Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic instruction.[a]
Betrayal by a Friend
55 Pay attention to my prayer, God,
and do not hide yourself from my appeal.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I moan and groan in my thoughts,
3 because of the voice of the enemy,
and because of the oppression of the wicked.
They bring down evil upon me,
and in anger they hate me.
4 My heart is trembling within me,
and the terrors of death have assaulted me.
5 Fear and trembling have overwhelmed me,
and horror has covered me.
6 I said, “O, who will give me the wings of a dove,
so that I could fly away and live somewhere else?
7 Look, I want to flee far away;
I want to settle down in the wilderness.
8 I want to deliver myself quickly
from this windstorm and tempest.”
9 Confound them, Lord,
and confuse their speech,
because I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl around its walls;
evil and iniquity are within it.
11 Wickedness is at the center of it;
fraud and lies never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could have handled that—
nor is it someone who hates me and who now arises against me—
I could have hidden myself from him—
13 but it is you—
a man whom I treated as my equal—
my personal confidant,
my close friend!
14 We had good fellowship together;
and we even walked together in the house of God!
15 Let death seize them!
May they be plunged alive into the afterlife,[b]
for wicked things are in their homes
and among them.
16 I call upon God,
and the Lord will deliver me.
17 Morning, noon, and night,
I mulled over these things
and cried out in my distress,
and he heard my voice.
18 He calmly ransomed my soul from the war waged against me,
for there was a vast crowd who stood against me.
19 God, who is enthroned from long ago,
will hear me and humble them.
Because they do not repent,
they do not fear God.
20 Each of my friends[c] raises his hand against his allies;
each of my friends[d] breaks his word.[e]
21 His mouth is as smooth as butter,
while war is in his heart.
His words were as smooth as olive oil,
while his sword is drawn.
22 Cast on the Lord whatever he sends your way,
and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
23 But you, God, bring them down to the Pit of corruption;[f]
bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days.
But I put my full confidence in you.
Thanksgiving to God
138 Lord,[a] I thank[b] you with all of my heart;
because you heard the words that I spoke,[c]
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.[d]
2 I will bow down in worship toward your holy Temple
and give thanks to your name for your gracious love and truth,
for you have done great things
to carry out your word
consistent with your name.
3 When[e] I called out, you answered me;
you strengthened me.
4 Lord, all the kings of the earth will give you thanks,
for they have heard what you have spoken.[f]
5 They will sing about the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord!
6 Though the Lord is highly exalted,
yet he pays attention to those who are lowly regarded,
but he is aware of the arrogant from afar.
7 Though I walk straight into trouble,
you preserve my life,
stretching out your hand
to fight the vehemence of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will complete what his purpose is for me.
Lord, your gracious love is eternal;
do not abandon your personal work in me.[g]
To the Music Director: A Davidic Song
God’s Knowledge and Presence
139 Lord, you have examined me;
you have known me.
2 You know when I rest[h]
and when I am active.[i]
You understand what I am thinking
when I am distant from you.[j]
3 You scrutinize my life and my rest;[k]
you are familiar with all of my ways.
4 Even before I have formed a word with my tongue,
you, Lord, know it completely!
5 You encircle me from back to front,
placing your hand upon me.
6 Knowledge like this is too amazing for me.
It is beyond my reach,
and I cannot fathom it.
The Magnitude of God
7 Where can I flee from your spirit?
Or where will I run from your presence?
8 If I rise to heaven, there you are!
If I lay down with the dead,[l] there you are!
9 If I take wings with the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon[m]
10 your hand will guide me there, too,
while your right hand keeps a firm grip on me.
11 If I say, “Darkness will surely conceal me,
and the light around me will become night,”[n]
12 even darkness isn’t dark to you,
darkness and light are the same to you.[o]
13 It was you who formed my internal organs,[p]
fashioning me within my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you,
because you are fearful and wondrous![q]
Your work is wonderful,
and I am fully aware of it.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
while I was being crafted in a hidden place,
knit together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes looked upon my embryo,
and everything was recorded in your book.
The days scheduled[r] for my formation were inscribed,
even though not one of them had come yet.[s]
17 How deep[t] are your thoughts, God!
How great is their number!
18 Were I to count them,
they would number more than the sand.
When I awake, I will be with you.
19 God, if only you would execute the wicked,
so that[u] the men guilty of bloodshed would get away from me,
20 who speak against you with evil motives,
your enemies who are acting in vain.
21 I hate those who hate you, Lord, do I not?
I loathe those who rebel against you, do I not ?
22 With consummate hatred I hate them;
I consider them my enemies.
23 Examine me, God, and know my mind,
test me, and know my thoughts.
Pharaoh’s Dream
41 Two years later—to the day—Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile River,[a] 2 when all of a sudden seven healthy, plump cows emerged from the Nile to graze in the grass that grew in the reeds that lined the bank.[b] 3 Right after that, seven more cows came up out of the Nile. Ugly and gaunt, they stood next to the other cows on the bank of the Nile River. 4 But all of a sudden they ate up the seven healthy, plump cows! Then Pharaoh woke up.
5 After he had fallen back to sleep, he had a second dream, in which seven ears of plump, fruit-filled grain grew up on a single stalk. 6 Suddenly seven thin ears of grain that had been scorched by an east wind sprouted up right after them 7 and ate up the seven plump, fruit-filled ears. Then Pharaoh woke up a second time,[c] and it had been a very vivid[d] dream!
Pharaoh Seeks an Interpretation
8 The very next morning, he[e] was frustrated[f] about the dream, so he sent word to summon all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them what he had dreamed, but no one could interpret them.[g]
9 Then Pharaoh’s senior security advisor[h] spoke up. “Maybe I should make a confession. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with some of his servants, he incarcerated me in custody of the captain of the bodyguard, along with Pharaoh’s head chef.[i] 11 We each had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. 12 There was a Hebrew young man incarcerated with us, who was also working as a servant to the captain of the bodyguard.
“We each related our dreams,[j] and then he interpreted them for us. He provided specific meanings for each of our dreams. 13 And what he interpreted for each of us came true! Pharaoh[k] restored me to my responsibilities, but he executed[l] the other man.”
Faithful Servants of the Messiah
4 Think of us as servants of the Messiah[a] and as servant managers entrusted with God’s secrets. 2 Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.[b] 3 It is a very small thing to me that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. 4 For my conscience is clear,[c] but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who examines me. 5 Therefore, stop judging prematurely, before the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts. Then each person will receive his praise from God.
Fools for the Messiah’s Sake
6 Brothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say.[d] Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.
7 For who makes you superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it?
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath(A)
23 Jesus[a] happened to be going through the grain fields on a Sabbath.[b] As they made their way, his disciples began picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees asked him, “Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on Sabbath days?”[c]
25 He asked them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime[d] of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?”
27 Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man with a Paralyzed Hand(B)
3 Jesus[e] went into the synagogue again, and a man with a paralyzed hand was there. 2 The people[f] watched Jesus[g] closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath,[h] intending to accuse him of doing something wrong. 3 He told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Come forward.”[i] 4 Then he asked them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on Sabbath days,[j] to save a life or to destroy it?” But they remained silent.
5 Jesus[k] looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man[l] held it out, and his hand was restored to health. 6 Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians[m] went out and began to plot how to kill him.
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