Book of Common Prayer
Worship and Obedience
95 Come! Let us sing joyfully to the Lord!
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout with songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is an awesome God;
a great king above all divine beings.[a]
4 He holds in his hand the lowest parts of the earth
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea that he made belongs to him,
along with the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come! Let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel in the presence of the Lord, who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his care.[b]
If only you would listen to his voice today,
8 do not be stubborn like your ancestors were[c] at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me.
They tested me,
even though they had seen my awesome deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said,
“They are a people whose hearts continuously err,
and they have not understood my ways.”
11 So in my anger I declared an oath:
“They are not to enter my place of rest.”
To the Director: To the tune of[a] “Doe of the Dawn”.
A Davidic Psalm.
God Delivers His Suffering Servant
22 My God! My God!
Why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far from delivering me—
from my groaning words?
2 My God, I cry out to you throughout the day,
but you do not answer;
and throughout the night,
but I have no rest.[b]
3 You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 Our ancestors trusted in you;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried out to you and escaped;
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6 But as for me,
I am only a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by people.
7 Everyone who sees me mocks me;
they gape at me with open mouths
and shake their heads at me.
8 They say,[c] “Commit yourself to the Lord;
perhaps the Lord[d] will deliver him,
perhaps he will cause him to escape,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet, you are the one who took me from the womb,
and kept me safe on my mother’s breasts.
10 I was dependent on you from birth;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be so distant from me,
for trouble is at hand;
indeed, there is no deliverer.
12 Many bulls have surrounded me;
the vicious bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
13 Their mouths are opened wide toward me,
like roaring and attacking lions.
14 I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax, melting within me.
15 My strength is dried up like broken pottery;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth,[e]
and you have brought me down to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded me;
a gang of those who practice evil has encircled me.
They gouged[f] my hands and my[g] feet.
17 I can count all my bones.
They look at me;
they stare at me.
18 They divide my clothing among themselves;
they cast lots for my clothing!
19 But as for you, Lord, do not be far away from me;
My Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword;
my precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Deliver me from the mouth of the lion,
from the horns of the wild oxen.
You have answered me.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you, saying,[h]
23 “All who fear the Lord, praise him!
All the seed of Jacob, glorify him!
All the seed of Israel, fear him!
24 For he does not despise nor detest the afflicted person;
he does not hide his face from him,
but he hears him when he cries out to him.”
25 My praise in the great congregation is because of you;
I will pay my vows before those who fear you.[i]
26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him,
“May you[j] live forever!”
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of the nations will bow in submission to the Lord.
28 Indeed, the kingdom belongs to the Lord;
he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous people will eat and bow down in submission.
All those who are about to go down to the grave[k]
will bow down in submission,
along with the one who can no longer keep himself alive.
30 Our[l] descendants will serve him,
and that generation will be told about the Lord.
31 They will come and declare his righteousness
to a people yet to be born;
indeed, he has accomplished it!
A Davidic Song
A Prayer for Maturity
141 Lord, I call to you,
be quick to listen to me when I cry out!
2 Let my prayer be like incense offered before you,
and my uplifted hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 Lord, set a guard over my mouth;
keep watch over the door to my lips.
4 Don’t let my heart turn toward evil
or involve itself in wicked activities
with men who practice iniquity.
Let me not feast on their delicacies.
5 Let one who is righteous strike me;
It is an act of gracious love.
Let him rebuke me,
because it is oil for my head;
do not let my head refuse it.
My prayers continuously will be
against their wicked activities.
6 When their judges are thrown off the cliff,
the people[a] will hear my words,
for they are appropriate.
7 Just as one plows and breaks up the earth,
our[b] bones are scattered
near the entrance to the place of the dead.[c]
8 Nevertheless, my eyes are on you, Lord God,
as I seek protection in you.
Don’t leave me defenseless!
9 Protect me from the trap laid for me
and from the snares of those who practice evil.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I come through.
A Davidic Song
Longing for God
143 Lord, hear my prayer;
pay attention to my request, because you are faithful;
answer me in your righteousness.
2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
for no living person is righteous in your sight.
3 For those who oppose me are pursuing my life,
crushing me to the ground,
making me sit in darkness
like those who died long ago.
4 As a result, my spirit is desolate within me,
and my mind within me is appalled.
5 I remember the former times,
meditating on everything you have done.
I think about the work[a] of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands toward you,
longing for you like a parched land.
7 Answer me quickly, Lord;
my spirit is failing.
Do not hide your face from me;
otherwise, I will become like those who descend to the Pit.[b]
8 In the morning let me hear of your gracious love,
for in you I trust.
Cause me to know the way I should take,
because I have set my hope on you.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, Lord.
I have taken refuge in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
preserve my life.
Because you are righteous,
bring me out of trouble.
12 Because of your gracious love,
you will cut off my enemies.
You will destroy all who oppose me,
for I am your servant.
The Plague of Hail
13 Then the Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God of the Hebrews says: “Let my people go so they may serve[a] me. 14 Indeed, this time I’m sending all my plagues against you[b], your officials,[c] and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 Indeed, by now I could have sent forth my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. 16 However, I’ve kept you standing[d] in order to show you my power and to declare my name in all the earth. 17 You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. 18 Look! About this time tomorrow, I’ll send a severe hail storm, such as has not happened in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 So send for your livestock and everything that belongs to you that’s out in the field, because[e] every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside to shelters will die when the hail comes down on them.”’”
20 Whoever feared the message from the Lord among Pharaoh’s officials[f] made his servants and livestock flee into shelters. 21 But whoever did not pay attention[g] to the message from the Lord left his servants and his livestock outside in the fields.
22 Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people, animals, and all the vegetation of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” 23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. The Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 There was very heavy hail, and lightning was flashing continuously in the midst of the hail. There had not been anything like it in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 The hail struck everything, including people and animals, outside in the fields throughout the land of Egypt. The hail struck all the vegetation of the fields and shattered all the trees in the orchards. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelis were, was there no hail.
27 Pharaoh sent word[h] and called for Moses and Aaron. “I’ve sinned this time,” he told them. “The Lord is righteous, but I and my people are wicked. 28 Pray to the Lord! There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail! I’ll let you go, and you need not stay any longer.”
29 Moses told him, “When I leave the city I’ll spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease and the hail won’t continue, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 30 But as for you and your officials,[i] I know that you don’t yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined because the barley was in ear and the flax was in bud. 32 The wheat and the wild grain[j] were not ruined because they were late crops.)
33 Then Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured out on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he continued to sin. He, along with his officials,[k] hardened his heart. 35 Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn,[l] and he did not let the Israelis go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.
Treasure in Clay Jars
4 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God’s word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.
3 So if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are dying.[a] 4 In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah,[b] who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but rather Jesus the Messiah[c] as Lord, and ourselves as merely your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[d] has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus[e] the Messiah.[f]
7 But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us. 8 In every way we’re troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair, 9 persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. 10 We are always carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies. 11 While we are alive, we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our mortal bodies. 12 And so death is at work in us, but life is at work[g] in you.
32 Now Jesus and his disciples[a] had been on the road going up to Jerusalem, with Jesus walking ahead of them. They were astonished, and the others who followed were afraid.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection a Third Time(A)
Once again, Jesus[b] took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33 “Pay attention! We’re going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and the scribes, and they’ll condemn him to death. Then they’ll hand him over to the unbelievers,[c] 34 and they’ll make fun of him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him. But after three days he’ll be raised.”
The Request of James and John(B)
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus[d] and told him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.”
36 He asked them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 They asked him, “Let us sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left.”
38 But Jesus told them, “You don’t realize what you’re asking. Can you drink from the cup that I’m going to drink from or be baptized with the baptism with which I’m going to be baptized?”
39 They told him, “We can.”
Jesus told them, “You will drink from the cup that I’m going to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I’m going to be baptized. 40 But it’s not up to me to grant you a seat at my right or my left. Those positions have already been prepared for others.”
41 When the ten other disciples[e] heard this, they began to be furious with James and John. 42 Jesus called his disciples[f] and told them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers among the unbelievers[g] lord it over them, and their superiors act like tyrants over them. 43 That’s not the way it should be among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to everyone, 45 because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.