Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 20[a]
Prayer for the King in Time of War
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 The Lord answer you in time of distress;
the name of the God of Jacob defend you!
3 May he send you help from the sanctuary,
from Zion be your support.(A)
4 May he remember[b] your every offering,
graciously accept your burnt offering,
Selah
5 Grant what is in your heart,
fulfill your every plan.
6 May we shout for joy at your victory,[c]
raise the banners in the name of our God.
The Lord grant your every petition!
II
7 Now I know the Lord gives victory
to his anointed.(B)
He will answer him from the holy heavens
with a strong arm that brings victory.
8 Some rely on chariots, others on horses,
but we on the name of the Lord our God.(C)
9 They collapse and fall,
but we stand strong and firm.(D)
10 Lord, grant victory to the king;
answer when we call upon you.
Psalm 21[d]
Thanksgiving and Assurances for the King
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 Lord, the king finds joy in your power;(E)
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!
3 You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you did not refuse the request of his lips.
Selah
4 For you welcomed him with goodly blessings;
you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
5 He asked life of you;
you gave it to him,
length of days forever.(F)
6 Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you confer upon him.
7 You make him the pattern of blessings forever,
you gladden him with the joy of your face.
8 For the king trusts in the Lord,
stands firm through the mercy of the Most High.
II
9 Your hand will find all your enemies;
your right hand will find your foes!
10 At the time of your coming
you will make them a fiery furnace.
Then the Lord in his anger will consume them,
devour them with fire.
11 Even their descendants you will wipe out from the earth,
their offspring from the human race.
12 Though they intend evil against you,
devising plots, they will not succeed,
13 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bow.
III
14 Arise, Lord, in your power!(G)
We will sing and chant the praise of your might.
Psalm 110[a]
God Appoints the King both King and Priest
1 A psalm of David.
The Lord says to my lord:[b]
“Sit at my right hand,
while I make your enemies your footstool.”(A)
2 The scepter of your might:
the Lord extends your strong scepter from Zion.
Have dominion over your enemies!
3 Yours is princely power from the day of your birth.
In holy splendor before the daystar,
like dew I begot you.(B)
4 The Lord has sworn and will not waver:
“You are a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek.”[c](C)
5 At your right hand is the Lord,
who crushes kings on the day of his wrath,(D)
6 Who judges nations, heaps up corpses,
crushes heads across the wide earth,
7 [d]Who drinks from the brook by the wayside
and thus holds high his head.(E)
Psalm 116[a]
Thanksgiving to God Who Saves from Death
I
1 I love the Lord, who listened
to my voice in supplication,
2 Who turned an ear to me
on the day I called.
3 I was caught by the cords of death;[b](A)
the snares of Sheol had seized me;
I felt agony and dread.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord,
“O Lord, save my life!”
II
5 Gracious is the Lord and righteous;
yes, our God is merciful.(B)
6 The Lord protects the simple;
I was helpless, but he saved me.
7 Return, my soul, to your rest;
the Lord has been very good to you.(C)
8 For my soul has been freed from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.(D)
9 I shall walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.[c](E)
III
10 [d]I kept faith, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted!”(F)
11 I said in my alarm,
“All men are liars!”(G)
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the great good done for me?
13 I will raise the cup of salvation[e]
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 [f]Dear in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his devoted.(H)
16 Lord, I am your servant,
your servant, the child of your maidservant;(I)
you have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer a sacrifice of praise
and call on the name of the Lord.(J)
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord(K)
in the presence of all his people,
19 In the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 117[g]
The Nations Called to Praise
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!(L)
2 His mercy for us is strong;
the faithfulness of the Lord is forever.
Hallelujah!
Chapter 43
Promises of Redemption and Restoration
1 But now, thus says the Lord,
who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name: you are mine.
2 When you pass through waters, I will be with you;
through rivers, you shall not be swept away.
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,
nor will flames consume you.
3 For I, the Lord, am your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your savior.
I give Egypt as ransom for you,
Ethiopia and Seba[a] in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes
and honored, and I love you,
I give people in return for you
and nations in exchange for your life.(A)
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
from the east I will bring back your offspring,
from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them!
Bring back my sons from afar,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth:(B)
7 All who are called by my name
I created for my glory;
I formed them, made them.
8 Lead out the people, blind though they have eyes,
deaf though they have ears.
9 Let all the nations gather together,
let the peoples assemble!
Who among them could have declared this,
or announced to us the earlier things?[b]
Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right,
that one may hear and say, “It is true!”
10 You are my witnesses[c]—oracle of the Lord—
my servant whom I have chosen
To know and believe in me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
and after me there shall be none.
11 I, I am the Lord;
there is no savior but me.
12 It is I who declared, who saved,
who announced, not some strange god among you;
You are my witnesses—oracle of the Lord.
I am God,
13 yes, from eternity I am he;
There is none who can deliver from my hand:
I act and who can cancel it?(C)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,(A) 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,(B) 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth,(C) 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.(D)
20 Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us,(E) 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
23 As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.(A) 24 At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”(B) 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did[a] when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?”(C) 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man,[b] not man for the sabbath.(D) 28 [c]That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
Chapter 3
A Man with a Withered Hand. 1 [d]Again he entered the synagogue.(E) There was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. 5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.(F) 6 [e]The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
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