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.
2 Moses summoned all Israel and spoke to them as follows:
You have seen everything that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to his whole land: 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet the Lord to this very day has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
5 “I led you through the wilderness for forty years. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6 You did not eat bread, and you did not drink wine and beer. I did all this so you would know that I am the Lord your God.”
7 When you came to this place, and Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to meet us in battle, we struck them down. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.
9 Therefore you are to keep the words of this covenant and carry them out so that you may succeed in all that you do.
10 You are standing today before the Lord your God, all of you—your tribal heads, your elders, your officers, and men of every rank in Israel, 11 your children, your wives, and the aliens who reside in your camp, whether as wood cutters or water carriers. 12 You are standing here so that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which is sealed by the oath that the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order to establish you today as his people and himself as your God, just as he promised you and just as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 Today I am not making this covenant and its oath only with you, 15 but also with everyone who is standing here with us before the Lord our God, and also with those who are not here with us today.
Christian Giving
9 It is really not necessary for me to write to you about the service to the saints, 2 because I know your eagerness. I am boasting about it on your behalf to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. Your zeal has stirred up many of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf will not prove to be empty in this case, but that you will be prepared just as I have been saying. 4 Otherwise, if any Macedonians come along with me and find you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be ashamed of this confidence.[a] 5 That is why I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance, and to arrange ahead of time the expression of praise that you previously promised, so that it may be ready as an expression of praise, not of grudging selfishness.
6 This is what I mean: The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. The one who sows generously[b] will also reap generously. 7 Each one should give as he has determined in his heart, not reluctantly or under pressure, for God loves a cheerful giver.
God Provides
8 God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will overflow in every good work. 9 As it is written:
He scattered; he gave to the poor.
His righteousness remains forever.[c]
10 And he who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous[d] in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.
12 To be sure, the administration of this service is not only making up for what is lacking among the saints, but it is also overflowing in many prayers of thanksgiving to God. 13 By proving yourselves in this service, many people are glorifying God, as they see the obedience shown in your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity[e] shown in your sharing with them and all people. 14 At the same time as they pray for you, they also express their longing for you, because of the extraordinary measure of God’s grace given to you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Jesus Loves Little Children
15 People were bringing even their babies to Jesus, so that he would touch them. When the disciples saw this, they began to rebuke them. 16 But Jesus invited them, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Amen I tell you: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
The Rich Young Ruler
18 A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’”[a]
21 “I have kept all these since I was a child,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24 When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.”
28 And Peter said, “Look, we have left our possessions[b] and followed you.”
29 He said to them, “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.