Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
Prayer for Help in Despondency
A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 O Lord, God of my salvation,
at night, when I cry out before you,(A)
2 let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.(B)
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.(C)
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I am like those who have no help,(D)
5 like those forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.(E)
6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
in the regions dark and deep.(F)
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah(G)
8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;(H)
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.(I)
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah(J)
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness
or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?(K)
13 But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.(L)
14 O Lord, why do you cast me off?
Why do you hide your face from me?(M)
15 Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.[a](N)
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dread assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
from all sides they close in on me.(O)
18 You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me;
my companions are in darkness.(P)
Psalm 91
Assurance of God’s Protection
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,[a](A)
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”(B)
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;(C)
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defense.(D)
5 You will not fear the terror of the night
or the arrow that flies by day(E)
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.(F)
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.(G)
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,[b]
the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.(H)
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.(I)
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.(J)
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.(K)
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble;
I will rescue them and honor them.(L)
16 With long life I will satisfy them
and show them my salvation.(M)
Psalm 92
Thanksgiving for Vindication
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High,(N)
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning
and your faithfulness by night,(O)
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.(P)
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!(Q)
6 The dullard cannot know;
the stupid cannot understand this:
7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever,(R)
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.(S)
9 For your enemies, O Lord,
for your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.(T)
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have anointed me with fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.(U)
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.(V)
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,(W)
15 showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.(X)
Spies Sent into Canaan
13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”(A) 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them leading men among the Israelites.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)(A) 23 And they came to the Wadi Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Wadi Eshcol[a] because of the cluster that the Israelites cut down from there.
The Report of the Spies
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.(B) 27 And they reported to him and said, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.(C) 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large, and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.(D) 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”(E)
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”(F)
25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.(A) 26 So, if the uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then the physically uncircumcised person who keeps the law will judge you who, though having the written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.(B) 29 Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.(C)
3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much, in every way. For in the first place, the Jews[a] were entrusted with the oracles of God.(D) 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?(E) 4 By no means! Although every human is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written,
5 But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)(G) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their judgment is deserved!(H)
Forgiveness
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven[a] times.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, 25 and, as he could not pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.