Book of Common Prayer
Prayer in Time of Discipline.
A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance.
38 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor discipline me in Your burning anger.
2
For Your arrows have sunk into me and penetrate deeply,
And Your hand has pressed down on me and greatly disciplined me.
3
There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.
4
For my iniquities have gone over my head [like the waves of a flood];
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5
My wounds are loathsome and foul
Because of my foolishness.
6
I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go about mourning all day long.
7
For my sides are filled with burning,
And there is no health in my flesh.
8
I am numb and greatly bruised [deadly cold and completely worn out];
I groan because of the disquiet and moaning of my heart.
9
Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10
My heart throbs violently, my strength fails me;
And as for the light of my eyes, even that has also gone from me.
11
My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my neighbors stand far away.(A)
12
Those who seek my life lay snares for me,
And those who seek to injure me threaten mischievous things and destruction;
They devise treachery all the day long.
13
But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
14
Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
In whose mouth are no arguments.
15
For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16
For I pray, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would boast against me.”
17
For I am ready to fall;
My sorrow is continually before me.
18
For I do confess my guilt and iniquity;
I am filled with anxiety because of my sin.(B)
19
But my [numerous] enemies are vigorous and strong,
And those who hate me without cause are many.
20
They repay evil for good, they attack and try to kill me,
Because I follow what is good.
21
Do not abandon me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me.
22
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my Salvation.
Daleth.
25
My earthly life clings to the dust;
Revive and refresh me according to Your word.(A)
26
I have told of my ways, and You have answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
27
Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
So that I will meditate (focus my thoughts) on Your wonderful works.(B)
28
My soul dissolves because of grief;
Renew and strengthen me according to [the promises of] Your word.
29
Remove from me the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness,
And graciously grant me Your law.
30
I have chosen the faithful way;
I have placed Your ordinances before me.
31
I cling tightly to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32
I will run the way of Your commandments [with purpose],
For You will give me a heart that is willing.
He.
33
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I will [steadfastly] observe it to the end.
34
Give me understanding [a teachable heart and the ability to learn], that I may keep Your law;
And observe it with all my heart.(C)
35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain and envy.(D)
37
Turn my eyes away from vanity [all those worldly, meaningless things that distract—let Your priorities be mine],
And restore me [with renewed energy] in Your ways.
38
Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant,
As that which produces [awe-inspired] reverence for You.(E)
39
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your ordinances are good.
40
I long for Your precepts;
Renew me through Your righteousness.
Vav.
41
May Your lovingkindness also come to me, O Lord,
Your salvation according to Your promise;
42
So I will have an answer for the one who taunts me,
For I trust [completely] in Your word [and its reliability].
43
And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I wait for Your ordinances.
44
I will keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever [writing Your precepts on my heart].
45
And I will walk at liberty,
For I seek and deeply long for Your precepts.
46
I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings
And shall not be ashamed.(F)
47
For I shall delight in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48
And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments,
Which I love;
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
8
The Lord determined to lay in ruins
The [city] wall of the Daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line,
He has not stopped His hand from destroying.
He has caused the rampart and the wall to lament (mourn in grief);
They have languished together.
9
Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are [exiled] among the nations;
The law is no more.
Also, her prophets no longer find
Vision from the Lord.
10
The elders of the Daughter of Zion
Sit on the ground keeping silent;
They have thrown dust on their heads,
They have covered themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11
My eyes fail because of tears [mourns Jeremiah],
My spirit is deeply disturbed;
My heart is poured out on the earth [in grief]
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Jerusalem],
When little ones and infants faint
In the streets of the city.
12
They cry to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded man
In the streets of the city,
As their life [slips away and] is poured out
In their mothers’ arms.
13
How shall I console you?
To what shall I compare you,
O Daughter of Jerusalem?
With what shall I compare you, so that I may comfort you,
O Virgin Daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea;
Who can heal you?(A)
14
Your prophets have seen (imagined) for you
False and foolish visions;
And they have not exposed your wickedness
To restore you from captivity [by teaching you to repent],
But they have seen (imagined) and declared to you false and misleading oracles.
15
All who pass along the way
Clap their hands in derision at you;
They scoff and shake their heads
At the Daughter of Jerusalem, saying,
“Is this the city that was called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of all the earth’?”
51 Listen very carefully, I tell you a mystery [a secret truth decreed by God and previously hidden, but now revealed]; we will not all sleep [in death], but we will all be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed], 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at [the sound of] the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [who believed in Christ] will be raised imperishable, and we will be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed]. 53 For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death]. 54 And when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, “Death is swallowed up in victory (vanquished forever).(A) 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”(B) 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin [by which it brings death] is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].
Sabbath Questions
12 At that particular time Jesus went through the grainfields on the [a]Sabbath, and His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.(A) 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what [b]is unlawful on the Sabbath.”(B) 3 He said to them, “Have you not read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was hungry, he and those who accompanied him—(C) 4 how he went into the house of God, and they ate the [c]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests only? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break [the sanctity of] the Sabbath and yet are innocent?(D) 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had only known what this statement means, ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], [d]and not [animal] sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.(E)
Lord of the Sabbath
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Leaving there, He went into their synagogue.(F) 10 A man was there whose hand was withered. And they asked Jesus, “Is it lawful and permissible to heal on the Sabbath?”—they asked this so that they might accuse Him and bring charges into court. 11 But He said to them, “What man is there among you who, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful and permissible to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Reach out your hand!” The man reached out and it was restored, as normal and healthy as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, discussing how they could destroy Him.
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