Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[a] to the tune of[b] “A Silent Dove Far Away,” when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
A Prayer about Trust in God
56 Have mercy on me, God,
because men have harassed me.
Those who oppress me have fought against me all day long.
2 Those who watch me all day have harassed me,
for there are many who fight against me out of conceit.
3 On days when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man[c] can do to me.
5 All day long people[d] distort what I say;
all their schemes against me are for evil purposes.
6 They gather together
and hide in ambush.
They watch my every step
as they lie in wait for my life.
7 Cast them away because of their wickedness.
In wrath, God, cast down these[e] people!
8 You have kept count of my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle—
have not you recorded them in your book?
9 My enemies will retreat when I call on you.[f]
This has been my experience,
because God is with me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I will put my trust.
I will not fear what mortal man can do to me.
12 God, I have taken vows before you;[g]
therefore I will offer thanksgiving sacrifices to you.
13 For you have delivered me[h] from death
and my feet from stumbling,
so that I may walk before God in the light of the living!
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[i] to the tune of[j] “Do Not Destroy,” when he fled from Saul into a cave.
A Prayer for Deliverance
57 Have mercy on me, God, have mercy,
for in you I[k] have placed my trust.
Even in the shadow of your wings
will I find my refuge until this calamity passes.
2 I call upon the God Most High;
to the God who completes what he began[l] in me.
3 He will send help from heaven to deliver me
from those who harass and despise me.
God will send his gracious love and truth.
4 I am[m] surrounded by lions.
I lie down with those who burn with fire—
that is, with people whose teeth are like spears and arrows—
whose tongues are like sharp swords.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, God!
May your glory cover the earth!
6 They have set a snare for my feet,
which makes me[n] depressed.
They dug a pit in front of me,
but they are the ones who fell into it!
7 My heart is committed, God,
my heart is committed,
so I will sing and play music.
8 Wake up, my soul,[o]
wake up, lyre and harp!
I will awaken at dawn.
9 I will exalt you among the peoples, Lord.
I will play music among the nations.
10 For your gracious love is great,
extending even to the heavens,
and your truth even to the skies.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, God!
May your glory cover the earth!
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[p] to the tune of[q] “Do Not Destroy”.
A Prayer for Justice
58 How is it that by remaining silent you can speak righteously?
How can you judge people fairly?
2 As a matter of fact, in your heart you plan iniquities!
In the land your hands are violent!
3 The wicked go astray from the womb;
they go astray, telling lies even from birth.
4 Their venom is like a poisonous snake;
even like a deaf serpent that shuts its ears,
5 refusing to hear the voice of the snake charmer,
the cunning enchanter.
6 God, shatter their teeth in their mouths;
Lord, break the fangs of the young lions!
7 May they flow away like rain water that runs off,
may they become like someone who shoots broken arrows.
8 May they be like a snail that dries up as it crawls;
like a woman’s stillborn baby, who never saw the sun.
9 Before your clay pots are placed on a fire of burning[r] thorns—
whether green or ablaze—
wrath will sweep them away like a storm.
10 The righteous person will rejoice when he sees your[s] vengeance;
when he washes his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 A person will say,
“Certainly, the righteous are rewarded;
certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer for Protection
64 Hear, God, as I express my concern;
protect me[a] from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the mob of those who practice evil,
3 who sharpen their tongues like swords,
and aim their bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting at the innocent from concealment.
Suddenly they shoot, fearing nothing.
5 They concoct an evil scheme for themselves;
they enumerate their hidden snares;
they say, “Who will see them?”[b]
6 They devise wicked schemes, saying,
“We have completed our plans,
hiding them deep in our hearts.”
7 But God shot an arrow at them,
and they were wounded immediately.
8 They tripped over their own tongues,
and everyone who was watching ran away.
9 Everyone was gripped with fear
and acknowledged God’s deeds,
understanding what he had done.
10 The righteous rejoiced in the Lord,
because they had fled to him for refuge.
Let all the upright in heart exult.
To the Director: A song. Lyrics[c] by David.
A Song of Praise to God
65 In Zion, God, praise silently awaits you,
and vows will be paid to you.
2 Since you hear prayer,
everybody will come to you.
3 My acts of iniquity—they overwhelm me!
Our transgressions—you blot them out!
4 How blessed is the one you choose,
the one you cause to live in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
yes, even with the holiness of your Temple.
5 With awesome deeds of justice[d]
you will answer us, God our Deliverer;
you are[e] the confidence for everyone at the ends of the earth,
even for those far away overseas.
6 The One who established the mountains by his strength
is clothed with omnipotence.
7 He calmed the roar of seas,
the roaring of the waves,
and the turmoil of the peoples.
8 Those living at the furthest ends of the earth[f] are seized by fear because of your miraculous deeds.
You make the going forth of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You take care of the earth,
you water it,
and you enrich it greatly with the river of God that overflows with water.
You provide grain for them,
for you have ordained it this way.
10 You fill the furrows of the field with water
so that their ridges overflow.
You soften them with rain showers;
their sprouts you have blessed.
11 You crown the year with your goodness;
your footsteps drop prosperity behind them.
12 The wilderness pastures drip with dew,[g]
and the hills wrap themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout for joy;
yes, they burst out in song!
The Visions of the Almond Branch and Boiling Pot
11 This message from the Lord came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I replied, “I see an almond branch.”
12 The Lord told me, “You have observed well, because I’m watching over[a] my message, to make sure it comes about.”
13 This message from the Lord came to me a second time: “What do you see?”
I replied, “I see a boiling pot, and its mouth is tilted away from the north.”
14 Then the Lord told me, “From the north disaster will pour out on all who live in the land, 15 because I’m about to summon all the families and kingdoms from the north,” declares the Lord.
“They’ll come and each one will set up his seat[b]
at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
against all of its surrounding walls,
and against all of the towns of Judah.
16 “I’ll pronounce my judgments against them
because of all their wickedness.
They have forsaken me,
they have burned incense to other gods,
and they have bowed down in worship
to the works of their own[c] hands.”[d]
The Lord’s Assurance to Jeremiah
17 “As for you, get ready![e] Stand up and tell them everything that I’ve commanded you. Don’t be frightened as you face them, or I’ll frighten you right in front of them.
18 “As for me, today I’m making you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19 They’ll fight against you, but they won’t prevail against you, because I am with you,” declares the Lord, “to deliver you.”
Greetings from Paul
1 From:[a] Paul, a servant of Jesus the Messiah,[b] called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s gospel, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding[c] his Son. He was a descendant of David with respect to his humanity 4 and was declared by the resurrection from the dead to be the powerful Son of God according to the spirit[d] of holiness—Jesus the Messiah,[e] our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name. 6 You, too, are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus the Messiah.[f]
7 To: Everyone in Rome,[g] loved by God and called to be holy.[h]
May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[i] be yours!
Paul’s Prayer and Desire to Visit Rome
8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus the Messiah[j] for all of you, because the news about your faith is being reported throughout the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel about his Son, is my witness how constantly I mention you 10 in my prayers at all times, asking that somehow by God’s will I may at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I am longing to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles. 14 Both to Greeks and to barbarians,[k] both to wise and to foolish people, I am a debtor. 15 That is why I am so eager to proclaim the gospel to you who live in Rome,[l] too.
27 At this point his disciples arrived, and they were astonished that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want from her?”[a] or, “Why are you talking to her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”[b] 30 The people[c] left the town and started on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi,[d] have something to eat.”
32 But he told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?”
34 Jesus told them, “My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work. 35 You say, don’t you, ‘In four more months the harvest will begin?’ Look, I tell you, open your eyes and observe that the fields are ready[e] for harvesting now! 36 The one who harvests is already receiving his wages and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who harvests may rejoice together. 37 In this respect the saying is true: ‘One person sows, and another person harvests.’[f] 38 I have sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have adopted their work as your own.”
39 Now many of the Samaritans of that town believed in Jesus[g] because the woman had testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus,[h] they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days. 41 And many more believed because of what he said. 42 They kept telling the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, because now we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world.”
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