Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Protection from the Wicked.
To the Chief Musician; on wind instruments. A Psalm of David.
5 Listen to my words, O Lord,
Consider my groaning and sighing.
2
Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,
For to You I pray.
3
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will prepare [a prayer and a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].
4
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil [person] dwells with You.
5
The boastful and the arrogant will not stand in Your sight;
You hate all who do evil.
6
You destroy those who tell lies;
The Lord detests and rejects the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7
But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and tender mercy;
At Your holy temple I will bow [obediently] in reverence for You.
8
O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight (direct, right) before me.
9
For there is nothing trustworthy or reliable or truthful in what they say;
Their heart is destruction [just a treacherous chasm, a yawning gulf of lies].
Their throat is an open grave;
They [glibly] flatter with their [silken] tongue.(A)
10
Hold them guilty, O God;
Let them fall by their own designs and councils!
Cast them out because of the abundance of their transgressions,
For they are mutinous and have rebelled against You.
11
But let all who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice,
Let them ever sing for joy;
Because You cover and shelter them,
Let those who love Your name be joyful and exult in You.
12
For You, O Lord, bless the righteous man [the one who is in right standing with You];
You surround him with favor as with a shield.
Prayer for Mercy in Time of Trouble.
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, set [possibly] an octave below. A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, do not rebuke or punish me in Your anger,
Nor discipline me in Your wrath.
2
Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak (faint, frail);
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed and anguished.
3
My soul [as well as my body] is greatly dismayed.
But as for You, O Lord—how long [until You act on my behalf]?
4
Return, O Lord, rescue my soul;
Save me because of Your [unfailing] steadfast love and mercy.
5
For in death there is no mention of You;
In Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) who will praise You and give You thanks?
6
I am weary with my groaning;
Every night I soak my bed with tears,
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7
My eye grows dim with grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
8
Depart from me, all you who do evil,
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.(B)
9
The Lord has heard my supplication [my plea for grace];
The Lord receives my prayer.
10
Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly horrified;
Let them turn back, let them suddenly be ashamed [of what they have done].
A Prayer for the Overthrow of the Wicked.
10 Why do You stand far away, O Lord?
Why do You hide [Yourself, veiling Your eyes] in times of trouble?
2
In pride and arrogance the wicked hotly pursue and persecute the afflicted;
Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
3
For the wicked boasts and sings the praises of his heart’s desire,
And the greedy man curses and spurns [and even despises] the Lord.
4
The wicked, in the haughtiness of his face, will not seek nor inquire for Him;
All his thoughts are, “There is no God [so there is no accountability or punishment].”
5
His ways prosper at all times;
Your judgments [Lord] are on high, out of his sight [so he never thinks about them];
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
6
He says to himself, “I will not be moved;
For throughout all generations I will not be in adversity [for nothing bad will happen to me].”
7
His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression;
Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].
8
He lurks in ambush in the villages;
In hiding places he kills the innocent;
He lies in wait for the unfortunate [the unhappy, the poor, the helpless].
9
He lurks in a hiding place like a lion in his lair;
He lies in wait to catch the afflicted;
He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net.
10
He crushes [his prey] and crouches;
And the unfortunate fall by his mighty claws.
11
He says to himself, “God has [quite] forgotten;
He has hidden His face; He will never see my deed.”
12
Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand [in judgment];
Do not forget the suffering.
13
Why has the wicked spurned and shown disrespect to God?
He has said to himself, “You will not require me to account.”
14
You have seen it, for You have noted mischief and vexation (irritation) to take it into Your hand.
The unfortunate commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
15
Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer,
Seek out his wickedness until You find no more.
16
The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations will perish from His land.
17
O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble and oppressed;
You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to hear,
18
To vindicate and obtain justice for the fatherless and the oppressed,
So that man who is of the earth will no longer terrify them.
The Lord a Refuge and Defense.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
11 In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust];
How can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to your mountain;
2
For look, the wicked are bending the bow;
They take aim with their arrow on the string
To shoot [by stealth] in darkness at the upright in heart.
3
“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
4
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of men.(A)
5
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And His soul hates the [malevolent] one who loves violence.(B)
6
Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire;
Fire and [a]brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].
7
For the Lord is [absolutely] righteous, He loves righteousness (virtue, morality, justice);
The upright shall see His face.
Zion Corrupted, to Be Redeemed
21
How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
22
Your silver has turned to [a]lead,
Your wine is diluted with water.
23
Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes
And chases after gifts.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the widow’s cause come before them [instead they delay or turn a deaf ear].
24
Therefore the Lord God of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will be freed of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My enemies.
25
“And I will turn My hand against you,
And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye
And remove all your tin (impurity).
26
“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
Afterward you will be called the city of righteousness,
The faithful city.”
27
Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with righteousness.
28
But rebels and sinners will be crushed and destroyed together,
And those who abandon (turn away from) the Lord will be consumed (perish).
29
For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure,
And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].
30
For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies
And like a garden that has no water.
31
The strong man will become tinder,
And his work a spark.
So both will burn together
And there will be none to quench them.
Paul’s Ministry
2 For you know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you has not been ineffective (fruitless, in vain), 2 but after we had already suffered and been outrageously treated in Philippi, as you know, yet in [the strength of] our God we summoned the courage to proclaim boldly to you the good news of God [regarding salvation] amid great opposition. 3 For our appeal does not come from delusion or impure motives, nor [is it motivated] by deceit [our message is complete, accurate, and based on the truth—it does not change]. 4 But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel [that tells the good news of salvation through faith in Christ], so we speak, not as [if we were trying] to please people [to gain power and popularity], but to please God who examines our hearts [expecting our best]. 5 For as you well know, we never came with words of flattery nor with a pretext for greed—God is our witness— 6 nor did we seek glory and honor from people, neither from you nor from anyone else, though as apostles of Christ we had the power to assert our authority. 7 But we behaved gently when we were among you, like a devoted mother tenderly caring for her own children. 8 Having such a deep affection for you, we [a]were delighted to share with you not only God’s good news but also our own lives, because you had become so very dear to us.
9 For you remember, [b]believers, our labor and hardship. We worked night and day [practicing our trade] in order not to be a [financial] burden to any of you while we proclaimed the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how unworldly and just and blameless was our behavior toward you who believe [in our Lord Jesus Christ]. 11 For you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you just as a father does [in dealing with] his own children, [guiding you] 12 to live lives [of honor, moral courage, and personal integrity] worthy of the God who [saves you and] calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Parable of the Vineyard Owner
9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time [to another country].(A) 10 At harvest time he sent a servant [as his representative] to the tenants, so that they would give him his share of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. 11 So he again sent another servant; they also beat him and dishonored and treated him disgracefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third; and this one too they wounded and threw out [of the vineyard]. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will have respect for him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘This [man] is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and put these tenants to death and will give the vineyard to others.” When the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders heard this, they said, “May it never be!” 17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is [the meaning of] this that is written:
‘The [very] Stone which the builders rejected,
this became the chief Cornerstone’?(B)
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken and shattered in pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”(C)
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