Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 25[a]
Prayer for Guidance and Help
1 [b]Of David.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
2 in you, O my God, I trust.
Do not let me be put to shame,
or permit my enemies to gloat over me.
3 No one who places his hope in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will be the lot of all
who break faith without justification.
4 [c]Make your ways known to me, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and instruct me,
for you are God, my Savior,
and in you I hope all the day long.
6 Be mindful, O Lord, that mercy and kindness
have been yours from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth
or my many transgressions,
but remember me in your kindness,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
8 [d]Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them the path to follow.
10 The ways of the Lord[e] are kindness and truth
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 For the sake of your name,[f] O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, great though it be.
12 Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord?
He will be shown the path he should choose.[g]
13 He will enjoy lasting prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.[h]
14 The Lord manifests himself to those who fear him,[i]
and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever upon the Lord,
for he alone can free my feet from the snare.
16 [j]Turn to me and have mercy on me,
for I am alone and afflicted.
17 Relieve the anguish of my heart[k]
and free me from my distress.
18 Look upon my affliction and suffering,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how numerous are my enemies,
and how fierce is their hatred of me.
20 Preserve my life and deliver me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I seek refuge in you.
21 Let integrity and virtue preserve me,
for in you I place my hope.
22 Redeem[l] Israel, O God,
from all its troubles.
Psalms 9–10[a]
Psalm 9[b]
Thanksgiving for the Triumph of Justice
1 For the director.[c] According to Muth Labben. A psalm of David.
2 I will offer praise to you, O Lord,
with my whole heart;
I will recount all your wondrous deeds.[d]
3 I will rejoice and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name,[e] O Most High.
4 For my enemies have turned back;
in your presence they stumble and perish.
5 But you have upheld my just cause,
you who are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.
6 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked,
erasing their name forever and ever.
7 The enemies have suffered endless ruin;
their cities have been utterly destroyed,
and not even their memory remains.
8 The Lord is enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
9 He governs the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
10 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress.
11 Those who revere your name place their trust in you,
for you never abandon those who seek you, O Lord.
12 Sing praise to the Lord enthroned in Zion;[f]
proclaim to the nations his wondrous deeds.
13 For the avenger of blood remembers them;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
14 Have mercy on me, O Lord;
behold how my enemies afflict me,
you who save me from the gates of death.
15 Then I will recount all your praises
and rejoice in your salvation
at the gates of the Daughter of Zion.[g]
16 [h]The nations have fallen into the pit they made;
their feet have been caught in the snare they laid.
17 The Lord has made himself known and rendered judgment;
the wicked are ensnared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion,[i] Selah
18 The wicked will depart into the netherworld,
all the nations that turned away from God.
19 But the needy will not be forgotten forever,
nor will the hope of the afflicted ever come to naught.
20 Rise up, O Lord! Do not let man triumph;
let the nations be judged before you.
21 Strike them with fear, O Lord;
let the nations know that they are mere mortals. Selah
Psalm 15[a]
The Righteous: Guests of God
1 A psalm of David.
O Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may abide on your holy mountain?[b]
2 [c]The one who leads a blameless life
and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from the heart
3 and does not slander anyone,
who does not harm a friend
and does not scorn a neighbor,
4 who looks with disdain on the wicked
but honors those who fear the Lord,
who abides by his oath,
no matter what the cost,
5 who does not charge interest on a loan
and refuses to accept a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never fall.
Knowing How To Discern the True Values
Do Nothing That Will Make You Ashamed[a]
20 Take account of circumstances and beware of evil
so that you will have no cause to be ashamed.
21 There is a shame that leads to sin,
and a shame that is honorable and gracious.
22 Do not be the cause of your own downfall by showing favoritism,
or incur ruin by your deference to others.
23 Do not refrain from speaking at an opportune time,[b]
and do not conceal your wisdom.
24 For wisdom becomes known through the spoken word,
and learning through the words of the tongue.
25 Never attempt to speak what is contrary to the truth
but rather feel ashamed at your own ignorance.
26 Do not be ashamed to confess your sins,
and do not attempt to struggle against a river’s currents.[c]
27 Do not subject yourself to the foolish,
or show partiality to the powerful.
28 Fight to the death for truth,
and the Lord God will ally himself on your side.
29 Do not be impudent in your speech,
or careless and slack in your deeds.
30 Do not be like a lion[d] in your home,
or be suspicious of your servants.
31 Do not keep your hand outstretched to receive
but closed when it is time to repay.
Chapter 5
Do Not Be Overconfident[e]
1 Do not rely on your wealth
or say, “Now I am self-sufficient.”
2 Do not follow your inclinations and energy
in pursuing the desires of your heart.
3 Do not say, “Who can prevail against me?”[f]
for the Lord will certainly punish your arrogance.
4 Do not say, “Even though I have sinned, nothing has befallen me,”[g]
for the Lord is patient.
5 Do not be so confident of pardon[h]
that you add sin upon sin.
6 Do not say, “His mercy is great;
he will forgive[i] my many sins.”
For from him will come both mercy and retribution,
and upon sinners his anger will fall.
7 Do not delay your return to the Lord,
and do not put it off from one day to the next.
For suddenly the wrath of the Lord will descend upon you,
and on the day of punishment you will be destroyed.
Chapter 7
An Immense Crowd before God’s Throne.[a] 1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel rising from the east, bearing the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to ravage the land and the sea, 3 “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we have set the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
4 Then I heard how many had been marked with the seal—one hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Judah,[b] twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand.
The Journey to Jerusalem[a]
The Departure
51 Passing through Samaria.[b] As the time drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus resolutely set his sights on Jerusalem, 52 and he sent messengers ahead of him. They entered a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his arrival, 53 but the people there would not receive him because his destination was Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”[c] 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they journeyed forth to another village.
57 The Cost of Following Jesus.[d] As they traveled along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
59 To another he said, “Follow me.” The man replied, “Lord, allow me to go first and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You are to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but allow me first to say farewell to my family at home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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