Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I (Psalms 1-41)
The Righteous and the Wicked[a]
1 How blessed is the person,
who does not take[b] the advice of the wicked,
who does not stand on the path with sinners,
and who does not sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But he delights in the Lord’s instruction,[c]
and meditates in his instruction[d] day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
yielding its fruit in its season,
and whose leaf does not wither.
He will prosper in everything he does.
4 But this is not the case with the wicked.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not escape[e] judgment,
nor will sinners have a place[f] in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will be destroyed.
The Nations and God’s Anointed
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and their people involved in a vain plot?
2 As the kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say,[g]
3 “Let us tear off their shackles from us,[h]
and cast off their chains.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 In his anger he rebukes them,
and in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I have set my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
The Anointed King Speaks
7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord
that he told me:
“You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
you will shatter them like pottery.”
10 Therefore, kings, act wisely!
Earthly rulers, be warned!
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss[i] the son before he becomes[j] angry,
and you die where you stand.[k]
Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him.
A Davidic Psalm, when he fled from his son Absalom.
God Delivers His Servants
3 Lord, I have so many persecutors!
Many are rising up against me!
2 Many are saying about me,
“God will never deliver him!”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud[l] to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep,
I wake up, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear multitudes of[m] people,
who set themselves against me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
For you strike the jaw of all my enemies,
and you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic Psalm
Trust God under Adversity
4 When I call, answer me,
my righteous God![n]
When I was in distress, you set me free.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 You people,
how long will you malign my reputation?
How long will you love what is vain[o]
and what is false?
3 But understand this:[p]
the Lord has set apart the godly for himself!
The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him!
A Davidic psalm,[a] which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.
A Prayer for Vindication
7 Lord, my God,
I seek refuge in you.
Deliver me from those who persecute me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me to shreds like a lion,
tearing me[b] apart with no one to rescue me.[c]
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this thing,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil,
if I have plundered my enemy without justification,
5 then, let my enemy pursue me,
let him overtake me,
and let him trample my life to the ground.
Let him put my honor into the dust.
6 Get up, Lord, in your anger!
Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies;
Arouse yourself for me;
you have ordained justice.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and you will sit[d] high above them.
8 For the Lord will judge the peoples.
Judge me according to my righteousness, Lord,
and according to my integrity, Exalted One.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
For you are the righteous God
who discerns the inner thoughts.[e]
10 God is my shield,[f]
the one who delivers the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry with sinners[g] every day.
12 If the ungodly one[h] doesn’t repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and prepare it.
13 He prepares weapons of death for himself,
he makes his arrows into fiery shafts.
14 But the wicked one[i] travails with evil,
he conceives malice and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit, even excavates it;
then he fell into the hole that he had made.
16 The trouble[j] he planned will return on his own head,
and his violence will descend on his skull.
17 But as for me,
I will praise the Lord for his righteousness,
and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the water to retreat by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. As the waters were divided, 22 the Israelis went into the middle of the sea on dry land, and the waters formed a wall for them on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued—all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen—and they went into the middle of the sea after them. 24 In the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian camp into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots wobble[a] so that they drove them with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from Israel because the Lord is fighting for them and against us.”[b]
The Egyptians Drown in the Sea
26 Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea and the water will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, and over their horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the water returned to its normal depth at daybreak. The Egyptians tried to retreat in front of the advancing water,[c] but the Lord destroyed[d] the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The water returned, covering the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s entire army that had pursued the Israelis into the sea. Not a single one of them remained. 29 But the Israelis walked through the middle of the sea on dry land, and the water stood like a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 On that day the Lord delivered Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead along the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great force[e] by which the Lord had acted against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord and Moses his servant.
Greetings
1 From:[a] Peter, an apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.[b]
To: The exiles of the Dispersion[c] in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 the people chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying action of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus, the Messiah,[d] and to be sprinkled with his blood.
May grace and peace be yours in abundance!
Our Hope and Joy are in the Messiah
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah![e] Because of his great mercy he has granted us a new birth, resulting in an immortal hope through the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah,[f] from the dead 4 and to an inheritance kept in heaven for you that can’t be destroyed, corrupted, or changed. 5 Through faith you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of this era. 6 You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while, 7 so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah,[g] is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen[h] him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Even the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, carefully researched and investigated this salvation. 11 They tried to find out what era or specific time the Spirit of the Messiah[i] in them kept referring to when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah[j] and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who brought you the good news through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things that even the angels desire to look into.
Jesus the Way to the Father
14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God, believe also in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there weren’t, I wouldn’t have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you, would I? 3 And since[b] I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am. 4 You know where I am going, and you know the way.”
5 Thomas asked him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip told him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”
9 “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” Jesus asked him. “The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 You believe, don’t you, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I don’t speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who carries out his work. 11 Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me[c] because of what I’ve been doing.[d] 12 Truly, I tell all of you[e] emphatically, the one who believes in me will also do what I’m doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I’m going to the Father. 13 I’ll do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[f] for anything in my name, I will do it.”
The Promise of the Helper
15 “If you love me, keep[g] my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father to give[h] you another Helper, to be with you always. 17 He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. But you recognize him, because he lives with you and will be in[i] you.
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