Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 6[a]
For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style;[b] a psalm of David.
6 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Do not discipline me in your raging fury.[c]
2 Have mercy on me,[d] Lord, for I am frail.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking.[e]
3 I am absolutely terrified,[f]
and you, Lord—how long will this continue?[g]
4 Relent, Lord, rescue me![h]
Deliver me because of your faithfulness.[i]
5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death.[j]
In Sheol who gives you thanks?[k]
6 I am exhausted as I groan.
All night long I drench my bed in tears;[l]
my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.[m]
7 My eyes[n] grow dim[o] from suffering;
they grow weak[p] because of all my enemies.[q]
8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly,[r]
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.[s]
9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;
the Lord has accepted[t] my prayer.
10 They will be humiliated[u] and absolutely terrified.[v]
All my enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.
Psalm 12[a]
For the music director, according to the sheminith style;[b] a psalm of David.
12 Deliver, Lord!
For the godly[c] have disappeared;[d]
people of integrity[e] have vanished.[f]
2 People lie to one another;[g]
they flatter and deceive.[h]
3 May the Lord cut off[i] all flattering lips,
and the tongue that boasts![j]
4 They say,[k] “We speak persuasively;[l]
we know how to flatter and boast.[m]
Who is our master?”[n]
5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed,[o]
because of the painful cries[p] of the needy,
I will spring into action,”[q] says the Lord.
“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.”[r]
6 The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable.[s]
They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground,
where it is thoroughly refined.[t]
7 You, Lord, will protect them;[u]
you will continually shelter each one from these evil people,[v]
8 for the wicked seem to be everywhere,[w]
when people promote evil.[x]
Psalm 94[a]
94 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.[b]
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?[c]
4 They spew out threats[d] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[e]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[f]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[g]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[h]
8 Take notice of this,[i] you ignorant people.[j]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?[k]
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.[l]
12 How blessed is the one[m] whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,[n]
until the wicked are destroyed.[o]
14 Certainly[p] the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.[q]
15 For justice will prevail,[r]
and all the morally upright[s] will be vindicated.[t]
16 Who will rise up to defend me[u] against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?[v]
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.[w]
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[x]
your soothing touch makes me happy.[y]
20 Cruel rulers[z] are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.[aa]
21 They conspire against[ab] the blameless,[ac]
and condemn to death the innocent.[ad]
22 But the Lord will protect me,[ae]
and my God will shelter me.[af]
23 He will pay them back for their sin.[ag]
He will destroy them because of[ah] their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
פ (Pe)
The Prophet Speaks
17 Zion spread out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob;
his neighbors[a] have become his enemies.
Jerusalem has become
like filthy garbage[b] in their midst.[c]
צ (Tsade)
Jerusalem Speaks
18 The Lord is right to judge me![d]
Yes, I rebelled against his commands.[e]
Please listen, all you nations,[f]
and look at my suffering!
My young women and men
have gone into exile.
ק (Qof)
19 I called for my lovers,[g]
but they had deceived me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city.
Truly they had[h] searched for food
to[i] keep themselves[j] alive.[k]
ר (Resh)
20 Look, O Lord! I am distressed;[l]
my stomach is in knots![m]
My heart is pounding[n] inside me.
Yes, I was terribly rebellious![o]
Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children;[p]
Inside the house death is present.[q]
ש (Sin/Shin)
21 They have heard[r] that I groan,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you[s] have brought it about.[t]
Bring about[u] the day of judgment[v] that you promised[w]
so that[x] they may end up[y] like me!
ת (Tav)
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[a] regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia,[b] that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. 9 Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us,[c] so that we would not trust in ourselves[d] but in God who raises the dead. 10 He[e] delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him[f] that[g] he will deliver us yet again, 11 as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God[h] on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.
Paul Defends His Changed Plans
12 For our reason for confidence[i] is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives[j] and sincerity which are from God[k]—not by human wisdom[l] but by the grace of God—we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more[m] toward you. 13 For we do not write you anything other than what[n] you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely[o] 14 just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours[p] in the day of the Lord Jesus.[q] 15 And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us,[r] 16 and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back[s] to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you. 17 Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I?[t] Or do I make my plans[u] according to mere human standards[v] so that I would be saying[w] both “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 But as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us—by me and Silvanus[x] and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but it has always been “Yes” in him. 20 For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God. 21 But it is God who establishes[y] us together with you in Christ and who anointed us,[z] 22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.[aa]
The Authority of Jesus
27 They came again to Jerusalem. While Jesus[a] was walking in the temple courts,[b] the chief priests, the experts in the law,[c] and the elders came up to him 28 and said, “By what authority[d] are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from people?[e] Answer me.” 31 They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From people—’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet). 33 So[f] they answered Jesus,[g] “We don’t know.”[h] Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you[i] by what authority[j] I am doing these things.”
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