Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: For flutes. A Davidic Psalm
A Prayer for God’s Help
5 Lord, listen to my words,
consider my groaning.
2 Pay attention to my cry for help,[a]
my king and my God,
for unto you will I pray.
3 Lord, in the morning you will hear my voice;
in the morning I will pray[b] to you,
and I will watch for your answer.[c]
4 Indeed, you aren’t a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will never dwell with you.
5 Boastful ones will not stand before you;
you hate all those who practice wickedness.
6 You will destroy those who speak lies.
The Lord abhors the person of bloodshed and deceit.
7 But I, because of the abundance of your gracious love,
may come into your house.
In awe of you, I will worship in your holy Temple.
8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies.
Make your path straight before me.
9 But as for the wicked,[d]
they do not speak truth at all.
Inside them there is only wickedness.
Their throat is an open grave,
on their tongue is deceitful flattery.
10 Declare them guilty, God!
Let them fall by their own schemes.
Drive them away because of their many transgressions,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 Let all those who take refuge in you rejoice!
Let them shout for joy forever,
and may you protect them.
Let those who love your name exult in you.
12 Indeed, you will bless the righteous one, Lord,
like a large shield, you will surround him with favor.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. On an eight-stringed harp.[e] A Davidic Psalm
A Prayer in Times of Trouble
6 Lord, in your anger, do not rebuke me;
in your wrath, do not discipline me.
2 Be gracious to me, Lord,
because I am fading away.
Heal me,
because my body[f] is distressed.
3 And my soul[g] is deeply distressed.
But you, Lord, how long do I wait?[h]
4 Return, Lord,
save my life!
Deliver me, because of your gracious love.
5 In death, there is no memory of you.
Who will give you thanks where the dead are?[i]
6 I am weary from my groaning.
Every night my couch is drenched with tears,
my bed is soaked through.
7 My eyesight has faded because of grief,
it has dimmed because of all my enemies.
8 Get away from me, all of you who practice evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord receives my prayer.
10 As for all my enemies, they will be put to shame;
they will be greatly frightened
and suddenly turn away ashamed.
A Prayer for Judging the Wicked
10 [a]Why do you stand far away, Lord?
Why do you hide in times of distress?
2 The wicked one arrogantly pursues the afflicted,[b]
who are trapped in the schemes he devises.
3 For the wicked one boasts about his own desire;
he blesses the greedy
and despises the Lord.
4 With haughty arrogance, the wicked thinks,
“God will not seek justice.”[c]
He always presumes “There is no God.”
5 Their ways always seem prosperous.
Your judgments are on high,
far away from them.
They scoff at all their enemies.
6 They say to themselves,
“We will not be moved throughout all time,
and we will not experience adversity.”
7 Their mouth is full of curses, lies, and oppression,
their tongues[d] spread trouble and iniquity.
8 They wait[e] in ambush in the villages,
they kill the innocent in secret.
9 Their eyes secretly watch the helpless,
lying in wait like a lion in his den.
They lie in wait to catch the afflicted.
They catch the afflicted when they pull him into their net.
10 The victim[f] is crushed,
and he sinks down;
the helpless fall by their might.
11 The wicked say to themselves,
“God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face,
he will never see it.”
12 Rise up, Lord!
Raise your hand, God.
Don’t forget the afflicted!
13 Why do the wicked despise God
and say to themselves, “God[g] will not seek justice.”?[h]
14 But you do see!
You take note of trouble and grief
in order to take the matter into your own hand.
The helpless one commits himself[i] to you;
you have been the orphan’s helper.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
so that when you seek out his wickedness
you will find it no more.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
nations will perish from his land.
17 Lord, you heard the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen them,[j]
you will listen carefully,
18 to do justice for the orphan[k] and the oppressed,
so that men of the earth may cause terror no more.
To the Director: A Davidic Song.[l]
Confident Trust in God
11 I take refuge in the Lord.
So how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains.”?
2 Look, the wicked have bent their bow
and placed their arrow[m] on the string,[n]
to shoot from the darkness[o] at the upright in heart.
3 When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
4 The Lord is in his holy Temple;
the Lord’s throne is in the heavens.
His eyes see,
his glance[p] examines humanity.[q]
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence, he hates.
6 He rains on the wicked burning coals and sulfur;
a scorching wind is their destiny.[r]
7 Indeed, the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteousness;
the upright will see him face-to-face.
Levitical Cities
35 The Lord told Moses in the wilderness of Moab, beside the Jordan River near[a] Jericho, 2 “Instruct the Israelis to set aside a portion of their inheritance for the descendants of Levi to live in, along with grazing land surrounding their towns. 3 The towns are to be reserved for their dwelling places and the grazing lands[b] are to be reserved for their cattle, livestock, and all their animals.
Appointment of Cities of Refuge
9 Then the Lord told Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelis that when they have crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 11 they are to designate some towns of refuge so that anyone who kills someone inadvertently may flee there. 12 They are to serve as cities of refuge from a blood avenger[a] in order to keep the inadvertent killer from dying until he has stood trial in the presence of the community. 13 You are to set aside six towns of refuge. 14 Appoint three towns this side of the Jordan River and three towns in the land of Canaan to serve as the towns of refuge, 15 that is, places[b] of refuge for the Israelis, the resident alien,[c] and any travelers among them. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently may flee there.”
Capital Cases Require Multiple Witnesses
30 “Every murderer of a human being[a] is to be executed only according to testimony[b] given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence.[c] 31 You are to receive no ransom for the life[d] of a killer who is guilty of murder; instead, he is to die. 32 You are not to receive payment of a[e] ransom for someone who had fled to a town of refuge but then left to live in his homeland before the death of the high priest. 33 You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. 34 You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I’m living among you. I am the Lord, who lives in Israel.”
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice[a] for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son,[b] won’t he? 33 Who will accuse God’s elect? It is God who justifies! 34 Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah[c] Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.
35 Who will separate us from the Messiah’s[d] love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death[e] do this?[f] 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being put to death all day long.
We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter.”[g]
37 In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours[h] in union with the Messiah[i] Jesus, our Lord.
13 “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from[a] heaven in people’s faces. You don’t go in yourselves, and you don’t allow those who are trying to enter to go in.
14 “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows’ houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation![b]
15 “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for[c] hell[d] as you are.
16 “How terrible it will be for you, blind guides! You say, ‘Whoever swears an oath by the sanctuary is excused,[e] but whoever swears an oath by the gold of the sanctuary must keep his oath.’[f] 17 You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the sanctuary that made the gold holy? 18 Again you say,[g] ‘Whoever swears an oath by the altar is excused,[h] but whoever swears by the gift that is on it must keep his oath.’[i] 19 You blind men![j] Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? 20 Therefore, the one who swears an oath by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 The one who swears an oath by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who lives there. 22 And the one who swears an oath by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.[k] These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel!
25 “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup,[l] so that its outside may also be clean.
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