Book of Common Prayer
A Call to Worship and Obey
95 Come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh;
let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
with songs let us shout joyfully to him.
3 For Yahweh is the[a] great God,
and the great king over all gods,
4 in whose hand are the unexplored places[b] of the earth,
and the heights of the mountains are his,
5 to whom belongs the sea that he made, [c]
and the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come in, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before Yahweh, our maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
Today[d] if you will hear his voice:[e]
8 “Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors[f] tried me.
They put me to the test,
even though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation,
and said, ‘They are a people whose heart wanders.
And my ways they do not know.’
11 Therefore I swore in my anger,
‘They shall surely not enter into my rest.’”
Suffering and Waiting for Deliverance
For the music director; according to The Doe of the Dawn. A psalm of David.[a]
22 My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
Why are you far from helping me, far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I call by day and you do not answer,
and by night but I have no rest.[b]
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 Our ancestors[c] trusted you;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved;
they trusted you and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by humankind and despised by people.
7 All who see me mock me.
They open wide their lips;
they shake the head, saying:
8 “He trusts Yahweh.[d] Let him rescue him.
Let him deliver him because he delights in him.”
9 Yet you took me from the belly;
you made me trust while on my mother’s breasts.
10 On you I was cast from the womb.
From my mother’s belly you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me
because trouble is near;
because there is no helper.
12 Many bulls have encircled me;
mighty bulls of Bashan have surrounded me.
13 They open their mouth against me
like a lion tearing and roaring.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
it is melted within me.[e]
15 My strength is dry like a potsherd,
and my tongue is sticking to my jaws;
and you have placed me in the dust of death.
16 Because dogs have surrounded me;
a gang of evildoers has encircled me.
Like the lion[f] they are at my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
they gaze, they look at me.
18 They divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.[g]
19 But you, O Yahweh, do not remain distant.
O my help, hasten to help me.
20 Rescue my life from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dogs.[h]
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion,
and from the horns of the wild oxen answer me.
22 I will tell your name to my brothers;
inside the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who revere Yahweh, praise him!
Glorify him, all you seed of Jacob,
and be in awe of him, all you seed of Israel,
24 because he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,
and has not hid his face from him;
but he listened to him when he cried for help.
25 From you is my praise.
In the great assembly,
I will pay my vows before those who revere him.
26 The afflicted will eat and will be satisfied.
Those who seek him will praise Yahweh.
May your[i] heart live forever.
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to Yahweh.
All the families of the nations
will worship before you.
28 Because the kingship belongs to Yahweh,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the healthy ones[j] of the earth will eat and worship.
Before him all of those descending into the dust will kneel,
even he who cannot keep his soul alive.
30 Descendants[k] will serve him.
Regarding the Lord, it will be told to the next generation.
31 They will come and tell his saving[l] deeds
to a people yet to be born, that he has done it.
Prayer for God’s Help in Maintaining Integrity
A psalm of David.[a]
141 I call on you, O Yahweh; hasten to me.
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you as incense,
the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.
3 Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice wicked deeds
with men who do iniquity;
and do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let a righteous one strike me in kindness,
and let him chasten me.
It is oil for my head;[b] let not my head refuse.
For still my prayer is against their evil deeds.
6 When their judges are thrown down the sides of a cliff,[c]
then they will understand that my words were pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8 But[d] my eyes are toward you, O Yahweh, my Lord;
I have taken refuge in you. Do not lay bare my soul.[e]
9 Protect me from the grasp[f] of the trap they have laid for me,
and from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their[g] nets,
while I escape altogether.
A Prayer for Rescue from Enemies
A psalm of David.[a]
143 O Yahweh, hear my prayer;
listen to my supplications.
In your faithfulness answer me,
and in your righteousness.
2 And do not enter into judgment with your servant,
because no one alive is righteous before you.
3 For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground.
He has made me dwell in dark places
like those long dead.
4 And so my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within[b] me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your doings.[c]
I muse on the labor of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul longs for you like a dry land. Selah
7 Quickly answer me, O Yahweh;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me,
or I will become
like those descending to the pit.
8 Cause me to hear your loyal love in the morning,
for I trust you.
Cause me to know the way that I should go,
for I lift up my soul to you.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Yahweh.
I take refuge in you.[d]
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God;
your Spirit is good.
Lead me onto level ground.
11 For your name’s sake, O Yahweh, preserve my life;
in your righteousness bring me[e] out of trouble.
12 And in your loyal love destroy my enemies,
and exterminate all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.
Plague Seven: Hail
13 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, he is going out to the water, and you must say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people so that they may serve me. 14 For at this time I am sending all of my plagues to you personally[a] and among your servants and among your people so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For now I could have stretched out my hand, and I could have struck you and your people with the plague, and you would have perished from the earth. 16 But for the sake of this I have caused you to stand—for the sake of showing you my strength and in order to proclaim my name in all the earth. 17 Still you are behaving haughtily to my people by not releasing them. 18 Look, about this time tomorrow, I am going to cause very severe[b] hail to rain, the like of which has not been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 And now send word; bring into safety your livestock and all that belongs to you in the field. The hail will come down on every human and animal that is found in the field and not gathered into the house, and they will die.”’”
20 Anyone from the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh caused his servants and livestock to flee to the houses. 21 But whoever did not give regard to[c] the word of Yahweh abandoned his servants and his livestock in the field.
22 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand to the heavens, and let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, on human and on animal and on all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt.” 23 And Moses stretched out his staff to the heavens, and Yahweh gave thunder[d] and hail, and fire went to the earth, and Yahweh caused hail to rain on the land of Egypt. 24 And there was hail, and fire was flashing back and forth in the midst of the very severe hail, the like of which was not in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from human to animal, and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field and smashed every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites[e] were, there was no hail.
27 And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. 28 Pray to Yahweh. The thunder of God and hail are enough,[f] and I will release you, and you will no longer have to stay.”[g] 29 And Moses said to him, “At my leaving the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and the hail will be no more, so that you will know that the earth belongs to Yahweh. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the presence of Yahweh God.”
31 And the flax and the barley were struck, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, because they are late-ripening.
33 And Moses went from Pharaoh out of the city, and he spread his hands to Yahweh, and the thunder and the hail stopped, and rain did not pour on the earth. 34 And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder stopped, and he again sinned[h] and made his heart insensitive,[i] he and his servants. 35 And Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not release the Israelites,[j] as Yahweh had said by the agency of Moses.[k]
Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord
4 Because of this, since we[a] have this ministry, just as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart, 2 but we have renounced shameful hidden things, not behaving with craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but with the open proclamation of the truth commending ourselves to every person’s conscience before God. 3 But if indeed our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they would not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus[b] as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. 6 For God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,”[c] is the one who has shined in our hearts for the enlightenment of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.[d]
Treasure in Earthenware Jars
7 But we have this treasure in earthenware jars, in order that the extraordinary degree of the power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying around the death of Jesus in our body, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are continually being handed over to death because of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection a Third Time
32 Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going on ahead of them. And they were astounded, but those who were following him[a] were afraid. And taking aside the twelve again, he began to tell them the things that were about to happen to him: 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him,[b] and after three days he will rise.”
A Request by James and John
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and[c] said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want that I do[d] for you?” 37 So they said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when they[e] heard this,[f] the ten began to be indignant about James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to himself and[g] said to them, “You know that those who are considered to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their people in high positions exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be the slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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