Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 6
Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
According to sheminith.[a] A psalm by David.
Anxious Prayer
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Do not discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am fading away.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are trembling,
3 and my soul is terrified.
But you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul.
Save me because of your mercy.
5 For in death no one remembers you.
In the grave who praises you?
6 I am worn out from my groaning.
I flood my bed all night long.
With my tears I drench my couch.
7 My eyes are blurred by sorrow.
They are worn out because of all my foes.
Confident Trust
8 Turn away from me, all you evildoers,
because the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord accepts my prayer.
10 They will be put to shame.
All my enemies will be terrified.
They will turn back.
They will be put to shame in an instant.
Psalm 12
Proud Words vs. Pure Words
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For the choir director. According to sheminith.[a] A psalm by David.
The Proud Words of the Ungodly
1 Save us, Lord, for the merciful have disappeared.
The faithful have vanished from among mankind.
2 Everyone speaks falsehood to his neighbor.
Their flattering lips speak double-talk.[b]
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips.
May he cut off every tongue that speaks boastfully,
4 which says, “With our tongues we will establish our power.
We say what we please.[c] Who is lord over us?”
The Pure Words of the Lord
5 “Because of the destruction of the oppressed,
because of the groaning of the poor,
now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will keep him safe from the one who puffs against him.”[d]
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7 You, Lord, will keep them safe.
You will protect them from such people forever.
8 The wicked strut around
when depravity is honored by the children of Adam.
Psalm 94
The Lord Rules the Wicked
A Call for Vengeance
1 O Lord, God of vengeance,
God of vengeance, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth.
Repay the proud with what they deserve.
3 How long will the wicked, O Lord,
how long will the wicked celebrate?
The Deeds of the Wicked
4 They gush. They speak arrogantly.
All the evildoers brag about themselves.
5 They crush your people, O Lord.
They oppress the people that belong to you.
6 They kill the widow and the alien.
They murder the fatherless.
7 Then they say, “The Lord[a] does not see.
The God of Jacob does not understand.”
8 Understand, you brutes among the people.
You fools, when will you become wise?
Relief for the Righteous
9 The one who planted the ear—will he not hear?
The one who formed the eye—will he not observe?
10 The one who disciplines nations—will he not rebuke them?
He is the one who teaches mankind knowledge.
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of mankind.
He knows that they are just vapor.
12 How blessed is the person whom you discipline, O Lord,
whom you teach from your law.
13 You grant him rest in days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not desert his people,
and he will never forsake those who are his own.
15 Then judgment will again be based on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart will pursue it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the Lord had been my helper,
my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, “My foot has slipped,”
your mercy, Lord, upheld me.
19 When my worries within me were many,
your comfort brought joy to my soul.
20 Can a destructive throne be allied with you,
one that creates injustice by its decrees?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and they condemn innocent blood.
22 But the Lord has become my fortress,
and my God is the rock where I take refuge.
23 Then he will repay them for their iniquity,
and he will destroy them for their wickedness.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
17 Zion spreads out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has commanded those who surround Jacob to be his foes.
Among them, Jerusalem has become an unclean thing.
18 The Lord is righteous. I am the one who rebelled against the word from his mouth.
Please listen, all you peoples, and see my pain.
My virgins and my best young men have gone into captivity.
19 I called to my lovers, but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders perished in the city,
as they sought food for themselves to restore their lives.
20 See, Lord, I am in distress. My emotions are in turmoil.
My heart turns over inside me, because I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword takes away my children.
Inside, there is death.
21 People have heard that I am groaning. There is no one who comforts me.
All my enemies have heard about my misery, and they rejoiced that you did this.
Bring on the day that you have announced, so that they may become like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before you. Deal harshly with them,
just as you dealt harshly with me because of all my rebellion.
Yes, my groans are many, and my heart is sick.
8 Brothers,[a] we do not want you to be unaware of the trouble that happened to us in the province of Asia. We were burdened so greatly, so far beyond our ability to bear it, that we even gave up hope of living. 9 Yes, we even felt the sentence of death within ourselves. This happened so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. 10 He rescued us from such a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. We have set our hope on him that he will also rescue us again, 11 as you join in helping us with your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God for the gracious gift given to us through many prayers.
Paul Explains a Change in Plans
12 Indeed, this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with God-given holiness[b] and sincerity, not with the wisdom of the flesh, but rather in God’s grace—especially toward you. 13 In fact, we are not writing you anything other than what you read or also understand. And I hope you will understand completely— 14 as you have also understood us in part—that on the day of our Lord Jesus we are going to be your reason for boasting, just as you are our reason.
15 In this confidence, I was planning to visit you first, so that you would have a second gracious gift. 16 Then I planned to travel from you on to Macedonia, and to return again from Macedonia to you to receive help from you on my way to Judea. 17 So when I made this plan, I did not do it lightly, did I? Or the things I plan, am I planning them the way the sinful flesh does, so that I would be saying both “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?
18 As surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us (by me, Silas,[c] and Timothy), was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him the “Yes” stands firm. 20 In fact, as many promises as God has made, they have always been “Yes” in him. For that reason we also say “Amen” through him to the glory of God.
21 God is the one who makes both us and you to be strong in Christ. He anointed us. 22 He sealed us as his own and gave us the Spirit as the down payment in our hearts.
Jesus’ Authority Is Questioned
27 They went into Jerusalem again. As he was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the elders came to him. 28 They asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”
29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.”
31 They discussed this with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’. . . .” (They feared the crowd, because everybody held that John really was a prophet.) 33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.