Book of Common Prayer
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.
22 Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ (A)when you are living [a]within our land? 23 Now therefore, you are (B)cursed, and [b]you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” 24 So they answered Joshua and said, “(C)Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 Now behold, (D)we are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” 26 Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. 27 But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, (E)in the place which He would choose.
Five Kings Attack Gibeon
10 Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had [c]utterly destroyed it (just (F)as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had (G)made peace with Israel and were [d]within their land, 2 that [e]he (H)feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. 3 Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word (I)to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king of Jarmuth and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, and let us [f]attack Gibeon, for it has (J)made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.” 5 So the five kings of (K)the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it.
6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not [g]abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.” 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and (L)all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. 8 The Lord said to Joshua, “(M)Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not [h]one of them shall stand before you.” 9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly [i]by marching all night from Gilgal. 10 (N)And the Lord confounded them before Israel, and He [j]slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, (O)the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died [k]from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
12 Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“O (P)sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.”
13 (Q)So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.
Is it not written in (R)the book of Jashar? And (S)the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for (T)the Lord fought for Israel.
15 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.
14 And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of (A)goodness, filled with (B)all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. 15 But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of (C)the grace that was given me [a]from God, 16 to be (D)a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the (E)gospel of God, so that my (F)offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found (G)reason for boasting in (H)things pertaining to God. 18 For I will not presume to speak of anything [b]except what (I)Christ has accomplished through me, [c]resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, 19 in the power of [d](J)signs and wonders, (K)in the power of the Spirit; so that (L)from Jerusalem and round about as (M)far as Illyricum I have [e]fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And thus I aspired to (N)preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, (O)so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; 21 but as it is written,
“(P)They who had no news of Him shall see,
And they who have not heard shall understand.”
22 For this reason (Q)I have often been prevented from coming to you; 23 but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I (R)have had for many years a longing to come to you 24 whenever I (S)go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be (T)helped on my way there by you, when I have first (U)enjoyed your company [f]for a while—
Judas’s Remorse
27 (A)Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; 2 and they bound Him, and led Him away and (B)delivered Him to (C)Pilate the governor.
3 Then when (D)Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned (E)the thirty [a]pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? (F)See to that yourself!” 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into (G)the temple sanctuary and departed; and (H)he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7 And they conferred together and [b]with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. 8 (I)For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “(J)And [c]they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; 10 (K)and [d]they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.