Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56
For the worship leader. A prayer[a] of David to the tune “Silent Dove in the Distance,”[b] when the Philistine oppressors seized him in Gath.
Psalm 56 brings to mind the time when David fled from Saul and sought help from the Philistines, his former enemies (1 Samuel 21:10–15). In his time of panic and fear, David found courage in trusting God to do what could not be done by human power and ingenuity alone.
1 Show mercy to me, O God, because people are crushing me—
grinding me down like dirt underfoot—all day long.
No matter what I do, I can’t get myself out from under them.
2 My enemies are crushing me, yes all day long, O Highest of High,
for many come proud and raise their hands against me.
3 When struck by fear,
I let go, depending securely upon You alone.
4 In God—whose word I praise—
in God I place my trust. I shall not let fear come in,
for what can measly men do to me?
5 All day long they warp my words;
all their thoughts against me are mangled by evil.
6 They conspire, then lurk about.
They eye my every move,
Waiting to steal my very life.
7 Because they are wicked through and through, drag them out.
In Your just anger, O God, cast them down!
8 You have taken note of my journey through life,
caught each of my tears in Your bottle.
But God, are they not also blots on Your book?
9 Then my enemies shall turn back and scatter
on the day I call out to You.
This I know for certain: God is on my side.
10 In God whose word I praise
and in the Eternal whose word I praise—
11 In God I have placed my trust. I shall not let fear come in,
for what can measly men do to me?
12 I am bound by Your promise, O God.
My life is my offering of thanksgiving to You,
13 For You have saved my soul from the darkness of death,
steadied my feet from stumbling
So I might continue to walk before God,
embraced in the light of the living.
Psalm 57
For the worship leader. A prayer[c] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”[d] when he hid from Saul in a cave.
This individual lament refers back to those perilous times when David fled from Saul and hid in caves (1 Samuel 22; 24). David found real security not in the hidden recesses of the caves but in the shadow of God’s wings.
1 Mercy. May Your mercy come to me, O God,
for my soul is safe within You, the guardian of my life.
I will seek protection in the shade of Your wings
until the destruction has passed.
2 I cry out to God, the Most High,
to God who always does what is good for me.
3 Out of heaven my rescue comes.
He dispatches His mercy and truth
And goes after whoever tries to run over me.
[pause][e]
4 I am surrounded by lions;
I lie in a den of ravenous beasts.
Those around me have spears and arrows for teeth,
a sharpened blade for a tongue.
5 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
6 Yet my foes cast a net to catch my feet and bring me to my knees.
I am weary from all of this.
They dug a pit to snare me
but fell into their own trap.
[pause]
7 My heart is ready, O God;
my heart is ready,
And I will sing!
Yes, I will sing praise!
8 Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre;
I will stir the sleepy dawn with praise!
9 I will offer You my thanks, O Lord, before the nations of the world;
I will sing of Your greatness no matter where I am.
10 For Your amazing mercy ascends far into the heavens;
Your truth rises above the clouds.
11 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
Psalm 58
For the worship leader. A prayer[f] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy.”[g]
1 Can you, panel of judges, get anything right?
When you judge people, do you tell the truth and pursue justice?
2 No, your real selves have been revealed. You have wickedness in your heart,
and many people have suffered by your hands.
3 Evildoers are naturally offensive, wayward at birth!
They were born telling lies and willfully wandering from the truth.
4 Their bite is painful; their venom is like the deadly poison of a snake;
they are like a cobra that closes up its ears
5 To escape the voice of the charmers,
no matter how enchanting the spells may be.
6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths!
Render the young lions harmless; break out their fangs, O Eternal One.
7 Let them run off like the waters of a flood,
and though they aim their arrows, let them fly without their heads.
8 Let them melt like a snail that oozes along;
may they be like a stillborn that never catches its first breath, never sees the sun.
9 Before your cook pots know the furious flame of a fire of thorns—
whether green or burning—He will blow the wicked away.
10 Cheers will rise as the right-living watch Him settle the score,
their feet washed in the blood after the onslaught of the wicked.
11 And it will be heard, “Those who seek justice will be rewarded.
Indeed, there is a God who brings justice to the earth!”
Psalm 64
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 O True God, hear my voice! Listen to my complaint!
Guard my life; keep me safe from my enemy’s threats.
2 Hide me from the sinful circle that conspires against me,
from the band of rebels out to make trouble,
3 Who sharpen their tongues into swords,
who take aim with poisonous words like arrows.
4 They hide in the shadows and shoot at the innocent;
they shoot at them without warning and without any fear.
5 They persist in their evil purpose
and plan in secret to lay their traps.
And they say, “Who will see them?”
6 They plot their offense with precision and say,
“Now we have the perfect crime.”
The human heart and mind are deep and complex.
7 But without hesitation the True God will shoot at them;
His arrow will surely wound them.
8 He will use their very own words to bring them to destruction;
all who see will be appalled at what happens to them.
9 Then everyone will fear the True God;
they will proclaim His deeds
and will reflect upon all He has done.
10 The righteous will delight in the Eternal
and will take shelter in Him.
All those with an honest heart will glorify Him!
Psalm 65
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 All will stand in awe to praise You.
Praise will sweep through Zion, the Sacred City, O God.
Solemn vows uttered to You will now be performed.
2 You hear us pray in words and silence;
all humanity comes into Your presence.
3 Injustice overwhelms me!
But You forgive our sins, restoring as only You can.
4 You invite us near, drawing us
into Your courts—what an honor and a privilege!
We feast until we’re full on the goodness of Your house,
Your sacred temple made manifest.
5 You leave us breathless when Your awesome works answer us by putting everything right.
God of our liberation—
You are the hope of all creation, from the far corners of the earth
to distant life-giving oceans.
6 With immense power, You erected mountains.
Wrapped in strength, You compelled
7 Choppy seas,
crashing waves,
and crowds of people
To sit in astonished silence.
8 Those who inhabit the boundaries of the earth are awed by Your signs,
strong and subtle hints of Your indelible presence.
Even the dawn and dusk respond to You with joy.
9 You spend time on the good earth,
watering and nourishing the networks of the living.
God’s river is full of water!
By preparing the land,
You have provided us grain for nourishment.
10 You are the gentle equalizer: soaking the furrows,
smoothing soil’s ridges,
Softening sun-baked earth with generous showers,
blessing the fruit of the ground.
11 You crown the year with a fruitful harvest;
the paths are worn down by carts overflowing with unstoppable growth.
12 Barren desert pastures yield fruit;
craggy hills are now dressed for celebration.
13 Meadows are clothed with frolicking flocks of lambs;
valleys are covered with a carpet of autumn-harvest grain;
the land shouts and sings in joyous celebration.
Jonathan he misses especially because Jonathan was his friend, a companion, David says, whose love was greater than any love a woman could have for a man. David and Jonathan shared a relationship built in adversity, and the secret they kept from Saul that preserved David’s life made the relationship stronger than what most will ever experience.
2 After David mourned, he asked the Eternal One a question.
David: Should I go up now to one of the cities of Judah?
The Eternal indicated that he should go.
David: Where should I go?
Eternal One: Hebron.
2 So David went to Hebron, a royal city, with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal from Carmel. 3 David also brought along all his men and their households, and they settled in and around Hebron. 4 Then the people of Judah came and anointed David king over them. They told David how the people of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul with dignity, 5 so David sent messengers to them.
David’s Message: May you be blessed by the Eternal One for your loyalty to your king Saul by burying him. 6 May the Eternal always love and be faithful to you! I will also reward you for this noble act. 7 Now be strong and mighty, for Saul your king is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me as their new king.
8 But it was not so simple. Abner, Ner’s son who had commanded Saul’s armies, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and brought him to Mahanaim; 9 and there Abner named Ish-bosheth king over Gilead and over the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. 10 Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was 40 years old when he began to rule Israel, and he was king for two years. But the people of Judah followed David, 11 and he was king over them in Hebron for 7½ years.
36 Some days later, Paul proposed another journey to Barnabas.
Paul: Let’s return and visit the believers in each city where we preached the Lord’s message last time to see how they’re doing.
37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to bring John Mark along, 38 but Paul felt that was a mistake since John Mark had abandoned them in Pamphylia and hadn’t finished the previous mission. 39 Their difference of opinion was so heated that they decided not to work together anymore. Barnabas took John Mark and sailed to Cyprus, 40 while Paul chose Silas as his companion. The believers in Antioch commissioned him for this work, entrusting him to the grace of the Lord. 41 They traveled through Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there.
16 1-3 When Paul reached Derbe and Lystra, he invited a disciple named Timothy to join him and Silas. Timothy had a good reputation among the believers in Lystra and Iconium, but there was a problem: although Timothy’s mother was a believing Jew, his father was Greek, which meant Timothy was uncircumcised. Because the Jewish people of those cities knew he was the son of a Greek man, Paul felt it would be best for Timothy to be circumcised before proceeding.
4 Leaving there, now accompanied by Timothy, they delivered to the churches in each town the decisions and instructions given by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. 5 The churches were strengthened in the faith by their visit and kept growing in numbers on a daily basis.
14 Jesus had become so well known that King Herod received reports of all that Jesus was doing. Some were saying[a] that John the Baptist[b] had been raised from the dead and that these mighty works were the fruits of his resurrection.
Others (disagreeing): 15 No, this Jesus is Elijah, returned to work on the earth.
And still others said He was another of the prophets.
Herod (to himself): 16 No, it is John, the prophet I beheaded, risen from the dead.
For the blood of John was on his hands. 17-18 Herod had imprisoned John in the days before Jesus began His teaching. John had preached to Herod that he should not have married his own brother’s wife, Herodias, for so it is written in the Hebrew Scriptures: “It is not lawful for one to marry his brother’s wife.”[c]
19 Herodias held a grudge against John and would have had him killed, but she couldn’t. 20 Herod feared John as a holy and righteous man and did what he could to protect him. John taught hard truths,[d] and yet Herod found he usually liked hearing them.
So Herod had put John in prison instead of executing him; 21-22 and there John sat until Herod’s birthday, when the governor held a great state dinner. That night, Herod’s stepdaughter danced beautifully for the state officials; and the king proclaimed a solemn vow in the presence of his honored guests, military officers, and some of the leading men of Galilee.
Herod: Ask me whatever you wish, and I will grant it. 23 Whatever you want, I will give you—up to half my province.
24 She went out and consulted with her mother, Herodias, who had only one great desire and told her daughter what she must say.
Herod’s Stepdaughter (immediately, in response to Herod): 25 I want the head of John the Baptist[e]—right now—delivered to me on a platter.
26 Herod was horrified, but he had sworn an oath and could not break his word in front of his invited guests. 27 So immediately he sent an executioner to the prison to behead John and bring them the head. 28 It was brought to the girl upon a platter, and she took it to her mother.
29 When John’s disciples were told of this, they came for his body and gave it a proper burial.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.