Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.
To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David.
55 Listen to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my plea.
2
Listen to me and answer me;
I am restless and distraught in my complaint and distracted
3
Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble on me,
And in anger they persecute me.
4
My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5
Fear and trembling have come upon me;
Horror has overwhelmed me.
6
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7
“I would wander far away,
I would lodge in the [peace of the] wilderness. Selah.
8
“I would hurry to my refuge [my tranquil shelter far away]
From the stormy wind and from the tempest.”
9
[a]Confuse [my enemies], O Lord, divide their tongues [destroying their schemes],
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10
Day and night they go around her walls;
Wickedness and mischief are in her midst.
11
Destruction is within her;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets and market places.
12
For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who has hated me who insolently exalts himself against me—
Then I could hide from him.
13
But it is you, a man my equal and my counsel,
My companion and my familiar friend;
14
We who had sweet [b]fellowship together,
Who walked to the house of God in company.
15
Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
For evil [of every kind] is in their dwelling and in their hearts, in their midst.
16
As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
17
Evening and morning and at noon I will complain and murmur,
And He will hear my voice.
18
He has redeemed my life in peace from the battle that was against me,
For there were many against me.
19
God will hear and humble them,
Even He who [c]sits enthroned from old— Selah.
Because in them there has been no change [of heart],
And they do not fear God [at all].
20
He [my companion] has put out his hands against those who were at peace with him;
He has [d]broken his covenant [of friendship and loyalty].
21
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But his heart was hostile;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.
22
Cast your burden on the Lord [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail).(A)
23
But You, O God, will bring down the wicked to the pit of destruction;
Men of blood and treachery will not live out half their days.
But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.
A Psalm of David.
138 I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I sing praises to You before the [pagan] gods.
2
I will bow down [in worship] toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word together with Your name.
3
On the day I called, You answered me;
And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.
4
All the kings of the land will give thanks and praise You, O Lord,
When they have heard of the promises of Your mouth [which were fulfilled].
5
Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord [joyfully celebrating His wonderful acts],
For great is the glory and majesty of the Lord.
6
Though the Lord is exalted,
He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship];
But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.(A)
7
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.(B)
8
The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me;
Your [unwavering] lovingkindness, O Lord, endures forever—
Do not abandon the works of Your own hands.(C)
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2
You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do];
You understand my thought from afar.(D)
3
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4
Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.(E)
5
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.
6
Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.
7
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.(F)
9
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
And the night will be the only light around me,”
12
Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,
But the night shines as bright as the day;
Darkness and light are alike to You.(G)
13
For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.
14
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.
16
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].
17
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!(H)
18
If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
19
[a]O that You would kill the wicked, O God;
Go away from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.(I)
20
For they speak against You wickedly,
Your enemies take Your name in vain.(J)
21
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22
I hate them with perfect and utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
23
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts;
18 “Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as [a]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them [diligently] to your [b]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the [c]doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as [d]long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him— 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall become yours; your territory shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea (the Mediterranean). 25 No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the fear and the dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.
26 “Behold, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing, if you listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following (acknowledging, worshiping) other gods which you have not known.
The Perfect High Priest
5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed [to act] on behalf of men in things relating to God, so that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with the spiritually ignorant and misguided, since he is also subject to human weakness; 3 and because of this [human weakness] he is required to offer sacrifices for sins, for himself as well as for the people. 4 And besides, one does not appropriate for himself the honor [of being high priest], but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So too Christ did not glorify Himself so as to be made a high priest, but He [was exalted and appointed by the One] who said to Him,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten (fathered) You [declared Your authority and rule over the nations]”;(A)
6 just as He also says in another place,
7 In the days of His earthly life, Jesus offered up both [specific] petitions and [urgent] supplications [for that which He needed] with fervent crying and tears to the One who was [always] able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission toward God [His sinlessness and His unfailing determination to do the Father’s will]. 8 Although He was a Son [who had never been disobedient to the Father], He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect [uniquely equipped and prepared as Savior and retaining His integrity amid opposition], He became the source of eternal salvation [an eternal inheritance] to all those who obey Him,(C) 10 being designated by God as High Priest according to the order of [b]Melchizedek.(D)
Jesus Goes to Galilee
4 So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been told that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea and returned again to Galilee. 4 Now [a]He had to go through [b]Samaria. 5 So He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (noon).
The Samaritan Woman
7 Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”— 8 For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food— 9 The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a [c]Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, [d]You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father [e]Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16 At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your [f]husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21 Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah).”
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.