Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55[a]
A Lament over Betrayal
1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
I
2 Listen, God, to my prayer;(A)
do not hide from my pleading;
3 hear me and give answer.
I rock with grief; I groan
4 at the uproar of the enemy,
the clamor of the wicked.
They heap trouble upon me,
savagely accuse me.
5 My heart pounds within me;
death’s terrors fall upon me.
6 Fear and trembling overwhelm me;
shuddering sweeps over me.
7 I say, “If only I had wings like a dove
that I might fly away and find rest.(B)
8 Far away I would flee;
I would stay in the desert.(C)
Selah
9 “I would soon find a shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”
II
10 Lord, check and confuse their tongues.
For I see violence and strife in the city
11 making rounds on its walls day and night.
Within are mischief and trouble;
12 treachery is in its midst;
oppression and fraud never leave its streets.(D)
13 For it is not an enemy that reviled me—
that I could bear—
Not a foe who viewed me with contempt,
from that I could hide.
14 But it was you, my other self,
my comrade and friend,(E)
15 You, whose company I enjoyed,
at whose side I walked
in the house of God.
III
16 Let death take them;
let them go down alive to Sheol,(F)
for evil is in their homes and bellies.
17 But I will call upon God,
and the Lord will save me.
18 At dusk, dawn, and noon
I will grieve and complain,
and my prayer will be heard.(G)
19 He will redeem my soul in peace
from those who war against me,
though there are many who oppose me.
20 God, who sits enthroned forever,(H)
will hear me and afflict them.
Selah
For they will not mend their ways;
they have no fear of God.
21 He stretched out his hand at his friends
and broke his covenant.
22 Softer than butter is his speech,
but war is in his heart.
Smoother than oil are his words,
but they are unsheathed swords.(I)
23 Cast your care upon the Lord,
who will give you support.
He will never allow
the righteous to stumble.(J)
24 But you, God, will bring them down
to the pit of destruction.(K)
These bloodthirsty liars
will not live half their days,
but I put my trust in you.(L)
Psalm 138[a]
Hymn of a Grateful Heart
1 Of David.
I
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;(A)
in the presence of the angels[b] to you I sing.
2 I bow low toward your holy temple;
I praise your name for your mercy and faithfulness.
For you have exalted over all
your name and your promise.
3 On the day I cried out, you answered;
you strengthened my spirit.
II
4 All the kings of earth will praise you, Lord,
when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways of the Lord:
“How great is the glory of the Lord!”
6 The Lord is on high, but cares for the lowly(B)
and knows the proud from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of dangers,
you guard my life when my enemies rage.
You stretch out your hand;
your right hand saves me.
8 The Lord is with me to the end.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Never forsake the work of your hands!
Psalm 139[c]
The All-knowing and Ever-present God
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
Lord, you have probed me, you know me:
2 you know when I sit and stand;[d](C)
you understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You sift through my travels and my rest;
with all my ways you are familiar.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
Lord, you know it all.
5 Behind and before you encircle me
and rest your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
far too lofty for me to reach.(D)
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I flee?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.(E)
9 If I take the wings of dawn[e]
and dwell beyond the sea,
10 Even there your hand guides me,
your right hand holds me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light”[f]—
12 Darkness is not dark for you,
and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are but one.(F)
II
13 You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.(G)
14 I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
15 My bones are not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.[g]
16 Your eyes saw me unformed;
in your book all are written down;(H)
my days were shaped, before one came to be.
III
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God;
how vast the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sands;
when I complete them, still you are with me.(I)
19 When you would destroy the wicked, O God,
the bloodthirsty depart from me!(J)
20 Your foes who conspire a plot against you
are exalted in vain.
IV
21 Do I not hate, Lord, those who hate you?
Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?(K)
22 With fierce hatred I hate them,
enemies I count as my own.
23 Probe me, God, know my heart;
try me, know my thoughts.(L)
Chapter 23
Joshua’s Final Plea. 1 Many years later, after the Lord had given the Israelites rest from all their enemies round about them, and when Joshua was old and advanced in years,(A) 2 he summoned all Israel, including their elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and said to them: “I am old and advanced in years.(B) 3 You have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done for you against all these nations; for it has been the Lord, your God, who fought for you. 4 (C)See, I have apportioned among your tribes as their heritage the nations that survive, as well as those I destroyed, between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. 5 The Lord, your God, will drive them out and dispossess them at your approach, so that you will take possession of their land as the Lord, your God, promised you. 6 Therefore be strong and be careful to observe all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, never turning from it right or left,(D) 7 or mingling with these nations that survive among you. You must not invoke their gods by name, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them,(E) 8 but you must hold fast to the Lord, your God, as you have done up to this day. 9 At your approach the Lord has dispossessed great and strong nations; not one has withstood you up to this day. 10 One of you puts to flight a thousand, because it is the Lord, your God, himself who fights for you,(F) as he promised you. 11 As for you, take great care to love the Lord, your God. 12 For if you ever turn away from him and join with the remnant of these nations that survive among you, by intermarrying and intermingling with them,(G) 13 know for certain that the Lord, your God, will no longer dispossess these nations at your approach. Instead they will be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns for your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord, your God, has given you.(H)
14 “Today, as you see, I am going the way of all the earth.[a] So now acknowledge with your whole heart and soul that not one of all the promises the Lord, your God, made concerning you has failed. Every one has come true for you; not one has failed. 15 (I)But just as every promise the Lord, your God, made to you has come true for you, so will he bring upon you every threat,[b] even so far as to exterminate you from this good land which the Lord, your God, has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant of the Lord, your God, which he enjoined on you, to go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the anger of the Lord will flare up against you and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”
25 [a]Now, however, I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the holy ones.(A) 26 For Macedonia and Achaia[b] have decided to make some contribution for the poor among the holy ones in Jerusalem;(B) 27 they decided to do it, and in fact they are indebted to them, for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to serve them in material blessings.(C) 28 So when I have completed this and safely handed over this contribution to them, I shall set out by way of you to Spain; 29 and I know that in coming to you I shall come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.
30 I urge you, [brothers,] by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in the struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf,(D) 31 that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea, and that my ministry for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the holy ones, 32 so that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and be refreshed together with you. 33 The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.(E)
Jesus Questioned by Pilate. 11 (A)Now Jesus stood before the governor, and he questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”[a] Jesus said, “You say so.” 12 (B)And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders,[b] he made no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they are testifying against you?” 14 But he did not answer him one word, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
The Sentence of Death. 15 [c](C)Now on the occasion of the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. 16 [d]And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called [Jesus] Barabbas. 17 So when they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you, [Jesus] Barabbas, or Jesus called Messiah?” 18 [e]For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over. 19 [f]While he was still seated on the bench, his wife sent him a message, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I suffered much in a dream today because of him.” 20 (D)The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. 21 The governor said to them in reply, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They answered, “Barabbas!” 22 [g]Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Let him be crucified!”
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