Book of Common Prayer
Trust in God Concerning the Treachery of Friends
To the Chief Musician. With [a]stringed instruments. A [b]Contemplation of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and hear me;
I (A)am[c] restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
(B)For they bring down trouble upon me,
And in wrath they hate me.
4 (C)My heart is severely pained within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,
And horror has overwhelmed me.
6 So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Indeed, I would wander far off,
And remain in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hasten my escape
From the windy storm and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their [d]tongues,
For I have seen (D)violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls;
(E)Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.
11 Destruction is in its midst;
(F)Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets.
12 (G)For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;
Then I could bear it.
Nor is it one who hates me who has (H)exalted himself against me;
Then I could hide from him.
13 But it was you, a man my equal,
(I)My companion and my acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together,
And (J)walked to the house of God in the throng.
15 Let death seize them;
Let them (K)go down alive into [e]hell,
For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God,
And the Lord shall save me.
17 (L)Evening and morning and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud,
And He shall hear my voice.
18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,
For (M)there were many against me.
19 God will hear, and afflict them,
(N)Even He who abides from of old. Selah
Because they do not change,
Therefore they do not fear God.
20 He has (O)put forth his hands against those who (P)were at peace with him;
He has broken his [f]covenant.
21 (Q)The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But war was in his heart;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.
The Lord’s Goodness to the Faithful
A Psalm of David.
138 I will praise You with my whole heart;
(A)Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
2 (B)I will worship (C)toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have (D)magnified Your word above all Your name.
3 In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
4 (E)All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord,
When they hear the words of Your mouth.
5 Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
For great is the glory of the Lord.
6 (F)Though the Lord is on high,
Yet (G)He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar.
7 (H)Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
8 (I)The Lord will [a]perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
(J)Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, (K)You have searched me and known me.
2 (L)You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You (M)understand my thought afar off.
3 (N)You [b]comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, (O)You know it altogether.
5 You have [c]hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 (P)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 (Q)Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 (R)If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
(S)If I make my bed in [d]hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall [e]fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, (T)the darkness [f]shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You [g]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [h]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 (U)My [i]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 (V)How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 Oh, that You would (W)slay the wicked, O God!
(X)Depart from me, therefore, you [j]bloodthirsty men.
20 For they (Y)speak against You wickedly;
[k]Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 (Z)Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with [l]perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 (AA)Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
18 So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. 19 And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 20 He took (A)the Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, (B)hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
22 (C)He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; 23 (D)and he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 24 (E)He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; 25 and (F)he lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26 (G)He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; 27 (H)and he burned sweet incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 28 (I)He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle. 29 (J)And he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and (K)offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 (L)He set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing; 31 and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would (M)wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 32 Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, (N)as the Lord had commanded Moses. 33 (O)And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses (P)finished the work.
The Cloud and the Glory(Q)
34 (R)Then the (S)cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the (T)glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses (U)was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 (V)Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would [a]go onward in all their journeys. 37 But (W)if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For (X)the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Plea for Purity
4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus (A)that you should abound more and more, (B)just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is (C)the will of God, (D)your sanctification: (E)that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 (F)that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 (G)not in passion of lust, (H)like the Gentiles (I)who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord (J)is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, (K)but in holiness. 8 (L)Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, (M)who[a] has also given us His Holy Spirit.
A Brotherly and Orderly Life
9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for (N)you yourselves are taught by God (O)to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, (P)that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, (Q)to mind your own business, and (R)to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 (S)that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
Go the Second Mile(A)
38 “You have heard that it was said, (B)‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 (C)But I tell you not to resist an evil person. (D)But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever (E)compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and (F)from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Love Your Enemies(G)
43 “You have heard that it was said, (H)‘You shall love your neighbor (I)and hate your enemy.’ 44 [a]But I say to you, (J)love your enemies, bless those who curse you, (K)do good to those who hate you, and pray (L)for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for (M)He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 (N)For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your [b]brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the [c]tax collectors do so? 48 (O)Therefore you shall be perfect, just (P)as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.