Book of Common Prayer
Betrayal of a Friend and Trust in God
For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A maskil of David.[a]
55 Give ear, O God, to my prayer,
and do not hide yourself from my plea.
2 Attend to me and answer me.
I am restless in my lamenting and I groan,
3 because of the voice of an enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked,
because they bring down evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart trembles within me,
and deathly terrors fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come on me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 So I say, “Oh, that[b] I had wings like a dove.
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Look, I would flee far away.
I would dwell in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hurry to my refuge
from the raging wind and storm.”
9 Confuse, O Lord; divide their speech,
because I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are in its midst.
11 Destruction is within it,
and oppression and deceit
do not depart from its public square.
12 For it is not an enemy that taunts me,
or I could bear it.
It is not one who hates me that magnifies himself over me,
or I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man my equal,
my friend and confidant.
14 We who would take sweet counsel together;
in the house[c] of God
we would walk with the throng.
15 Let death deceive them. May they descend to Sheol alive,
because evil is in their home and heart.[d]
16 As for me, I will call to God,
and Yahweh will save me.
17 Morning, noon and night[e] I will lament and groan loudly,
and he will hear my voice.
18 He safely redeems my life from the battle against me,[f]
because those standing against me are among many.
19 God will hear and answer them,[g]
he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
Because they do not change,
and they do not fear God.
20 He has put forth his hands against his friends;[h]
he has defiled his covenant.
21 The buttery words[i] of his mouth were smooth,
but there was battle in his heart.
His words were smoother than oil,
but they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on Yahweh,
and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be moved.[j]
23 But you, O God, you will bring them down to the pit of corruption.
The men of bloodshed and deceit will not live half their days,
but I will trust you.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Goodness
Of David.[a]
138 I give you thanks with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have magnified your word[b] according to all your name.[c]
3 When[d] I called and you answered me,
you emboldened me in my soul with strength.
4 All the kings of the earth
will praise you, O Yahweh,
when they have heard the words[e] of your mouth,
5 and they will sing of the ways of Yahweh,
because Yahweh’s glory is great.
6 Though Yahweh is high, yet he sees the lowly,
but the proud he perceives[f] at a distance.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me alive.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies,
and you save me with your right hand.
8 Yahweh accomplishes things for my benefit.
O Yahweh, your loyal love endures forever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.
The Knowledge of God
For the music director. Of David. A psalm.[g]
139 O Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You search out[h] my wandering and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word yet on my tongue,
but behold, O Yahweh, you know it completely.
5 You barricade me behind and in front,
and set your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is set high; I cannot prevail against it.
7 Where I can go from your Spirit,
or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, there you are,
and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.
9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn,
and I alight on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
and your right hand would hold me fast.
11 And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,
and the light around me will be as night,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you,[i]
and the night shines as the day—
the darkness and the light are alike for you.
13 Indeed you created my inward parts;[j]
you wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.[k]
Wonderful are your works,
and my soul knows it well.
15 My frame[l] was not hidden from you,
when I was created secretly,[m]
and intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,[n]
and in your book they all were written—
days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
17 And to me, how precious[o] are your thoughts, O God;
how vast is their sum.
18 If I should count them,
they would outnumber the sand.
I awaken, and I am still with you.
19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God—
so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—[p]
20 who speak against you deceitfully.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with a complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
The Return of the Remnant
20 And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors[a] of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on the one who struck it
but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return—
the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of it will return.
Annihilation is determined,
overflowing with righteousness.
23 For the Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to make a complete destruction
and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts:
“My people who live in Zion,
you must not be afraid of Assyria.
It beats you with the rod,
and it lifts up its staff against you as the Egyptians did.[b]
25 My indignation will come to an end in just a very little while,[c]
and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”
26 And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him,
as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb;
and his staff will be over the sea,
and he will lift him up as he did in Egypt.[d]
27 And this shall happen: on that day,
he will remove his burden from your shoulder
and his yoke from your neck,
and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat.[e]
Persevere in the Love of God
17 But you, dear friends, remember the words proclaimed beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 for they said to you,[a] “In the end time there will be scoffers following according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by[b] building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by[c] praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt, 23 and save others by[d] snatching them from the fire, and have mercy on others with fear, hating even the tunic stained by the flesh.
Benediction
24 Now to the one who is able to protect you from stumbling and make you to stand before his glory blameless[e] with exultation, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now and for all eternity. Amen.
John the Baptist Begins His Ministry
3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,[a] when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the time of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight!
5 Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled,
and the crooked will become straight,
and the rough road will become[b] smooth,
6 and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’”[c]
7 Therefore he was saying to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 9 And even now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
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