Book of Common Prayer
Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my (A)groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my (B)King and my God,
for (C)to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in (D)the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[a] and (E)watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The (F)boastful shall not (G)stand before your eyes;
you (H)hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak (I)lies;
the Lord abhors (J)the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will (K)bow down (L)toward your (M)holy temple
in the fear of you.
8 (N)Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
(O)make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is (P)destruction;
(Q)their throat is (R)an open grave;
they (S)flatter with their tongue.
10 (T)Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them (U)fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who (V)take refuge in you (W)rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may (X)exult in you.
12 For you (Y)bless the righteous, O Lord;
you (Z)cover him with favor as with (AA)a shield.
O Lord, Deliver My Life
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to (AB)The Sheminith.[b] A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, (AC)rebuke me not in your anger,
nor (AD)discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
(AE)heal me, O Lord, (AF)for my bones are troubled.
3 My (AG)soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—(AH)how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in (AI)death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
Why Do You Hide Yourself?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them (D)be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked (E)boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain (F)curses[a] and (G)renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face[b] the wicked does not (H)seek him;[c]
all his thoughts are, (I)“There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, (J)out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he (K)puffs at them.
6 He (L)says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I (M)shall not meet adversity.”
7 (N)His mouth is filled with cursing and (O)deceit and (P)oppression;
(Q)under his tongue are (R)mischief and (S)iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in (T)hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like (U)a lion in his (V)thicket;
he (W)lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his (X)net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has (Y)hidden his face, he (Z)will never see it.”
12 (AA)Arise, O Lord; O God, (AB)lift up your hand;
(AC)forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked (AD)renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not (AE)call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you (AF)note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless (AG)commits himself;
you have been (AH)the helper of the fatherless.
15 (AI)Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
(AJ)call his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 (AK)The Lord is king forever and ever;
the (AL)nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will (AM)strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to (AN)do justice to the fatherless and (AO)the oppressed,
so that (AP)man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
11 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
(AQ)“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked (AR)bend the bow;
(AS)they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if (AT)the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”[d]
4 (AU)The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's (AV)throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids (AW)test the children of man.
5 The Lord (AX)tests the righteous,
but (AY)his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
(AZ)fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be (BA)the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he (BB)loves righteous deeds;
(BC)the upright shall behold his face.
Cities for the Levites
35 The Lord spoke to Moses in (A)the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 2 (B)“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts.
Cities of Refuge
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, (A)When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 (B)then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities that you give shall be your (C)six cities of refuge. 14 (D)You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and (E)for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.
30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the (A)evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32 And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not (B)pollute the land in which you live, for blood (C)pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except (D)by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 (E)You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, (F)for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? (A)If God is for us, who can be[a] against us? 32 (B)He who did not spare his own Son but (C)gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? (D)It is God who justifies. 34 (E)Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—(F)who is at the right hand of God, (G)who indeed is interceding for us.[b] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
(H)“For your sake (I)we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than (J)conquerors through (K)him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
13 “But woe (A)to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you (B)shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you (C)neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.[a] 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single (D)proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a (E)child of (F)hell[b] as yourselves.
16 “Woe to (G)you, (H)blind guides, who say, (I)‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or (J)the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by (K)the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or (L)the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by (M)him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by (N)heaven swears by (O)the throne of God and by (P)him who sits upon it.
23 (Q)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For (R)you tithe mint and dill and (S)cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: (T)justice and mercy and faithfulness. (U)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing (V)a camel!
25 (W)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For (X)you clean the outside of (Y)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of (Z)greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of (AA)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.