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)
Chapter 5
The Covenant at Horeb. 1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I proclaim in your hearing this day, that you may learn them and take care to observe them.(A) 2 The Lord, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb; 3 not with our ancestors[a] did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here this day. 4 (B)Face to face, the Lord spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire,(C) 5 while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to announce to you these words of the Lord, since you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain:
The Decalogue. 6 (D)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,(E) out of the house of slavery. 7 (F)You shall not have other gods beside me. 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 9 [b]you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous[c] God, bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, 10 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11 You shall not invoke the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.(G) For the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain.
12 (H)Observe the sabbath day—keep it holy, as the Lord, your God, commanded you. 13 Six days you may labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey or any work animal, or the resident alien within your gates, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. 15 Remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, brought you out from there with a strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
16 (I)Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, that you may have a long life and that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
18 (K)You shall not commit adultery.
19 (L)You shall not steal.
20 (M)You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor.
21 (N)You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not desire your neighbor’s house or field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Moses as Mediator. 22 These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your entire assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire and the dense black cloud, and added no more. He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.(O)
Chapter 4
Integrity in the Ministry. 1 [a]Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown us, we are not discouraged. 2 Rather, we have renounced shameful, hidden things; not acting deceitfully or falsifying the word of God, but by the open declaration of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.(A) 3 And even though our gospel is veiled,[b] it is veiled for those who are perishing,(B) 4 in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.(C) 5 For we do not preach ourselves[c] but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. 6 [d]For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of [Jesus] Christ.(D)
The Paradox of the Ministry. 7 [e]But we hold this treasure[f] in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. 8 [g]We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair;(E) 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 [h](F)always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.(G)
12 [i]So death is at work in us, but life in you.
10 [a]The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.(A) 11 If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? 12 If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? 13 No servant can serve two masters.[b] He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”(B)
A Saying Against the Pharisees. 14 [c]The Pharisees, who loved money,[d] heard all these things and sneered at him. 15 And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.(C)
Sayings About the Law. 16 “The law and the prophets lasted until John;[e] but from then on the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone who enters does so with violence.(D) 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.(E)
Sayings About Divorce. 18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.(F)
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.[f]
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.