Book of Common Prayer
Betrayal of a Friend and Trust in God
For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A maskil of David.[a]
55 Give ear, O God, to my prayer,
and do not hide yourself from my plea.
2 Attend to me and answer me.
I am restless in my lamenting and I groan,
3 because of the voice of an enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked,
because they bring down evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart trembles within me,
and deathly terrors fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come on me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 So I say, “Oh, that[b] I had wings like a dove.
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Look, I would flee far away.
I would dwell in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hurry to my refuge
from the raging wind and storm.”
9 Confuse, O Lord; divide their speech,
because I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are in its midst.
11 Destruction is within it,
and oppression and deceit
do not depart from its public square.
12 For it is not an enemy that taunts me,
or I could bear it.
It is not one who hates me that magnifies himself over me,
or I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man my equal,
my friend and confidant.
14 We who would take sweet counsel together;
in the house[c] of God
we would walk with the throng.
15 Let death deceive them. May they descend to Sheol alive,
because evil is in their home and heart.[d]
16 As for me, I will call to God,
and Yahweh will save me.
17 Morning, noon and night[e] I will lament and groan loudly,
and he will hear my voice.
18 He safely redeems my life from the battle against me,[f]
because those standing against me are among many.
19 God will hear and answer them,[g]
he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
Because they do not change,
and they do not fear God.
20 He has put forth his hands against his friends;[h]
he has defiled his covenant.
21 The buttery words[i] of his mouth were smooth,
but there was battle in his heart.
His words were smoother than oil,
but they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on Yahweh,
and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be moved.[j]
23 But you, O God, you will bring them down to the pit of corruption.
The men of bloodshed and deceit will not live half their days,
but I will trust you.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Goodness
Of David.[a]
138 I give you thanks with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have magnified your word[b] according to all your name.[c]
3 When[d] I called and you answered me,
you emboldened me in my soul with strength.
4 All the kings of the earth
will praise you, O Yahweh,
when they have heard the words[e] of your mouth,
5 and they will sing of the ways of Yahweh,
because Yahweh’s glory is great.
6 Though Yahweh is high, yet he sees the lowly,
but the proud he perceives[f] at a distance.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me alive.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies,
and you save me with your right hand.
8 Yahweh accomplishes things for my benefit.
O Yahweh, your loyal love endures forever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.
The Knowledge of God
For the music director. Of David. A psalm.[g]
139 O Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You search out[h] my wandering and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word yet on my tongue,
but behold, O Yahweh, you know it completely.
5 You barricade me behind and in front,
and set your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is set high; I cannot prevail against it.
7 Where I can go from your Spirit,
or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, there you are,
and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.
9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn,
and I alight on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
and your right hand would hold me fast.
11 And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,
and the light around me will be as night,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you,[i]
and the night shines as the day—
the darkness and the light are alike for you.
13 Indeed you created my inward parts;[j]
you wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.[k]
Wonderful are your works,
and my soul knows it well.
15 My frame[l] was not hidden from you,
when I was created secretly,[m]
and intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,[n]
and in your book they all were written—
days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
17 And to me, how precious[o] are your thoughts, O God;
how vast is their sum.
18 If I should count them,
they would outnumber the sand.
I awaken, and I am still with you.
19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God—
so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—[p]
20 who speak against you deceitfully.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with a complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Opposition Begins
4 [a] Now it happened when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became angry and greatly provoked, and he mocked the Jews. 2 Then he said before his brothers and the army of Samaria, “What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they restore these things for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble—even those burned up?”
3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, “Their wall of stone that they are building would break down if a fox went on it!”
4 Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn on their head and give them over to plunder in the land of captivity. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. They have provoked the builders to anger.[b]
6 So we rebuilt the wall, and all of the wall was joined up to half its height. For the people had a heart to do it.
Opposition Stopped
7 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem were going forward and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 So all of them plotted together to come fight against Jerusalem and to make trouble for it. 9 So we prayed to our God and set up a guard against them day and night.
10 But Judah said, “The strength of the carriers is failing, and there is too much dirt, and we are not able to build at the wall.” 11 Then our enemies said, “They will not know nor see until we come upon them and will kill them and stop the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived beside them came, they said to us ten times, “From all of the places where they live, they will come up against us.” 13 I stationed the people behind the deepest part of the wall in the open places according to their families, with their swords, spears, and bows. 14 And I looked, got up, and said to the nobles, prefects, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
15 It happened when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us, that God had frustrated it, and we all returned to the wall—each to his work. 16 From that day, half of my servants were working on craftsmanship, half were holding spears, small shields, bows, and breastplates. The commanders were behind the whole house of Judah. 17 The ones who were building the wall and the ones who carried the materials[c] were carrying in one hand while doing the task, and with the other hand were grasping a weapon. 18 Each of the builders had his sword tied to his side while building. And the man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 I said to the nobles, to the prefects, and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widespread, and we are spread out over the wall far from each other. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, come together to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we labored at the work, and half of them were holding the spears from dawn until the stars came out. 22 At the time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they will be a guard for us in the night and work in the day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my young men nor the men of the guard who were behind me took off our clothes. Each one kept his weapon even in the water.
4 And I heard the number of the ones who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon,[a] twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.
The Great Crowd before the Throne
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation to our God
who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,
“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God forever and ever[b]. Amen!”
13 And one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are dressed in the white robes—who are they, and from where have they come?” 14 And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me,
“These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation,
and have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Because of this, they are before the throne of God,
and they serve[c] him day and night in his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter[d] them.
16 They will not be hungry any longer or be thirsty any longer,
nor will the sun ever beat down on them, nor any heat,[e]
17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them
and will lead them to springs of living waters,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[f]
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 He put before them another parable, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and[a] sowed in his field. 32 It[b] is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is larger than the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”
The Parable of the Yeast
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and[c] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
Parables Fulfill Prophecy
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables, and he was saying nothing to them without a parable, 35 in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said,
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