Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [b]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [c]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[d]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[e] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[f]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[g]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[h]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[i]
10 “For forty years[j] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[k]
Psalm 22[a]
Suffering and Triumph of the Messiah
1 For the director.[b] According to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David.
2 [c]My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why have you paid no heed to my call for help,
to my cries of anguish?
3 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I am afforded no relief.[d]
4 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
5 Our ancestors placed their trust in you;
they trusted, and you gave them deliverance.
6 They cried out to you and were saved,
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
7 But I am a worm and not human,[e]
scorned by people and despised by my kinsmen.
8 All who see me jeer at me;
they sneer in mockery and toss their heads:[f]
9 “He relied on the Lord;
let the Lord set him free.
Let the Lord deliver him,
if he loves him.”[g]
10 [h]Yet you brought me out of the womb
and made me feel secure
upon my mother’s breast.
11 I was entrusted to your care at my birth;
from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.
12 Do not remain aloof from me,
for trouble is near
and no one can help me.
13 [i]Many bulls[j] are encircling me;
fierce bulls of Bashan are closing in on me.
14 They open wide their mouths against me
like ravening and roaring lions.
15 My strength is trickling away like water,
and all my bones are dislocated.
My heart[k] has turned to wax
and melts within me.
16 My mouth is as dry as clayware,
and my tongue sticks to my jaw;[l]
you have laid me down in the dust of death.
17 A pack of dogs surrounds me;
a band of evildoers is closing in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet;[m]
18 I can count all my bones.[n]
They stare at me and gloat;
19 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.[o]
20 [p]But you, O Lord, do not remain aloof from me.
O my Strength, come quickly to my aid.
21 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the grasp of the dogs.
22 Save me[q] from the lion’s mouth
and from the horns of wild oxen.
23 [r]I will proclaim your name to my family;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:[s]
24 “You who fear the Lord, praise him.
All you descendants of Jacob,[t] give him glory.
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel.
25 For he has not scorned or disregarded
the wretched man in his suffering;
he has not hidden his face[u] from him
but has heeded his call for help.”
26 I will offer my praise to you in the great assembly;
in the presence of those who fear him, I will fulfill my vows.[v]
27 [w]The poor[x] will eat and be filled;
those who seek the Lord will praise him:
“May your hearts live forever.”
28 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow low before him.
29 For kingly power belongs to the Lord;
he is the ruler of all the nations.
30 All those who prosper on the earth will bow down before him;
all those who lie in the grave will kneel in homage.
31 [y]But I will live for the Lord,
and my descendants will serve him.
32 Future generations will be told about the Lord
so that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance he has accomplished.
Psalm 141[a]
Prayer for Protection against Evildoers
1 [b]A psalm of David.
O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to my aid;
listen to my plea when I call out to you.
2 May my prayer be like incense[c] before you,
the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 [d]Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not permit my heart to be drawn to evil,
or to the pursuit of wicked deeds
in the company of those who do evil;
let me not share in their corruption.
5 [e]If a righteous man strikes me, I regard it as kindness;
if he rebukes me, it is oil on my head.[f]
But never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head,
for my prayer is always opposed to their evil deeds.
6 [g]When their leaders are flung down in stony places,
they will learn that my prayers were heard.
7 As the soil is shattered when the ground is plowed,
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of the netherworld.
8 [h]But my eyes are turned to you, O Lord God;
in you I seek refuge;
do not take my life away.
9 Keep me safe from the traps they have laid for me,
from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked tumble into their own nets all together
while I pass by unharmed.[i]
Psalm 143[a]
Prayer of a Penitent in Distress
1 [b]A psalm of David.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
incline your ear to my supplications.
In your faithfulness respond to me
with your righteousness.
2 Do not subject your servant to your judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.[c]
3 [d]An enemy has stalked me unrelentingly
and crushed me into the ground;
he has left me to live in darkness[e]
like those long dead.
4 My spirit is faint within me,
and my heart[f] has succumbed to fear.
5 I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your actions
and meditating on the works of your hands.[g]
6 I stretch out my hands[h] to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
7 [i]Answer me quickly, O Lord,
for my spirit grows faint.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.[j]
8 At dawn[k] let me experience your kindness,
for in you I place my trust.
Show me the path I must walk,
for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord,
for in you I seek refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.[l]
Let your gracious Spirit lead me
along a level path.
11 For your name’s sake,[m] O Lord, preserve my life;
in your righteousness deliver me from distress.
12 In your kindness, destroy my enemies,
and annihilate all those who oppress me,
for I am your servant.[n]
13 Seventh Plague: The Hail.[a] The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh and proclaim, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go so that they can serve me! 14 This time I will send all of my plagues against you, against your ministers, and against all your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me upon the whole earth. 15 By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plagues that would have wiped you off the face of the earth. 16 Instead, I let you live to show you my power and so that my name might be proclaimed all throughout the earth. 17 Will you still oppose my people and not let them leave? 18 Behold, I will send a terribly violent hail tomorrow at this time as has never been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until today. 19 Send word to gather your animals and whatever is in the field into a safe shelter. Hail will fall upon all the people and upon all the animals that are in open countryside and that have not been brought into shelter, and they will die.” ’ ”
20 Some of the ministers of Pharaoh feared the Lord and brought their slaves and their animals into shelter.[b] 21 Others did not take the words of the Lord to heart, and they left their slaves and their animals in the open countryside.
22 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch your hand out toward the heavens. Let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon people, upon animals, and upon the plants of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” 23 Moses stretched his staff toward the heavens, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the earth, and the Lord made hail rain down upon the land of Egypt. 24 There was hail and lightning in the midst of the hail. The hail was so violent that nothing like it had ever been seen in the entire land of Egypt from the day it had become a nation. 25 The hail struck every person and animal that was in the open countryside throughout the land of Egypt. The hail also struck the plants in the field and splintered every tree in the open countryside. 26 Only the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel lived, had no hail.
27 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. 28 Pray to the Lord to stop the thunder and hail. I will let you leave. You need not stay any longer.” 29 Moses answered him, “When I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands toward the Lord. The thunder will cease, and the hail will end, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 30 But as for you and your ministers, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God.”
31 The linen and barley was ruined, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was flowering. 32 But the wheat and the rye and the spelt were not harmed for they have a later season.
33 Moses left Pharaoh and the city. He extended his hand toward the Lord. The thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down upon the land. 34 Pharaoh saw that the rain had stopped, as had the hail and the thunder, but he continued to sin and be stubborn, together with his ministers. 35 The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the children of Israel leave, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.
Chapter 4
The Gospel of the Glory of Christ.[a] 1 Therefore, since we are engaged in this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced all shameful and hidden ways. We do not engage in deception or falsify the word of God. By stating the truth in an open manner, we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
3 If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 those unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world to prevent them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 We do not proclaim ourselves. Rather we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for the sake of Jesus. 6 For the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has enabled his light to shine in our hearts in order to enlighten them with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The State of an Apostle.[b] 7 However, we hold this treasure in earthen vessels so that it may be clear that this immense power belongs to God and does not derive from us. 8 We are afflicted on all sides but not crushed, bewildered but not sunk in despair, 9 persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. 11 For in our lives we are constantly being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12 As a result, death is at work in us, but life in you.
32 Jesus Predicts His Passion a Third Time.[a] As they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, Jesus walked ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, and those who followed were apprehensive. Once again, he took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what would happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are now going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and put him to death. And after three days he will rise again.”
35 The Son of Man Has Come To Serve.[b] Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we request.” 36 He asked them, “What is it that you want me to do for you?” 37 They said to him, “Allow us to sit, one at your right hand and the other at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink,[c] or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to him, “We can.”
Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall indeed drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you shall be baptized. 40 But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not in my power to grant. Those places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the other ten heard this, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 Therefore, Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those considered to be rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. 43 But this must not be so with you. Instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.