Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55
My Friend Betrays Me
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A maskil by David.
Opening Plea
1 Turn your ear to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
The Problem
I am troubled in my thoughts and I groan
3 because of talk from the enemy,
because of oppression from the wicked,
because they dump evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me.
The terrors of death fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come over me.
Horror covers me.
6 So I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find a place to rest.
7 Yes, I would flee far away. Interlude
I would stay in the wilderness.
8 I would hurry to find shelter,
far from the violent wind, far from the storm.”
9 Swallow them up, O Lord.
Confuse their speech,
for I see violence and contention in the city.
10 Day and night they sneak around on its walls.
Evil and trouble are in the city.
11 Destruction lurks within it.
Treachery and deceit never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could bear that.
It is not someone who hated me who rises up against me—
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who served with me,
my colleague and my associate,
14 with whom I shared pleasant discussions
as we walked with the excited crowd at God’s house.
Plea for Judgment
15 Let deadly destruction come on them.
Let them go down to the grave alive,
because evil is at home in their hearts.
Confidence in Judgment
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning, and noon I cry out and I sigh,
and he hears my voice.
18 In peace he redeems my life from the assault against me,
even when many are against me.
19 God will hear, and he will punish them— Interlude
yes, he is seated on his throne from eternity!
—because they never change, and they do not fear God.
The Traitor’s Treachery
20 The traitor reaches out his hand against those at peace with him.
He breaks his agreement.[a]
21 His flattery is as smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn daggers.
God’s Solution
22 Place your burden on the Lord,
and he will support you.
He will never allow the righteous to fall.
23 But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.
Bloody and deceitful men will not live half their days.
But as for me, I will trust in you.
Psalm 138
May the Kings Praise You
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By David.
Thanks From a Grateful Heart
1 I will thank you with all my heart.
Before the gods[a] I will make music for you.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple.
I will give thanks to your name
because of your mercy and because of your truth.
Yes, you made your word even greater than your name.[b]
3 By day I called, and you answered me.
You have made my soul strong.
4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Lord,
when they have heard the message from your mouth.
5 Then they will sing about the ways of the Lord,
because the glory of the Lord is great.
6 Indeed the Lord is exalted, but he sees the lowly,
and he recognizes the proud from a distance.
7 If I walk surrounded by danger, you keep me alive
in spite of the anger of my enemies.
You stretch out your hand.
You save me with your right hand.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose[c] for me.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Do not let go of the works[d] of your hands.
Psalm 139
God’s Attributes—Too Wonderful for Me!
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For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
God Is All-Knowing
1 Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
3 You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,[e]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before there is a word on my tongue,
you, Lord, already know it completely.
5 You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.
God Is Present Everywhere
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?[f]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
9 I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
10 Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
11 And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
12 then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
God Is Powerful and Good
13 For you created my inner organs.[g]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
17 Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
God Is Holy
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
20 men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
22 I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
23 Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
The Creator Comforts His People
51
Listen to me, you people who pursue righteousness,
you people who seek the Lord!
Look confidently to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were cut.
2 Look confidently to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah, who gave birth to you.
Yes, when I called him, Abraham was only one person,
but I blessed him and multiplied him.
3 The Lord is certain to comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her ruins.
Certainly he will make her wilderness like Eden
and her wasteland like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
4 Pay attention to me, O my people.
My nation, listen to me!
For the law[a] will go out from me,
and I will establish my justice[b] as a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth,
and my arms will bring justice to the peoples.
The seacoasts will wait for me.
They will have confidence in my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Look closely at the earth beneath,
because the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats.[c]
But my salvation will remain forever,
and my righteousness will never be abolished.
7 Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my law in your hearts.
Do not fear the insults of men,
and do not be discouraged by their abuse.
8 Because a moth will consume them like a garment,
and its worm will consume them like wool.
But my righteousness will remain forever,
and my salvation will last for all generations.
23 But before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 So the law was our chaperone[a] until Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a chaperone.[b]
Sons of God Through Faith
26 In fact, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 Indeed, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is not Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants[c] and heirs according to the promise.
Commandments and Traditions
7 The Pharisees and some of the experts in the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands. 3 In fact, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they scrub their hands with a fist,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions they adhere to, such as the washing[c] of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.[d] 5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead they eat bread with unclean hands.”
6 He answered them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written:
These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they
were doctrines.[e]
8 “You abandon God’s commandment but hold to human tradition like the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”[f] 9 He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside God’s commandment to keep[g] your own tradition. 10 For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[h] and ‘Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother must be put to death.’[i] 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you might have received from me is corban”’[j] (which means an offering), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. You do many things like that.”
14 He called the crowd to him again and said, “Everyone, listen to me and understand. 15 There is nothing outside of a man that can make him unclean by going into him. But the things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”[k]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered a house, his disciples asked him about this illustration. 18 He said, “Are you lacking in understanding too? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unclean? 19 For it does not enter his heart but goes into his stomach and goes out of him into the latrine—in this way all foods are purified.”[l]
20 He continued, “What comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean. 21 In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.