Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. (A)On [a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, (B)do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, (C)heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly (D)troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 (E)For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy
To the Chief Musician. (A)On [a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
12 Help,[b] Lord, for the godly man (B)ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 (C)They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and [c]a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord [d]cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks [e]proud things,
4 Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are (D)pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
God the Refuge of the Righteous
94 O Lord God, (A)to whom vengeance belongs—
O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O (B)Judge of the earth;
[a]Render punishment to the proud.
3 Lord, (C)how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked triumph?
4 They (D)utter speech, and speak insolent things;
All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
And afflict Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger,
And murder the fatherless.
7 (E)Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob [b]understand.”
8 Understand, you senseless among the people;
And you fools, when will you be wise?
9 (F)He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who [c]instructs the [d]nations, shall He not correct,
He who teaches man knowledge?
11 The Lord (G)knows the thoughts of man,
That they are futile.
12 Blessed is the man whom You (H)instruct, O Lord,
And teach out of Your law,
13 That You may give him [e]rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not [f]cast off His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
15 But judgment will return to righteousness,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?
Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
My soul would soon have settled in silence.
18 If I say, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.
19 In the multitude of my anxieties within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall (I)the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law,
Have fellowship with You?
21 They gather together against the life of the righteous,
And condemn (J)innocent blood.
22 But the Lord has been my defense,
And my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He has brought on them their own iniquity,
And shall [g]cut them off in their own wickedness;
The Lord our God shall cut them off.
17 (A)Zion [a]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those (B)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (C)righteous,
For I (D)rebelled against His [b]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20 “See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My (E)soul[c] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
(F)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are (G)glad that You have done it.
Bring on (H)the day You have [d]announced,
That they may become like me.
22 “Let(I) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
Delivered from Suffering
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of (A)our [a]trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should (B)not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 (C)who delivered us from so great a death, and [b]does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also (D)helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on [c]our behalf (E)for the gift granted to us through many.
Paul’s Sincerity
12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in [d]simplicity and (F)godly sincerity, (G)not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. 13 For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end 14 (as also you have understood us in part), (H)that we are your boast as (I)you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Sparing the Church
15 And in this confidence (J)I intended to come to you before, that you might have (K)a second benefit— 16 to pass by way of you to Macedonia, (L)to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan (M)according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? 18 But as God is (N)faithful, our [e]word to you was not Yes and No. 19 For (O)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, (P)Silvanus, and (Q)Timothy—was not Yes and No, (R)but in Him was Yes. 20 (S)For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and (T)has anointed us is God, 22 who (U)also has sealed us and (V)given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Jesus’ Authority Questioned(A)
27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. (B)And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, “By what (C)authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The (D)baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for (E)all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.”
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.