Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31[a]
Prayer in Distress and Thanksgiving for Escape
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 In you, Lord, I take refuge;(A)
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me;
3 incline your ear to me;
make haste to rescue me!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to save me.
4 For you are my rock and my fortress;(B)
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
5 Free me from the net they have set for me,
for you are my refuge.
6 [b]Into your hands I commend my spirit;(C)
you will redeem me, Lord, God of truth.
7 You hate those who serve worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
8 I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy,
once you have seen my misery,
[and] gotten to know the distress of my soul.(D)
9 You will not abandon me into enemy hands,
but will set my feet in a free and open space.
II
10 Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
affliction is wearing down my eyes,
my throat and my insides.
11 My life is worn out by sorrow,
and my years by sighing.
My strength fails in my affliction;
my bones are wearing down.(E)
12 To all my foes I am a thing of scorn,
and especially to my neighbors
a horror to my friends.
When they see me in public,
they quickly shy away.(F)
13 I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
I am like a worn-out tool.[c]
14 I hear the whispers of the crowd;
terrors are all around me.[d]
They conspire together against me;
they plot to take my life.
15 But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(G)
16 My destiny is in your hands;
rescue me from my enemies,
from the hands of my pursuers.
17 Let your face shine on your servant;(H)
save me in your mercy.
18 Do not let me be put to shame,
for I have called to you, Lord.
Put the wicked to shame;
reduce them to silence in Sheol.
19 Strike dumb their lying lips,
which speak arrogantly against the righteous
in contempt and scorn.(I)
III
20 How great is your goodness, Lord,
stored up for those who fear you.
You display it for those who trust you,
in the sight of the children of Adam.
21 You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from scheming enemies.
You conceal them in your tent,
away from the strife of tongues.(J)
22 Blessed be the Lord,
marvelously he showed to me
his mercy in a fortified city.
23 Though I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your eyes.”(K)
Yet you heard my voice, my cry for mercy,
when I pleaded with you for help.
24 Love the Lord, all you who are faithful to him.
The Lord protects the loyal,
but repays the arrogant in full.
25 Be strong and take heart,
all who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 35[a]
Prayer for Help Against Unjust Enemies
1 Of David.
I
[b]Oppose, O Lord, those who oppose me;
war upon those who make war upon me.
2 Take up the shield and buckler;
rise up in my defense.
3 Brandish lance and battle-ax
against my pursuers.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4 Let those who seek my life
be put to shame and disgrace.
Let those who plot evil against me(A)
be turned back and confounded.
5 Make them like chaff before the wind,(B)
with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Make their way slippery and dark,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
II
7 Without cause they set their snare for me;
without cause they dug a pit for me.
8 Let ruin overtake them unawares;
let the snare they have set catch them;
let them fall into the pit they have dug.(C)
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord,
exult in God’s salvation.
10 My very bones shall say,
“O Lord, who is like you,(D)
Who rescue the afflicted from the powerful,
the afflicted and needy from the despoiler?”
III
11 Malicious witnesses rise up,
accuse me of things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
my soul is desolate.(E)
13 [c]Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth,
afflicted myself with fasting,
sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.
14 I went about in grief as for my brother,
bent in mourning as for my mother.
15 Yet when I stumbled they gathered with glee,
gathered against me and I did not know it.
They slandered me without ceasing;
16 without respect they mocked me,
gnashed their teeth against me.
IV
17 O Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my soul from their destruction,
my very life from lions!(F)
18 Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
I will praise you before the mighty throng.(G)
19 Do not let lying foes rejoice over me,
my undeserved enemies wink knowingly.(H)
20 They speak no words of peace,
but against the quiet in the land
they fashion deceitful speech.(I)
21 They open wide their mouths against me.
They say, “Aha! Good!
Our eyes have seen it!”(J)
22 You see this, Lord; do not be silent;(K)
Lord, do not withdraw from me.
23 Awake, be vigilant in my defense,
in my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Defend me because you are just, Lord;
my God, do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Our soul!”[d]
Do not let them say,
“We have devoured that one!”
26 Put to shame and confound
all who relish my misfortune.
Clothe with shame and disgrace
those who lord it over me.
27 But let those who favor my just cause
shout for joy and be glad.
May they ever say, “Exalted be the Lord
who delights in the peace of his loyal servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall recount your justice,
declare your praise, all the day long.(L)
Emmanuel. 10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky![a] 12 But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”[b] 13 Then he said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;[c] the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. 15 Curds and honey[d] he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good; 16 for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.
17 The Lord shall bring upon you and your people and your father’s house such days as have not come since Ephraim seceded[e] from Judah (the king of Assyria). 18 On that day
The Lord shall whistle
for the fly in the farthest streams of Egypt,
and for the bee in the land of Assyria.(A)
19 All of them shall come and settle
in the steep ravines and in the rocky clefts,
on all thornbushes and in all pastures.
20 [f]On that day the Lord shall shave with the razor hired from across the River (the king of Assyria) the head, and the hair of the feet; it shall also shave off the beard.(B)
21 On that day a man shall keep alive a young cow or a couple of sheep, 22 and from their abundant yield of milk he shall eat curds; curds and honey shall be the food of all who are left in the land. 23 [g]On that day every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver shall become briers and thorns. 24 One shall have to go there with bow and arrows, for all the country shall be briers and thorns.(C) 25 But as for all the hills which were hoed with a mattock, for fear of briers and thorns you will not go there; they shall become a place for cattle to roam and sheep to trample.(D)
13 But we ought to give thanks to God for you always, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[a] for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth.(A) 14 To this end he has [also] called you through our gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.(B) 15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.[b]
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.
III. Concluding Exhortations
Chapter 3[c]
Request for Prayers. 1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you,(C) 2 and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.(D) 4 We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you [both] are doing and will continue to do.(E) 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
14 When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover[a] with you before I suffer, 16 for, I tell you, I shall not eat it [again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”(A) 17 Then he took a cup,[b] gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you [that] from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 [c](B)Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.(C)
The Betrayal Foretold. 21 “And yet behold, the hand of the one who is to betray me is with me on the table; 22 for the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.” 23 And they began to debate among themselves who among them would do such a deed.
The Role of the Disciples.(D) 24 [d]Then an argument broke out among them(E) about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. 25 [e](F)He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; 26 but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.(G) 27 For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves. 28 It is you who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me,(H) 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.(I)
Peter’s Denial Foretold.(J)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.