Book of Common Prayer
Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
31 (A)In you, O Lord, do I (B)take refuge;
(C)let me never be put to shame;
in your (D)righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!
Be (E)a rock of (F)refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
3 For you are my rock and my fortress;
and for your (G)name's sake you lead me and guide me;
4 you (H)take me out of (I)the net they have hidden for me,
for you are my (J)refuge.
5 (K)Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, (L)faithful God.
6 I (M)hate[a] those who pay (N)regard to worthless (O)idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have (P)known the distress of my soul,
8 and you have not (Q)delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in (R)a broad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am (S)in distress;
(T)my eye is wasted from grief;
my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
and (U)my bones waste away.
11 Because of all my adversaries I have become (V)a reproach,
especially to my (W)neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street (X)flee from me.
12 I have been (Y)forgotten like one who is dead;
I have become like (Z)a broken vessel.
13 For I (AA)hear the whispering of many—
terror on every side!—
(AB)as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14 But I (AC)trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My (AD)times are in your hand;
(AE)rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16 (AF)Make your face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love!
17 O Lord, (AG)let me not be put to shame,
for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go (AH)silently to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
which (AI)speak (AJ)insolently against the righteous
in pride and contempt.
19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
(AK)in the sight of the children of mankind!
20 In (AL)the cover of your presence you hide them
from the plots of men;
you (AM)store them in your shelter
from the strife of tongues.
Great Is the Lord
Of David.
35 Contend, O Lord, with those who (A)contend with me;
(B)fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of (C)shield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin[a]
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
4 (D)Let them be (E)put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be (F)turned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like (G)chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and (H)slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7 For (I)without cause (J)they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug (K)a pit for my life.[b]
8 Let (L)destruction come upon him (M)when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
(N)exulting in his salvation.
10 All my (O)bones shall say,
“O Lord, (P)who is like you,
delivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 (Q)Malicious[c] witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 (R)They repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.[d]
13 But I, (S)when they were sick—
I (T)wore sackcloth;
I (U)afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed (V)with head bowed[e] on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I (W)bowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
(X)wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,[f]
they (Y)gnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you (Z)look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
(AA)my precious life from the lions!
18 I will thank you in (AB)the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 (AC)Let not those rejoice over me
who are (AD)wrongfully my foes,
and let not those (AE)wink the eye
who (AF)hate me (AG)without cause.
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They (AH)open wide their mouths against me;
they say, (AI)“Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
22 (AJ)You have seen, O Lord; (AK)be not silent!
O Lord, (AL)be not far from me!
23 Awake and (AM)rouse yourself for (AN)my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 (AO)Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and (AP)let them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
(AQ)“Aha, our heart's desire!”
Let them not say, (AR)“We have swallowed him up.”
Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
19 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These (A)ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you (B)magnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has (C)put me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I (D)cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
14 My relatives (A)have failed me,
my close (B)friends have forgotten me.
15 The guests (C)in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my (D)wife,
and I am a stench to the children of (E)my own mother.
18 Even young (F)children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my (G)intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My (H)bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has (I)touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, (J)pursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were (K)inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron (L)pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I (M)know that my (N)Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the (O)earth.[a]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in[b] my flesh I shall (P)see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not (Q)another.
My heart (R)faints within me!
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And (A)John left them and returned (B)to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And (C)on the Sabbath day (D)they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After (E)the reading from (F)the Law and the Prophets, (G)the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any (H)word of encouragement for the people, say it.” 16 So Paul stood up, and (I)motioning with his hand said:
“Men of Israel and (J)you who fear God, listen. 17 (K)The God of this people Israel (L)chose our fathers and (M)made the people great (N)during their stay in the land of Egypt, and (O)with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for about (P)forty years (Q)he put up with[a] them in the wilderness. 19 And (R)after destroying (S)seven nations in the land of Canaan, (T)he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. And after that (U)he gave them judges until (V)Samuel the prophet. 21 Then (W)they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul (X)the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And (Y)when he had removed him, (Z)he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, (AA)‘I have found in David the son of Jesse (AB)a man after my heart, (AC)who will do all my will.’ 23 (AD)Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel (AE)a Savior, Jesus, (AF)as he promised. 24 Before his coming, (AG)John had proclaimed (AH)a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, (AI)he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
18 (A)The Jews[a] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things (B)because they feared the Jews, for (C)the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should (D)confess Jesus[b] to be Christ, (E)he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, (F)“He is of age; ask him.”
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, (G)“Give glory to God. We know that (H)this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I (I)was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, (J)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but (K)we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, (L)we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is (M)an amazing thing! (N)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that (O)God does not listen to sinners, but (P)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 (Q)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, (R)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they (S)cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in (T)the Son of Man?”[c] 36 He answered, (U)“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and (V)it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, (W)“For judgment I came into this world, (X)that those who do not see may see, and (Y)those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, (Z)“Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, (AA)you would have no guilt;[d] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.