Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55
My Friend Betrays Me
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A maskil by David.
Opening Plea
1 Turn your ear to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
The Problem
I am troubled in my thoughts and I groan
3 because of talk from the enemy,
because of oppression from the wicked,
because they dump evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me.
The terrors of death fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come over me.
Horror covers me.
6 So I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find a place to rest.
7 Yes, I would flee far away. Interlude
I would stay in the wilderness.
8 I would hurry to find shelter,
far from the violent wind, far from the storm.”
9 Swallow them up, O Lord.
Confuse their speech,
for I see violence and contention in the city.
10 Day and night they sneak around on its walls.
Evil and trouble are in the city.
11 Destruction lurks within it.
Treachery and deceit never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could bear that.
It is not someone who hated me who rises up against me—
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who served with me,
my colleague and my associate,
14 with whom I shared pleasant discussions
as we walked with the excited crowd at God’s house.
Plea for Judgment
15 Let deadly destruction come on them.
Let them go down to the grave alive,
because evil is at home in their hearts.
Confidence in Judgment
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning, and noon I cry out and I sigh,
and he hears my voice.
18 In peace he redeems my life from the assault against me,
even when many are against me.
19 God will hear, and he will punish them— Interlude
yes, he is seated on his throne from eternity!
—because they never change, and they do not fear God.
The Traitor’s Treachery
20 The traitor reaches out his hand against those at peace with him.
He breaks his agreement.[a]
21 His flattery is as smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn daggers.
God’s Solution
22 Place your burden on the Lord,
and he will support you.
He will never allow the righteous to fall.
23 But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.
Bloody and deceitful men will not live half their days.
But as for me, I will trust in you.
Psalm 138
May the Kings Praise You
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By David.
Thanks From a Grateful Heart
1 I will thank you with all my heart.
Before the gods[a] I will make music for you.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple.
I will give thanks to your name
because of your mercy and because of your truth.
Yes, you made your word even greater than your name.[b]
3 By day I called, and you answered me.
You have made my soul strong.
4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Lord,
when they have heard the message from your mouth.
5 Then they will sing about the ways of the Lord,
because the glory of the Lord is great.
6 Indeed the Lord is exalted, but he sees the lowly,
and he recognizes the proud from a distance.
7 If I walk surrounded by danger, you keep me alive
in spite of the anger of my enemies.
You stretch out your hand.
You save me with your right hand.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose[c] for me.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Do not let go of the works[d] of your hands.
Psalm 139
God’s Attributes—Too Wonderful for Me!
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For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
God Is All-Knowing
1 Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
3 You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,[e]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before there is a word on my tongue,
you, Lord, already know it completely.
5 You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.
God Is Present Everywhere
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?[f]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
9 I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
10 Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
11 And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
12 then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
God Is Powerful and Good
13 For you created my inner organs.[g]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
17 Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
God Is Holy
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
20 men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
22 I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
23 Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
18 Moses raised the Dwelling. He laid out its socket bases, set up its boards, inserted its crossbars, and raised its posts. 19 He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the cover for the tent above it,[a] just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
20 He took the Testimony and put it into the ark. He set the poles in place on the ark and placed the atonement seat on top of the ark. 21 He brought the ark into the tent. He set up the special veil to screen the Ark of the Testimony, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
22 He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tent, outside of the veil. 23 He set the bread in order on the table in the presence of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
24 He put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tent. 25 He lit the lamps before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
26 He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the veil. 27 He burned incense of fragrant spices on it, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 28 He put up the screen for the entryway to the tent. 29 He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting, and offered the burnt offering and the grain offering on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
30 He set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it, with which to wash. 31 Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons washed their hands and their feet there. 32 When they went into the Tent of Meeting and when they came near the altar, they washed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
33 He erected the courtyard around the tent and the altar and set up the screen of the gate of the courtyard. So Moses completed the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tent. 35 Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed over it, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tent. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the people of Israel would move forward. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they would not travel until the day when it was taken up. 38 For in the sight of the whole house of Israel, the cloud of the Lord was above the tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, throughout all their journeys.
Instruction Concerning Sexual Propriety
4 Therefore, beyond this, brothers, just as you received instruction from us about how you are to walk[a] so as to please God (as indeed you are doing), we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that you do so even more. 2 To be sure, you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 Indeed, this is God’s will: that you be sanctified, namely, that you keep yourselves away from sexual immorality. 4 He wants each of you to learn to obtain a wife[b] for yourself[c] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in lustful passion like the heathen, who do not know God. 6 No one is to overstep and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we said previously and solemnly testified to it. 7 For God did not call us for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Consequently, whoever rejects this is not rejecting a man, but the God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Instruction Concerning Brotherly Love and Labor
9 Concerning brotherly love, there is no need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God, with the result that you love one another. 10 In fact, you are doing so toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do this even more, 11 and to make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, just as we instructed you. 12 Do this so that you are conducting yourselves decently toward outsiders and are not lacking anything.
Love Your Enemies
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evildoer. If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you to take away your shirt, give him your coat too. 41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 Indeed if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even tax collectors do that, don’t they? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the unbelievers do that? 48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.