Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55[a]
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil[b] of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;(A)
2 hear me and answer me.(B)
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught(C)
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me(D)
and assail(E) me in their anger.(F)
4 My heart is in anguish(G) within me;
the terrors(H) of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling(I) have beset me;
horror(J) has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c](K)
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,(L)
far from the tempest and storm.(M)”
9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,(N)
for I see violence and strife(O) in the city.(P)
10 Day and night they prowl(Q) about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces(R) are at work in the city;
threats and lies(S) never leave its streets.
12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,(T)
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship(U)
at the house of God,(V)
as we walked about
among the worshipers.
15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;(W)
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,(X)
for evil finds lodging among them.
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening,(Y) morning(Z) and noon(AA)
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old,(AB)
who does not change—
he will hear(AC) them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.(AD)
20 My companion attacks his friends;(AE)
he violates his covenant.(AF)
21 His talk is smooth as butter,(AG)
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,(AH)
yet they are drawn swords.(AI)
22 Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;(AJ)
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.(AK)
23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit(AL) of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful(AM)
will not live out half their days.(AN)
But as for me, I trust in you.(AO)
Psalm 138
Of David.
1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
before the “gods”(A) I will sing(B) your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple(C)
and will praise your name(D)
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,(E)
for you have so exalted your solemn decree
that it surpasses your fame.(F)
3 When I called,(G) you answered me;(H)
you greatly emboldened(I) me.
4 May all the kings of the earth(J) praise you, Lord,
when they hear what you have decreed.
5 May they sing(K) of the ways of the Lord,
for the glory of the Lord(L) is great.
6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;(M)
though lofty, he sees them(N) from afar.
7 Though I walk(O) in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.(P)
You stretch out your hand(Q) against the anger of my foes;(R)
with your right hand(S) you save me.(T)
8 The Lord will vindicate(U) me;
your love, Lord, endures forever(V)—
do not abandon(W) the works of your hands.(X)
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me,(Y) Lord,
and you know(Z) me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;(AA)
you perceive my thoughts(AB) from afar.
3 You discern my going out(AC) and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.(AD)
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.(AE)
5 You hem me in(AF) behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,(AG)
too lofty(AH) for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee(AI) from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens,(AJ) you are there;
if I make my bed(AK) in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,(AL)
your right hand(AM) will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark(AN) to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;(AO)
you knit me together(AP) in my mother’s womb.(AQ)
14 I praise you(AR) because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,(AS)
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made(AT) in the secret place,
when I was woven together(AU) in the depths of the earth.(AV)
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained(AW) for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a](AX) God!(AY)
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,(AZ)
they would outnumber the grains of sand(BA)—
when I awake,(BB) I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!(BC)
Away from me,(BD) you who are bloodthirsty!(BE)
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries(BF) misuse your name.(BG)
21 Do I not hate those(BH) who hate you, Lord,
and abhor(BI) those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.(BJ)
23 Search me,(BK) God, and know my heart;(BL)
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.(A) 19 Teach them to your children,(B) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.(C) 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,(D) 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many(E) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.(F)
22 If you carefully observe(G) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love(H) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast(I) to him— 23 then the Lord will drive out(J) all these nations(K) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.(L) 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours:(M) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River(N) to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror(O) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.(P)
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing(Q) and a curse(R)— 27 the blessing(S) if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey(T) the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,(U) which you have not known.
5 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God,(A) to offer gifts and sacrifices(B) for sins.(C) 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray,(D) since he himself is subject to weakness.(E) 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.(F) 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.(G)
5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory(H) of becoming a high priest.(I) But God said(J) to him,
6 And he says in another place,
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions(N) with fervent cries and tears(O) to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard(P) because of his reverent submission.(Q) 8 Son(R) though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered(S) 9 and, once made perfect,(T) he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest(U) in the order of Melchizedek.(V)
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John(A)— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea(B) and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria.(C) 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.(D) 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”(E) 8 (His disciples had gone into the town(F) to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan(G) woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”(H)
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well(I) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.(J) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water(K) welling up to eternal life.”(L)
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty(M) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.(N) 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,(O) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”(P)
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming(Q) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.(R) 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know;(S) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.(T) 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come(U) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit(V) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit,(W) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ)(X) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”(Y)
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