) and by blood.(F) And the Spirit is the One who testifies,(G) because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify:[b](H) 8 the Spirit,(I) the water, and the blood(J)—and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony(K) is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. 10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,(L) because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 The one who has the Son has life.(M) The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.
An Unresponsive Generation
16 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to each other:
17 We played the flute for you,
but you didn’t dance;
we sang a lament,
but you didn’t mourn![a]
18 For John did not come eating or drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’(A) 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard,(B) a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’(C) Yet wisdom is vindicated[b] by her deeds.”[c]
20 Then He proceeded to denounce the towns where most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin!(D) Woe to you, Bethsaida!(E) For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,(F) they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago! 22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment(G) than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades.(H) For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today. 24 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
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