Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56
For the worship leader. A prayer[a] of David to the tune “Silent Dove in the Distance,”[b] when the Philistine oppressors seized him in Gath.
Psalm 56 brings to mind the time when David fled from Saul and sought help from the Philistines, his former enemies (1 Samuel 21:10–15). In his time of panic and fear, David found courage in trusting God to do what could not be done by human power and ingenuity alone.
1 Show mercy to me, O God, because people are crushing me—
grinding me down like dirt underfoot—all day long.
No matter what I do, I can’t get myself out from under them.
2 My enemies are crushing me, yes all day long, O Highest of High,
for many come proud and raise their hands against me.
3 When struck by fear,
I let go, depending securely upon You alone.
4 In God—whose word I praise—
in God I place my trust. I shall not let fear come in,
for what can measly men do to me?
5 All day long they warp my words;
all their thoughts against me are mangled by evil.
6 They conspire, then lurk about.
They eye my every move,
Waiting to steal my very life.
7 Because they are wicked through and through, drag them out.
In Your just anger, O God, cast them down!
8 You have taken note of my journey through life,
caught each of my tears in Your bottle.
But God, are they not also blots on Your book?
9 Then my enemies shall turn back and scatter
on the day I call out to You.
This I know for certain: God is on my side.
10 In God whose word I praise
and in the Eternal whose word I praise—
11 In God I have placed my trust. I shall not let fear come in,
for what can measly men do to me?
12 I am bound by Your promise, O God.
My life is my offering of thanksgiving to You,
13 For You have saved my soul from the darkness of death,
steadied my feet from stumbling
So I might continue to walk before God,
embraced in the light of the living.
Psalm 57
For the worship leader. A prayer[c] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”[d] when he hid from Saul in a cave.
This individual lament refers back to those perilous times when David fled from Saul and hid in caves (1 Samuel 22; 24). David found real security not in the hidden recesses of the caves but in the shadow of God’s wings.
1 Mercy. May Your mercy come to me, O God,
for my soul is safe within You, the guardian of my life.
I will seek protection in the shade of Your wings
until the destruction has passed.
2 I cry out to God, the Most High,
to God who always does what is good for me.
3 Out of heaven my rescue comes.
He dispatches His mercy and truth
And goes after whoever tries to run over me.
[pause][e]
4 I am surrounded by lions;
I lie in a den of ravenous beasts.
Those around me have spears and arrows for teeth,
a sharpened blade for a tongue.
5 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
6 Yet my foes cast a net to catch my feet and bring me to my knees.
I am weary from all of this.
They dug a pit to snare me
but fell into their own trap.
[pause]
7 My heart is ready, O God;
my heart is ready,
And I will sing!
Yes, I will sing praise!
8 Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre;
I will stir the sleepy dawn with praise!
9 I will offer You my thanks, O Lord, before the nations of the world;
I will sing of Your greatness no matter where I am.
10 For Your amazing mercy ascends far into the heavens;
Your truth rises above the clouds.
11 O God, be lifted up above the heavens;
may Your glory cover the earth.
Psalm 58
For the worship leader. A prayer[f] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy.”[g]
1 Can you, panel of judges, get anything right?
When you judge people, do you tell the truth and pursue justice?
2 No, your real selves have been revealed. You have wickedness in your heart,
and many people have suffered by your hands.
3 Evildoers are naturally offensive, wayward at birth!
They were born telling lies and willfully wandering from the truth.
4 Their bite is painful; their venom is like the deadly poison of a snake;
they are like a cobra that closes up its ears
5 To escape the voice of the charmers,
no matter how enchanting the spells may be.
6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths!
Render the young lions harmless; break out their fangs, O Eternal One.
7 Let them run off like the waters of a flood,
and though they aim their arrows, let them fly without their heads.
8 Let them melt like a snail that oozes along;
may they be like a stillborn that never catches its first breath, never sees the sun.
9 Before your cook pots know the furious flame of a fire of thorns—
whether green or burning—He will blow the wicked away.
10 Cheers will rise as the right-living watch Him settle the score,
their feet washed in the blood after the onslaught of the wicked.
11 And it will be heard, “Those who seek justice will be rewarded.
Indeed, there is a God who brings justice to the earth!”
Psalm 64
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 O True God, hear my voice! Listen to my complaint!
Guard my life; keep me safe from my enemy’s threats.
2 Hide me from the sinful circle that conspires against me,
from the band of rebels out to make trouble,
3 Who sharpen their tongues into swords,
who take aim with poisonous words like arrows.
4 They hide in the shadows and shoot at the innocent;
they shoot at them without warning and without any fear.
5 They persist in their evil purpose
and plan in secret to lay their traps.
And they say, “Who will see them?”
6 They plot their offense with precision and say,
“Now we have the perfect crime.”
The human heart and mind are deep and complex.
7 But without hesitation the True God will shoot at them;
His arrow will surely wound them.
8 He will use their very own words to bring them to destruction;
all who see will be appalled at what happens to them.
9 Then everyone will fear the True God;
they will proclaim His deeds
and will reflect upon all He has done.
10 The righteous will delight in the Eternal
and will take shelter in Him.
All those with an honest heart will glorify Him!
Psalm 65
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 All will stand in awe to praise You.
Praise will sweep through Zion, the Sacred City, O God.
Solemn vows uttered to You will now be performed.
2 You hear us pray in words and silence;
all humanity comes into Your presence.
3 Injustice overwhelms me!
But You forgive our sins, restoring as only You can.
4 You invite us near, drawing us
into Your courts—what an honor and a privilege!
We feast until we’re full on the goodness of Your house,
Your sacred temple made manifest.
5 You leave us breathless when Your awesome works answer us by putting everything right.
God of our liberation—
You are the hope of all creation, from the far corners of the earth
to distant life-giving oceans.
6 With immense power, You erected mountains.
Wrapped in strength, You compelled
7 Choppy seas,
crashing waves,
and crowds of people
To sit in astonished silence.
8 Those who inhabit the boundaries of the earth are awed by Your signs,
strong and subtle hints of Your indelible presence.
Even the dawn and dusk respond to You with joy.
9 You spend time on the good earth,
watering and nourishing the networks of the living.
God’s river is full of water!
By preparing the land,
You have provided us grain for nourishment.
10 You are the gentle equalizer: soaking the furrows,
smoothing soil’s ridges,
Softening sun-baked earth with generous showers,
blessing the fruit of the ground.
11 You crown the year with a fruitful harvest;
the paths are worn down by carts overflowing with unstoppable growth.
12 Barren desert pastures yield fruit;
craggy hills are now dressed for celebration.
13 Meadows are clothed with frolicking flocks of lambs;
valleys are covered with a carpet of autumn-harvest grain;
the land shouts and sings in joyous celebration.
17 Get up. Get up, and get moving! Stand up, Jerusalem,
you who have experienced firsthand the punishing anger of God.
You have drunk that terrible cup to the last gritty drop,
and it left you reeling, drunk on distress.
18 Ah, poor Jerusalem! No one comes to guide her along.
Of all her people, all the ones whom the city nurtured and raised to adulthood,
None take her hand now in her stupor of pain.
19 Twin disasters have befallen you:
devastation and destruction, famine and war.
Who can relieve your anguish and pain?
Who is left to provide comfort?
20 Her people are lying around on every corner,
weary and faint, like an antelope trapped in a net.
Each is overcome with the Eternal’s anger; each suffers His rebuke.
21 But now, listen! Listen, you who are miserable,
you who are intoxicated, but not on wine.
22 The Lord, your God, the Eternal, who pleads for His people, has this to say:
Eternal One: Look! I have taken away the cup that left you reeling—the cup of My anger—
and sobered you up; I will never make you drink it again.
23 And I will give that drink to those who abused and oppressed you—
who ordered you, “Get down so we can walk all over you.”
And your backs became the ground they walked on, the streets they passed by.
4 Listen. I am going to explain how this all works: When a minor inherits an estate from his parents, although he is the owner of everything, he is the same as a slave. 2 Until the day set by his father, the minor is subject to the authorities or guardians whom his father put in charge. 3 It is like that with us; there was a time when we were like children held under the elemental powers of this world. 4 When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) 5 to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters. 6 Because you are now part of God’s family, He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts; and the Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 You no longer have to live as a slave because you are a child of God. And since you are His child, God guarantees an inheritance is waiting for you.
“Abba” is an address spoken by children to their fathers expressing intimacy and respect. It would not be out-of-the-question to think of it as “Dad,” or “Daddy.”
8 During the time before you knew God, you were slaves to powers that are not gods at all. 9 But now, when you are just beginning to know the one True God—actually, He is showing how completely He knows you—how can you turn back to weak and worthless idols made by men, icons of these spiritual powers? Haven’t you endured enough bondage to these breathless idols? 10 You are observing particular days, months, festival seasons, and years; 11 you have me worried that I may have wasted my time laboring among you.
Although Mark specifically states that Jesus is overriding the Old Testament dietary laws and declaring all foods pure, it will be a long time before the disciples are willing to act on that message. One of the biggest controversies in the early church will be the question of dietary restrictions and how the Old Testament laws ought to be observed by Jewish and non-Jewish Christian believers. However, Jesus makes it clear in this passage that His main concern has nothing to do with what people eat. Instead, He is concerned about the hearts of His followers.
24 From there Jesus and His followers traveled to the region of Tyre [and Sidon][a] on the Mediterranean coast. He hoped to slip unnoticed into a house, but people discovered His presence. 25 Shortly after He arrived, a woman whose daughter was filled with an unclean spirit heard that He was there, so she came directly to Him and prostrated herself at His feet.
26 The woman was not a Jew, but a Syrophoenician (a Greek) by birth. All the same, she came to Jesus and begged Him to cast the unclean spirit out of her daughter.
Jesus (shaking His head): 27 I must feed the children first. It would do no good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.
Syrophoenician Woman: 28 Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table may eat of the children’s crumbs.
Jesus (smiling and nodding): 29 This is a wise saying. Go back home. Your daughter is free of the spirit that troubled her.
30 And when she returned to her house, she discovered that it was as Jesus had told her. Her daughter lay on her bed, in her right mind, whole and healthy.
Although Jesus at first answers the Greek woman harshly, He ultimately responds to her request. By healing her daughter, He demonstrates that God’s loving presence has come to all people and not just to Jews. It’s one of the first glimpses in this Gospel of the truth that will become clearer later—the truth that, through Jesus, God is making all people, and not just one chosen nation, clean and whole.
31 Jesus traveled on His way through Tyre and Sidon, eventually returning to the region of the Sea of Galilee. From there He pressed on to the area of the Ten Cities.[b] 32 Among the sick who were brought to Him was a man who was deaf and could barely speak at all, and those who brought him begged Jesus to lay His hands on the man. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, alone, and touched his ears with His fingers. Then after spitting on His fingers, Jesus touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking heavenward to God, Jesus sighed and commanded,
Jesus: Open up[c] and let this man speak.
35 [Immediately][d] the man could hear, his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Jesus ordered those who had witnessed this to tell no one; but the more He insisted, the more zealously people spread the word.
People (astonished): 37 He does everything so well! He even returns sound to the deaf and mute.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.