Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Guidance and Protection
For the music director; with the flutes. A psalm of David.[a]
5 Hear my words, O Yahweh.
Give heed to my sighing.[b]
2 Listen to the sound of my pleading,[c] my king and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice.
In the morning I will set forth[d] my case to you and I will watch.[e]
4 For you are not a God who desires[f] wickedness.
Evil cannot dwell with you.
5 The boastful do not stand before[g] your eyes.
You hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy speakers of lies.[h]
A man of bloodshed[i] and deceit Yahweh abhors.
7 But as for me,[j] through the abundance of your steadfast love[k]
I will enter your house.[l]
I will bow down[m] toward your holy temple[n] in awe of you.
8 O Yahweh, lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies;
make straight before me your way.
9 For there is not anything reliable in his mouth;
their inner part is destruction.[o]
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.[p]
10 Treat them as guilty, O God;
let them fall because of their plans.
Because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take shelter in you rejoice.
Let them ever[q] sing for joy,
because[r] you spread protection over them;
And let those[s] who love your name exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous.
O Yahweh, like a[t] shield you surround him with good favor.
An Appeal for Forgiveness and Deliverance
For the music director; with stringed instruments, on the Sheminith.[u]
A psalm of David.[v]
6 O Yahweh, do not rebuke me in your anger,
and do not discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, because I am feeble.
Heal me, O Yahweh, for my bones are terrified.
3 My soul is also very terrified.
But you, O Yahweh, how long?
4 Turn, O Yahweh; deliver my life.[w]
Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.[x]
5 For there is no remembrance of you in death.
In Sheol, who will give thanks to you?
6 I am weary with my groaning;
I flood[y] my bed every night.
With my tears I drench[z] my couch.
7 My eye wastes away because of vexation;
it grows old because of all my oppressors.
8 Depart from me, all workers of evil,
for Yahweh has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 Yahweh has heard my plea;
Yahweh has accepted my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and shall be very terrified.
They shall turn back; they shall suddenly be ashamed.
A Prayer for God to Throw down the Wicked
10 Why, O Yahweh, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide[a] during times of distress?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecutes[b] the poor.
Let them be caught in the schemes that they devised,
3 for the wicked boasts about the desire of his heart,[c]
and the one greedy for gain curses and treats Yahweh with contempt.
4 With bald-faced pride[d] the wicked will not seek God.
There is no God in any of his thoughts.
5 His ways[e] endure at all times.[f]
Your judgments are aloof from him.
As for all his enemies, he scoffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved
throughout all generations,[g] during which I will have no trouble.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing,
with deceits and oppression;
under his tongue are trouble and evil.
8 He sits in ambush in villages;
in the hiding places he kills the innocent.
His eyes lurk[h] for the helpless.
9 He lies in ambush secretly,[i] like a lion in a thicket.
He lies in ambush to seize the poor;
he seizes the poor by catching him in his net.
10 He is crushed;[j] he is bowed down;[k]
so[l] the helpless host[m] falls by his might.[n]
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.
He has hidden his face.
He never sees.”
12 Rise up, O Yahweh;
O God, lift up your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked treat God with contempt?
He says in his heart, “You will not call me to account.”
14 But you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief
to take it into your hand.
The helpless abandons himself upon you;
you have been the helper for the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked,
and as for the evil man—
seek out his wickedness until you find none.
16 Yahweh is king forever and ever;
the nations have perished from his land.
17 The longing of the afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh.
You will make their heart secure. You will listen attentively[o]
18 to render judgment for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that a mere mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.
Confidence in Yahweh’s Righteousness
For the music director. Of David.[p]
11 In Yahweh I have taken refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee to your mountain like a bird”?
2 For look: The wicked string the bow.[q]
They have fitted their arrow to the string,
to shoot from the darkness
at the upright of heart.
3 When the foundations are destroyed
what can the righteous do?[r]
4 Yahweh is in his holy temple;
Yahweh is in the heavens on his throne.
His eyelids see;
they test the children of humankind.
5 Yahweh tests the righteous,
but the wicked and the lover of violence
his soul hates.
6 He will rain coals[s] on the wicked.
Burning sulfur and scorching wind
will be the portion of their cup.
7 For Yahweh is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds.
The upright shall see his face.
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal[a] which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3 but from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. 5 For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods,[b] knowing good and evil.” 6 When[c] the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then[d] she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then[e] the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings.
8 Then[f] they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden at the windy time of day.[g] And the man[h] and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. 9 And Yahweh God called to the man[i] and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he replied,[j] “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid myself.” 11 Then he[k] asked,[l] “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?”[m] 12 And the man[n] replied,[o] “The woman whom you gave to be with me—she gave to me from the tree and I ate.” 13 Then[p] Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 Then[q] Yahweh God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
you will be cursed
more than any domesticated animal
and more than any wild animal.[r]
On your belly you shall go
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put hostility
between you and between the woman,
and between your offspring[s] and between her offspring;[t]
he will strike you on the head,
and you will strike him on the heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase
your pain in childbearing;[u]
in pain you shall bear children.
And to your husband shall be your desire.
And he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam[v] he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I forbade you to eat,[w]
the ground shall be cursed on your account.
In pain you shall eat from it
all the days of your life.
18 And thorns and thistles shall sprout for you,
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow[x]
you shall eat bread,
until your return to the ground.
For from it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 And the man[y] named[z] his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all life. 21 And Yahweh God made for Adam[aa] and for his wife garments of skin, and he clothed them.
22 And Yahweh God said, “Look—the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. What if[ab] he stretches out his hand and takes also from the tree of life and eats, and lives forever?” 23 And Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So[ac] he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming, turning sword[ad] to guard the way to the tree of life.
Warning Not to Neglect Salvation
2 Because of this, it is all the more necessary that we pay attention to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels was binding and every transgression and act of disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we[a] neglect so great a salvation which had its beginning when it[b] was spoken through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 while[c] God was testifying at the same time by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his will.
The Son’s Humiliation and Suffering
5 For he did not subject to angels the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But someone testified somewhere, saying,
“What is man, that you remember him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a short time lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor;[d]
8 you subjected all things under his feet.[e]
For in subjecting all things,[f] he left nothing that was not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, 9 but we see Jesus, for a short time made lower than the angels, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that apart from God[g] he might taste death on behalf of everyone. 10 For it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the originator of their salvation through sufferings.
John the Baptist Testifies to Jesus
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent[a] priests and Levites from Jerusalem so that they could ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he confessed—and he did not deny, and confessed—“I am not the Christ!” 21 And they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?”[b] And he answered, “No!” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said,
“I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord,”’[c]
just as Isaiah the prophet said.” 24 (And they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 And they asked him and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water. In your midst stands one whom you do not know— 27 the one who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie[d] the strap of his sandal!” 28 These things took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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