Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 51
Cleanse Me From My Sin
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For the choir director. A psalm by David.
When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.[a]
David’s Plea for Forgiveness
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to your mercy.
Erase my acts of rebellion
according to the greatness of your compassion.
2 Scrub me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
David’s Confession
3 For I admit my rebellious acts.
My sin is always in front of me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and I have done this evil in your eyes.
So you are justified when you sentence me.
You are blameless when you judge.
5 Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
David’s Need for Renewal
6 Since you desire truth on the inside,
in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.
7 Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness.
Let the bones you have crushed celebrate.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Erase all my guilty deeds.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God.
Renew an unwavering spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence.
Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Sustain me with a willing spirit.
David’s Pledge of Renewed Service
13 I will teach rebels your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
the God who saves me.
My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it.
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit.
A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
David’s Prayer for the People
18 As it pleases you, do good for Zion.
Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices,
burnt offerings and whole offerings.
Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.
Psalm 69
Prayer of an Innocent Sufferer: Save Me, O God
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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.
The Humiliation of the Daughter of Zion[a]
1 How lonely the city sits, which once was full of people!
She, who was great among the nations, is now a widow.
She, who was a princess among the provinces, now works as a slave.
2 At night she weeps bitterly, and her tears linger on her cheek.
Not one of her lovers is there to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her. They are now her enemies.
6 The daughter of Zion[a] has lost all her splendor.
Her officials have become like deer that find no pasture.
Powerless, they fled before[b] the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers the days of her affliction and her homeless wandering.
She remembers all her precious things which were hers from long ago.
When her people fell under the hand of the foe, there was no one to help her.
Foes saw her and laughed at the end she has come to.
8 Jerusalem has sinned terribly, so she is unclean.[c]
All who once honored her now despise her, because they have seen her nakedness.
She can only sigh and turn away.
9 Her flow of blood stains her skirt. She did not consider the outcome of her sin.
Her collapse was astonishing. There was no one to comfort her.
Look, Lord, at my affliction, for the enemy has done awful things.
10 The foe has laid hands on all her precious things.
She has even seen nations enter her sanctuary,
nations about whom you commanded, “They shall not enter your assembly.”
11 All her people are sighing as they search for bread.
They traded their precious things for food in order to stay alive.
Look, Lord, and see that I have become despised.
12 But nothing like this is happening to you, all you who pass me by.[d]
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain, which was dealt out to me,
which the Lord caused me to suffer on the day of his burning anger.
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints who are everywhere in Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God Comforts and Rescues Us
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our trouble, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. 6 If we are troubled, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the ability to endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. 7 Our hope for you is sure, since we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so you also share in our comfort.
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree
12 The next day, after they had set out from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 When he saw a fig tree in leaf in the distance, he went to see if he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, since it was not the season for figs. 14 Jesus said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples were listening.
Jesus Cleanses His Father’s House
15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. 16 He would not allow anyone to carry any merchandise through the temple courts. 17 He began to teach them: “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?[a] But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’!”[b]
18 The chief priests and the experts in the law heard this and were looking for a way to kill him. Indeed they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples would leave the city.
The Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered down to the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22 Jesus replied, “Have faith in God. 23 Amen I tell you: Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.