Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119
Delight in God’s Word
א Aleph
1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless,(A)
who walk according to the Lord’s instruction!(B)
2 Happy are those who keep his decrees(C)
and seek him with all their heart.(D)
3 They do nothing wrong;(E)
they walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded that your precepts(F)
be diligently kept.
5 If only my ways were committed
to keeping your statutes!(G)
6 Then I would not be ashamed(H)
when I think about all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart(I)
when I learn your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep your statutes;
never abandon me.(J)
ב Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping your[b] word.(K)
10 I have sought you with all my heart;(L)
don’t let me wander from your commands.(M)
11 I have treasured your word in my heart(N)
so that I may not sin against you.
12 Lord, may you be blessed;
teach me your statutes.(O)
13 With my lips I proclaim
all the judgments from your mouth.(P)
14 I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees(Q)
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts(R)
and think about your ways.(S)
16 I will delight in your statutes;(T)
I will not forget your word.
ג Gimel
17 Deal generously with your servant(U)
so that I might live;
then I will keep your word.
18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate
wondrous things from your instruction.
19 I am a resident alien on earth;(V)
do not hide your commands from me.
20 I am continually overcome
with longing for your judgments.(W)
21 You rebuke the arrogant,
the ones under a curse,(X)
who wander from your commands.(Y)
22 Take insult and contempt away from me,(Z)
for I have kept your decrees.
23 Though princes sit together speaking against me,(AA)
your servant will think about your statutes;(AB)
24 your decrees are my delight
and my counselors.(AC)
Psalm 12
Oppression by the Wicked
For the choir director: according to Sheminith.(A) A psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains;
the loyal have disappeared from the human race.[a](B)
2 They lie to one another;
they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.(C)
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks boastfully.(D)
4 They say, “Through our tongues we have power;
our lips are our own—who can be our master?” (E)
5 “Because of the devastation of the needy
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will provide safety for the one who longs for it.”(F)
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times.(G)
7 You, Lord, will guard us;[b]
you will protect us[c] from this generation forever.(H)
8 The wicked prowl[d] all around,
and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.(I)
Psalm 13
A Plea for Deliverance
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?(J)
2 How long will I store up anxious concerns[e] within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?(K)
3 Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;(L)
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
4 My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.(M)
5 But I have trusted in your faithful love;(N)
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.(O)
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.(P)
Psalm 14
A Portrait of Sinners
For the choir director. Of David.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.”(Q)
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race[f](R)
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
3 All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.(S)
4 Will evildoers never understand?
They consume my people as they consume bread;(T)
they do not call on the Lord.(U)
3 Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal(A) son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah(B) son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, requesting, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf!” 4 Jeremiah was going about his daily tasks[a] among the people, for he had not yet been put into the prison.(C) 5 Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt,(D) and when the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: 7 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah’s king,(E) who is sending you to inquire of me: ‘Watch: Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you,(F) is going to return to its own land of Egypt. 8 The Chaldeans will then return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it.(G) 9 This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, “The Chaldeans will leave us for good,” for they will not leave. 10 Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you,(H) and there remained among them only the badly wounded[b] men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city.’”
Jeremiah’s Imprisonment
11 When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there(I) among the people. 13 But when he was at the Benjamin Gate,(J) an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he apprehended the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans.”
14 “That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not defecting to the Chaldeans!” Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials. 15 The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan(K) the scribe, for it had been made into a prison. 16 So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon(L) and stayed there many days.
Jeremiah Summoned by Zedekiah
17 King Zedekiah later sent for him and received him, and in his house privately asked him, “Is there a word from the Lord?” (M)
“There is,” Jeremiah responded. He continued, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”(N) 18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’?(O) 20 So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you.(P) Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”
21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard’s courtyard.(Q) He was given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers’ street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard.
13 Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit(A) prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.(B) 15 What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit,[a] how will the outsider[b] say “Amen”(C) at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank(D) God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words(E) with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.(F) 21 It is written in the law,
I will speak to this people
by people of other tongues
and by the lips of foreigners,
and even then, they will not listen to me,[c](G)
says the Lord. 22 Speaking in tongues, then, is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”(H)
24 A disciple[a] is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master.(A) 25 It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household!(B)
Fear God
26 “Therefore,(C) don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known.(D) 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper,[b] proclaim on the housetops.(E) 28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; (F) rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.(G) 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?[c] Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s(H) consent.[d] 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.(I) 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.(J)
Acknowledging Christ
32 “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.(K) 33 But whoever denies me before others,(L) I will also deny him before my Father in heaven.
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