Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 6
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
nor discipline me in the heat of Your anger.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are terrified.
3 My soul is greatly troubled,
but You, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, rescue my soul.
Save me for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
in Sheol who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning;
all night I flood my bed with weeping;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away from grief;
it grows weak because of all those hostile to me.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 May all my enemies be ashamed and greatly terrified;
may they turn back and be suddenly ashamed.
Psalm 12
For the Music Director. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for the godly man comes to an end,
for the faithful disappear from sons of men.
2 They speak empty words, each with his own neighbor;
they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
3 The Lord will cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 who have said, “With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are in our control, who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered,
because the needy sigh,
now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words;
they are silver tried in an earthen furnace
refined seven times.
7 You will keep them, O Lord;
You will preserve them from this generation.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when the worthless of mankind are exalted.
Psalm 94
1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs;
O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
render to the proud what they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They spew forth their arrogant words;
all those who do iniquity boast.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
and afflict Your inheritance.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
neither does the God of Jacob regard it.”
8 Understand, you brutish among the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who made the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who chastises the nations, shall He not correct?
He teaches people knowledge!
11 The Lord, He knows the thoughts of people,
that they are a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach from Your law,
13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake His people;
neither will He abandon His inheritance.
15 But justice shall return to those who are righteous,
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against those who do iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul would have lived in the land of silent death.
18 When I said, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, held me up.
19 When there is a multitude of worries within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall wicked rulers, who make oppressive laws,
align with You?
21 They conspire together against the life of the righteous
and condemn innocent blood to death.
22 But the Lord is my defense,
and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 He shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall cut them off for their own wickedness;
yes, the Lord our God shall destroy them.
17 Zion spreads out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
and see my sorrow;
my virgins and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and my elders
perished in the city,
while they sought food
to restore their strength.
20 Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my soul is greatly troubled;
my heart is overturned within me,
for I have grievously rebelled.
In the street the sword bereaves,
at home it is like death.
21 They have heard my groaning,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that You have done it.
Bring the day that You have announced,
that they become like me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before You,
and do to them
as You have done to me
for all my transgressions;
for my groans are many,
and my heart is faint.
8 For we would not, brothers, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia. We were pressured beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 We had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us. In Him we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 as you help together by praying for us, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many persons.
Paul’s Travel Plans Change
12 For our rejoicing is this: The testimony of our conscience is that we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God. 13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read or understand. And I trust you will understand even to the end, 14 as you have understood us in part, that we are yours, boasting even as you are ours on the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 In this confidence I planned to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit: 16 to visit you while going to Macedonia, and to come again to you from Macedonia, and then be sent by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do this lightly? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, so that I would tell you “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18 But as God is true, we did not tell you “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by Silas, Timothy, and me, was not “Yes” and “No.” In Him it was “Yes.” 20 For all the promises of God in Him are “Yes,” and in Him “Amen,” to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and established the guarantee with the Spirit in our hearts.
The Question of Jesus’ Authority(A)
27 They came again to Jerusalem, and as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, 28 and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority to do them?”
29 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask of you one question. Answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 They debated among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for everyone held John to be a real prophet.
33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
Jesus answered them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.