Book of Common Prayer
God Sustains His Servant.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2
He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.
3
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear [with great reverence]
And will trust confidently in the Lord.(A)
4
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not regard the proud nor those who lapse into lies.
5
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of your wonders,
They would be too many to count.
6
Sacrifice and meal offering You do not desire, nor do You delight in them;
You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word];
Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.(B)
7
Then I said, “Behold, I come [to the throne];
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8
“I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart.”(C)
9
I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],
As You know, O Lord.
10
I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart;
I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.(D)
11
Do not withhold Your compassion and tender mercy from me, O Lord;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
12
For innumerable evils have encompassed me;
My sins have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.
13
Be pleased, O Lord, to save me;
O Lord, make haste to help me.
14
Let those be ashamed and humiliated together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back [in defeat] and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
15
Let those be appalled and desolate because of their shame
Who say to me, “Aha, aha [rejoicing in my misfortune]!”
16
Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17
Even though I am afflicted and needy,
Still the Lord takes thought and is mindful of me.
You are my help and my rescuer.
O my God, do not delay.(E)
Prayer for Defense against Enemies.
To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “David is hiding among us.”
54 Save me, O God, by Your name;
And vindicate me by Your [wondrous] power.
2
Hear my prayer, O God;
Listen to the words of my mouth.
3
For strangers have risen against me
And violent men have sought my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah.
4
Behold, God is my helper and ally;
The Lord is the sustainer of my soul [my upholder].
5
He will pay back the evil to my enemies;
In Your faithfulness destroy them.
6
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You;
I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7
For He has rescued me from every trouble,
And my eye has looked with satisfaction (triumph) on my enemies.
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and guilt
And cleanse me from my sin.
3
For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them;
My sin is always before me.
4
Against You, You only, have I sinned
And done that which is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak [Your sentence]
And faultless in Your judgment.(A)
5
I was brought forth in [a state of] wickedness;
In sin my mother conceived me [and from my beginning I, too, was sinful].(B)
6
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.
7
Purify me with [a]hyssop, and I will be clean;
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8
Make me hear joy and gladness and be satisfied;
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9
Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted and return to You.
14
Rescue me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will sing joyfully of Your righteousness and Your justice.
15
O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16
For You do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.(C)
17
My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
18
By Your favor do good to Zion;
May You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19
Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel],
The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!
6
I send Assyria against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My wrath
To take the spoil and to seize the plunder,
And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7
Yet it is not Assyria’s intention [to do My will],
Nor does it plan so in its heart,
But instead it is its purpose to destroy
And to cut off many nations.
8
For Assyria says, “Are not my princes all kings?
9
“Is not Calno [conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]?
Is not Hamath [subdued] like Arpad [her neighbor]?
Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Aram]?
10
“As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater and more feared than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11
Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” [declares Assyria].
12 So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.” 13 For the Assyrian king has said,
“I have done this by the power of my [own] hand and by my wisdom,
For I have understanding and skill.
I have removed the boundaries of the peoples
And have plundered their treasures;
Like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.
14
“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,
And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”
15
Is the axe able to lift itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw able to magnify itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a club moving those who lift it,
Or like a staff raising him who is not [made of] wood [like itself]!
16
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria;
And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
17
And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame,
And it will [a]burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and briars in a single day.(A)
18
The Lord will consume the glory of Assyria’s forest and of its fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19
And the remaining trees of Assyria’s forest will be so few in number
That a child could write them down.
17 These [false teachers] are springs without water and mists driven by a tempest, for whom is reserved the gloom of black darkness. 18 For uttering arrogant words of vanity [pompous words disguised to sound scholarly or profound, but meaning nothing and containing no spiritual truth], they beguile and lure using lustful desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. 19 They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity—for by whatever anyone is defeated and overcome, to that [person, thing, philosophy, or concept] he is continually enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world by [personal] knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have [personally] known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to have turned back from the holy commandment [verbally] handed on to them. 22 The thing spoken of in the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “A sow is washed only to wallow [again] in the mire.”(A)
2 Now when [a]John [the Baptist] in prison heard about the activities of Christ, he sent word by his disciples(A) 3 and asked Him, “Are You the Expected One (the Messiah), or should we look for someone else [who will be the promised One]?”(B) 4 Jesus answered, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive [their] sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed [by healing] and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.(C) 6 And blessed [joyful, favored by God] is he who does not take offense at Me [accepting Me as the Messiah and trusting confidently in My message of salvation].”(D)
Jesus’ Tribute to John
7 As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind [which is commonplace]? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing [entirely unsuited for the harsh desert]? Those who wear soft clothing are in the palaces of kings! 9 But what did you [really] go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one [more eminent, more remarkable, and] [b]far more than a prophet [who foretells the future]. 10 This is the one of whom it is written [by the prophet Malachi],
‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’(E)
11 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater [in privilege] than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize]. 13 For all the prophets and the Law prophesied up until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is [the fulfillment of] Elijah [as the messenger] who was to come [before the kingdom].(F) 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.
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