Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 69
Prayer of an Innocent Sufferer: Save Me, O God
Heading
For the choir director. According to “Lilies.”[a] By David.
Prayer of an Innocent Sufferer
1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink into the deep mud, where there is no place to stand.
I have entered deep waters, and the rapids rush over me.
3 I am worn out from my crying. My throat is sore.
My eyes are blurry, as I wait for my God.
The Unfairness of His Enemies
4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs on my head.
Those who want to destroy me, my lying enemies, are strong.
I must repay things I did not steal.
His Guilt and Shame
5 God, you know my folly,
and my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 May those who place their confidence in you[b]
not be put to shame because of me,
O Lord, the Lord of Armies.
May those who seek you not be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 It is for your sake that I bear scorn.
Shame covers my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
9 Yes, zeal for your house consumes me.
The scorn of those who scorn you falls on me.
10 I wept as I fasted,
but this only brought insults to me.
11 When I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
I was a joke to them.
12 Those who sit in the gatehouse gossip about me,
and the songs of the drunks are about me.
An Interlude of Prayer
13 But I direct my prayer to you, O Lord, for a time of favor.
God, in the greatness of your mercy,
answer me with the certainty of salvation from you.
14 Rescue me from the mud, so I do not sink.
Let me escape from those who hate me and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the rapids rush over me.
Do not let the deep swallow me up.
Do not let the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, Lord, for your mercy is good.
According to your great compassion, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant.
Because I am in distress, hurry, answer me.
18 Come near. Redeem my soul.
Ransom me because of my enemies.
His Shame
19 You know my disgrace, my shame, and my confusion.
All my foes are in front of you.
20 Disgrace has broken my heart, and I am helpless.
I waited for sympathy, but there was none.
I waited for comforters, but I did not find any.
21 Instead they put bitter poison in my food.
For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
His Curse
22 May the table set before them become a snare.
May it be a trap to them and their allies.[c]
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see.
Make their legs always tremble.
24 Pour out your wrath on them.
Let the heat of your anger catch up with them.
25 May their camp be desolate.
May there be no one dwelling in their tents.
26 For they pursue those you have disciplined, O God,
and they talk about the pain of those you wound.
27 Add guilt to their guilt.
Do not let them enter into your righteousness.
28 May they be erased from the book of life.
May they not be listed among the righteous.
His Closing Prayer
29 But I am afflicted and in pain.
O God, may salvation from you set me on high.
30 I will praise God’s name in song.
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
31 For the Lord this is better than an ox,
than a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32 The poor will see and be glad.
You who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 For the Lord listens to the needy,
and he does not despise the captives who belong to him.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion,
and he will build the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it.
36 Then the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell in it.
Book III
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
Why Do the Wicked Prosper?
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.[a]
The Problem
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped out from under me.
I almost lost my footing.[b]
3 I even envied the arrogant when I observed the peace of the wicked.
The Prosperity of the Wicked
4 For there are no struggles at their death.
Their bodies are sturdy.
5 They do not have the trouble common to people.
They are not plagued along with the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace.
They wear violence like clothing.
7 Their eyes bulge out of their fat.[c]
The schemes of their hearts step over boundaries.
8 They mock. They speak maliciously.
From a high perch they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens.
Their tongues strut around on earth.
10 Therefore God’s people turn to them,
and they drink it all in.[d]
11 They say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 See, this is what the wicked are like—
secure forever, they increase in strength.
The Turning Point
13 Have I really kept my heart pure for nothing?
Have I kept my hands clean in vain?
14 I have been plagued all day.
My punishment comes every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak like this,”
I would certainly have betrayed the circle of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this, it was very troubling to me,
17 until I went to the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their end.
The Solution
18 Surely you place them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall into destruction.
19 How quickly they come to ruin,
completely destroyed by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when someone wakes up.
So when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them like an illusion.
21 Yes, my heart was bitter,
and I was torn up inside.
22 I was unthinking and ignorant.
I was a dumb animal before you.
23 Yet I am always with you.
You hold me by my right hand.
24 With your guidance you lead me,
and afterward, you will take me to glory.
25 Who else is there for me in heaven?
And besides you, I desire no one else on earth.
26 My flesh and my heart fail,
but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.
27 No doubt about it!
Those who are far from you will perish.
You destroy all who commit adultery against you.
28 As for me, God’s nearness is good for me.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so that I can tell about all your works.
6 Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and that entire generation. 7 However, the Israelites were fruitful, multiplied quickly, increased in number, and became very numerous. So the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelites are more numerous and more powerful than we are. 10 Let’s come up with a wise plan to prevent them from increasing in number. Otherwise, if war breaks out, they would join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they would leave the land.” 11 So the Egyptians placed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number, and the more they spread out. The Egyptians were filled with dread because of them. 13 So the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites by forcing them to work very hard. 14 The Egyptians made the Israelites’ lives bitter with hard work, with brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were merciless in the way they imposed work on the Israelites.
15 The king of Egypt also spoke to the Hebrew midwives. One of them was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. 16 He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, while they are still on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a son, you are to kill him, but if you see that it is a daughter, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God, so they did not do what the king of Egypt told them to do, but they let the boys live.
18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why did you do this and let the boys live?”
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous, so they give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 So God treated the midwives well. The people also increased in number and became very numerous. 21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Pharaoh, however, commanded all his people, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every daughter you shall let live.”
The Diversity of the Gifts Enhances the Unity of the Body of Christ
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by[a] one Spirit we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free people, and we were all caused to drink one Spirit. 14 Furthermore, the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not on that account cease to be part of the body. 16 If the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not on that account cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the members in the body, each and every one of them, as he desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But as it is, there are many members, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are much more necessary. 23 As for the parts of the body we consider less honorable, these we provide with more honor. We treat our unpresentable parts with more modesty, 24 whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God put the body together in a way that gave more honor to the parts that lack it. 25 He did it so that there might not be any division in the body, but that the members might all have the same concern for one another. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Jesus Is the Christ
27 Jesus went away with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
28 They told him, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say one of the prophets.”
29 “But who do you say I am?” he asked them.
Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”[a]
30 Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
31 Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again. 32 He was speaking plainly to them. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But after turning around and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men.”
Take Up the Cross
34 He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 After all, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 In fact, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
9 He said to them, “Amen I tell you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come with power.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.