Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18[a]
For the music director, by the Lord’s servant David, who sang[b] to the Lord the words of this song when[c] the Lord rescued him from the power[d] of all his enemies, including Saul.[e]
18 He said:[f]
“I love[g] you, Lord, my source of strength![h]
2 The Lord is my high ridge,[i] my stronghold,[j] my deliverer.
My God is my rocky summit where[k] I take shelter,[l]
my shield, the horn that saves me,[m] and my refuge.[n]
3 I called[o] to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,[p]
and I was delivered from my enemies.
4 The waves[q] of death engulfed me,
the currents[r] of chaos[s] overwhelmed me.[t]
5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me,[u]
the snares of death trapped me.[v]
6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried out to my God.[w]
From his heavenly temple[x] he heard my voice;
he listened to my cry for help.[y]
7 The earth heaved and shook.[z]
The roots of the mountains[aa] trembled;[ab]
they heaved because he was angry.
8 Smoke ascended from[ac] his nose;[ad]
fire devoured as it came from his mouth.[ae]
He hurled down fiery coals.[af]
9 He made the sky sink[ag] as he descended;
a thick cloud was under his feet.
10 He mounted[ah] a winged angel[ai] and flew;
he glided[aj] on the wings of the wind.[ak]
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,[al]
in thick rain clouds.[am]
12 From the brightness in front of him came
hail and fiery coals.[an]
13 The Lord thundered[ao] in[ap] the sky;
the Most High[aq] shouted.[ar]
14 He shot his[as] arrows and scattered them,[at]
many lightning bolts[au] and routed them.[av]
15 The depths[aw] of the sea[ax] were exposed;
the inner regions[ay] of the world were uncovered
by[az] your battle cry,[ba] Lord,
by the powerful breath from your nose.[bb]
16 He reached down[bc] from above and took hold of me;
he pulled me from the surging water.[bd]
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy,[be]
from those who hate me,
for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted[bf] me in my day of calamity,
but the Lord helped me.[bg]
19 He brought me out into a wide open place;
he delivered me because he was pleased with me.[bh]
20 The Lord repaid[bi] me for my godly deeds;[bj]
he rewarded[bk] my blameless behavior.[bl]
21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands;[bm]
I have not rebelled against my God.[bn]
22 For I am aware of all his regulations,[bo]
and I do not reject his rules.[bp]
23 I was innocent before him,
and kept myself from sinning.[bq]
24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds;[br]
he took notice of my blameless behavior.[bs]
25 You prove to be loyal[bt] to one who is faithful;[bu]
you prove to be trustworthy[bv] to one who is innocent.[bw]
26 You prove to be reliable[bx] to one who is blameless,
but you prove to be deceptive[by] to one who is perverse.[bz]
27 For you deliver oppressed[ca] people,
but you bring down those who have a proud look.[cb]
28 Indeed,[cc] you light my lamp, Lord.[cd]
My God[ce] illuminates the darkness around me.[cf]
29 Indeed,[cg] with your help[ch] I can charge against[ci] an army;[cj]
by my God’s power[ck] I can jump over a wall.[cl]
30 The one true God acts in a faithful manner;[cm]
the Lord’s promise[cn] is reliable.[co]
He is a shield to all who take shelter[cp] in him.
31 Indeed,[cq] who is God besides the Lord?
Who is a protector[cr] besides our God?[cs]
32 The one true God[ct] gives[cu] me strength;[cv]
he removes[cw] the obstacles in my way.[cx]
33 He gives me the agility of a deer;[cy]
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.[cz]
34 He trains my hands for battle;[da]
my arms can bend even the strongest bow.[db]
35 You give me your protective shield;[dc]
your right hand supports me.[dd]
Your willingness to help[de] enables me to prevail.[df]
36 You widen my path;[dg]
my feet[dh] do not slip.
37 I chase my enemies and catch[di] them;
I do not turn back until I wipe them out.
38 I beat them[dj] to death;[dk]
they fall at my feet.[dl]
39 You give me strength[dm] for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me.[dn]
40 You make my enemies retreat;[do]
I destroy those who hate me.[dp]
41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them;[dq]
they cry out to the Lord,[dr] but he does not answer them.
42 I grind them as fine windblown dust;[ds]
I beat them underfoot[dt] like clay[du] in the streets.
43 You rescue me from a hostile army.[dv]
You make me[dw] a leader of nations;
people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects.[dx]
44 When they hear of my exploits, they submit to me.[dy]
Foreigners are powerless[dz] before me.
45 Foreigners lose their courage;[ea]
they shake with fear[eb] as they leave[ec] their strongholds.[ed]
46 The Lord is alive![ee]
My Protector[ef] is praiseworthy.[eg]
The God who delivers me[eh] is exalted as king.[ei]
47 The one true God[ej] completely vindicates me;[ek]
he makes nations submit to me.[el]
48 He delivers me[em] from my enemies.
You snatch me away[en] from those who attack me;[eo]
you rescue me from violent men.
49 So I will give you thanks before the nations,[ep] O Lord.
I will sing praises to you.[eq]
50 He[er] gives his king magnificent victories;[es]
he is faithful[et] to his chosen ruler,[eu]
to David and his descendants[ev] forever.”[ew]
The People of Nineveh Respond to Jonah’s Warning
3 The Lord’s message came to Jonah a second time, 2 “Go immediately[a] to Nineveh, that large city,[b] and proclaim to[c] it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, in keeping with the Lord’s message. Now Nineveh was an enormous city[d]—it required three days to walk through it![e] 4 Jonah began to enter the city by going one day’s walk, announcing, “At the end of forty days,[f] Nineveh will be overthrown!”[g]
5 The people[h] of Nineveh believed in God,[i] and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.[j] 6 When the news[k] reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and said,[l] “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly[m] to God, and everyone[n] must turn from their[o] evil way of living[p] and from the violence that they do.[q] 9 Who knows?[r] Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent[s] and turn from his fierce anger[t] so that we might not die.”[u] 10 When God saw their actions—that they turned from their evil way of living.[v]—God relented concerning the judgment[w] he had threatened them with[x] and did not destroy them.[y]
Jonah Responds to God’s Kindness
4 This displeased Jonah terribly[z] and he became very angry.[aa] 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought[ab] would happen[ac] when I was in my own country.[ad] This is what I tried to prevent[ae] by attempting to escape to Tarshish,[af] because I knew[ag] that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger[ah] and abounding[ai] in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.[aj] 3 So now, Lord, kill me instead,[ak] because I would rather die than live!”[al] 4 The Lord said, “Are you really so very[am] angry?”[an]
5 Jonah left the city and sat down east[ao] of it.[ap] He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.[aq] 6 The Lord God appointed[ar] a little plant[as] and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue[at] him from his misery.[au] Now Jonah was very delighted[av] about the little plant.
7 So God sent[aw] a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. 8 When the sun began to shine, God sent[ax] a hot[ay] east wind. So the sun beat down[az] on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life[ba] and said, “I would rather die than live!”[bb]
9 God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry[bc] about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry[bd] as I could possibly be!”[be] 10 The Lord said, “You were upset[bf] about this little[bg] plant, something for which you did not work, nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day.[bh] 11 Should I[bi] not be more[bj] concerned[bk] about Nineveh, this enormous city?[bl] There are more than 120,000 people in it who do not know right from wrong,[bm] as well as many animals.”[bn]
27 When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven[a] across the Adriatic Sea,[b] about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land.[c] 28 They took soundings[d] and found the water was twenty fathoms[e] deep; when they had sailed a little farther[f] they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms[g] deep. 29 Because they were afraid[h] that we would run aground on the rocky coast,[i] they threw out[j] four anchors from the stern and wished[k] for day to appear.[l] 30 Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending[m] that they were going to put out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion[n] and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you[o] cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes[p] of the ship’s boat and let it drift away.[q]
33 As day was about to dawn,[r] Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense[s] and have gone[t] without food; you have eaten nothing.[u] 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important[v] for your survival.[w] For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, Paul[x] took bread[y] and gave thanks to God in front of them all,[z] broke[aa] it, and began to eat. 36 So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276[ab] persons on the ship.)[ac] 38 When they had eaten enough to be satisfied,[ad] they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat[ae] into the sea.
Paul is Shipwrecked
39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed[af] a bay[ag] with a beach,[ah] where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 So they slipped[ai] the anchors[aj] and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage[ak] that bound the steering oars[al] together. Then they hoisted[am] the foresail[an] to the wind and steered toward[ao] the beach. 41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents[ap] and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force[aq] of the waves. 42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners[ar] so that none of them would escape by swimming away.[as] 43 But the centurion,[at] wanting to save Paul’s life,[au] prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,[av] 44 and the rest were to follow,[aw] some on planks[ax] and some on pieces of the ship.[ay] And in this way[az] all were brought safely to land.
Peter’s Confession
18 Once[a] when Jesus[b] was praying[c] by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them,[d] “Who do the crowds say that I am?”[e] 19 They[f] answered,[g] “John the Baptist; others say Elijah;[h] and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.”[i] 20 Then[j] he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter[k] answered,[l] “The Christ[m] of God.” 21 But he forcefully commanded[n] them not to tell this to anyone,[o] 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer[p] many things and be rejected by the elders,[q] chief priests, and experts in the law,[r] and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”[s]
A Call to Discipleship
23 Then[t] he said to them all,[u] “If anyone wants to become my follower,[v] he must deny[w] himself, take up his cross daily,[x] and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life[y] will lose it,[z] but whoever loses his life because of me[aa] will save it. 25 For what does it benefit a person[ab] if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed[ac] of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person[ad] when he comes in his glory and in the glory[ae] of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you most certainly,[af] there are some standing here who will not[ag] experience[ah] death before they see the kingdom of God.”[ai]
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