Book of Common Prayer
Davidic
A Man of Integrity Pleads for Justice
26 Vindicate me, Lord,
because I have walked in integrity;
I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Examine me, Lord, and inspect me!
Test my heart and mind.[a]
3 For your gracious love precedes me,
and I continuously walk according to your truth.
4 I do not sit with those committed to what is false,
nor do I travel with hypocrites.
5 I hate the company of those who practice evil,
nor do I sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands innocently.
I go around your altar, Lord,
7 so I may praise you loudly with thanksgiving
and declare all your wondrous acts.
8 Lord, I love the dwelling place that is your house,
the place where your glory resides.
9 Do not group me[b] with sinners,
nor include me[c] with men who shed blood.
10 Their hands are filled with wicked schemes,
and their right hands with bribes.
11 But as for me,
I walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me!
12 My feet stand on level ground;
among the worshiping congregations
I will bless the Lord.
Davidic
A Prayer for Help
28 To you, Lord, I cry out!
My Rock, do not refuse to answer me.[a]
If you remain silent,
I will become like those who descend into the Pit.[b]
2 Hear the sound of my supplications when I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who practice iniquity,
who speak peace to their neighbors
while harboring evil in their hearts.
4 Reward them according to their deeds;
according to the evil of their actions.
Reward them based on what they do;[c]
give them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not understand the deeds of the Lord
or the work of his hands,
He will tear them down and never build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the sound of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him,
and I received help.
My heart rejoices,
and I give thanks to him with my song.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people;[d]
he is a refuge of deliverance for his anointed.
9 Deliver your people
and bless your inheritance!
Shepherd them
and lift them up forever!
To the Director: By the servant of the Lord, David.
An Oracle from the Lord
36 An oracle that came to me[a] about the transgressions of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 He flatters himself[b] too much[c] to discover his transgression and hate it.
3 The words from his mouth are vain and deceptive.
He has abandoned behaving wisely and doing good.
4 He devises iniquity on his bed
and is determined to follow a path that is not good.
He does not resist evil.
Praise to the Lord
5 Your gracious love, Lord, reaches to the heavens;
your truth[d] extends to the skies.[e]
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your justice is like the great depths of the sea.[f]
You deliver both[g] people and animals, Lord.
7 How precious is your gracious love, God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They are refreshed from the abundance of your house;
You cause them to drink from the river of your pleasures.
9 For with you is a fountain of life,
and in your light we will see light.
10 Send forth your gracious love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to those who are upright in heart.
11 Do not let the foot of the proud crush me;
and do not let the hand of the wicked dissuade me.
12 There, those who do evil have fallen;
They have been thrown down,
and they cannot get up.
To the Director: To Jeduthun. A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer about Life’s Priorities
39 I told myself, “I will keep watch over my tongue to keep from sinning.
I will muzzle my mouth when the wicked are around.”
2 I was as silent as a mute person;
I said nothing, not even something good,
and my distress deepened.
3 My heart within me became incensed;[a]
as I thought about it, the fire burned.
Then I[b] spoke out:
4 “Lord, let me know how my life ends,[c]
and the standard by which you will measure[d] my days, whatever it is!
Then I will know how transient my life is.
5 Look, you have made my life span fit in your hand;
It is nothing compared to yours.
Surely every person at their best is a puff of wind.
6 In fact, people walk around as shadows.
Surely, they busy themselves for nothing,
heaping up possessions but not knowing who will get them.
7 How long, Lord, will I wait expectantly?
I have placed my hope in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions,
and do not let fools scorn me.”
9 I remain silent;
I do not open my mouth,
for you are the one who acted.
10 Stop scourging me,
since I have been crushed by your heavy hand.
11 You rebuke by chastening a man with the consequence of iniquities;
you destroy what is attractive to him, as one would treat a moth.
Indeed, every person is a puff of wind.
12 Hear my prayer, Lord,
pay attention to my cry,
and do not ignore my tears.
I am an alien in your presence,
a stranger just like my ancestors were.
13 Stop looking at me with chastisement,[e] so I can smile again,
before I depart and am no more.
Do What is Right
16 “Don’t test the Lord your God like you did in Massah. 17 Be sure to observe the commands of the Lord your God, his testimonies, and his decrees that he gave you. 18 Do what is good and right in the Lord’s sight so it may go well with you. Then you’ll enter and possess the good land that the Lord your God promised to your ancestors, 19 expelling all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.”
Remember What the Lord has Done
20 “When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, decrees, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?’ 21 tell him, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with great power. 22 Before our very eyes, the Lord did great and terrible signs and wonders in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to his entire household. 23 But as for us, he brought us out from there to bring us into the land and give it to us, as he promised our ancestors. 24 Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God for our own good, so that he may keep us alive as we are today. 25 It will be credited as[a] righteousness for us if we’re careful to obey the entire Law in the presence of the Lord our God, as he commanded.’”
We Must Not Neglect Our Salvation
2 For this reason we must pay closer attention to the things we have heard, or we may drift away, 2 because if the message spoken by angels was reliable, and every violation and act of disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 4 while God added his testimony through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Jesus is the Source of Our Salvation
5 For he did not put the coming world we are talking about under the control of angels. 6 Instead, someone has declared somewhere,
“What is man that you should remember him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
yet you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”[a]
Now when God[b] put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. 9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of[c] God he might experience[d] death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering as part of his plan to glorify many children,
The Testimony of John the Baptist(A)
19 This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[a] sent priests and descendants of Levi to him from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He spoke openly and, remaining true to himself,[b] admitted, “I am not the Messiah.”[c]
21 So they asked him, “Well then, are you Elijah?”
John[d] said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22 “Who are you?” they asked him. “We must give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He replied, “I am
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those men[g] had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah,[h] or Elijah, or the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, “I am baptizing with[i] water, but among you stands a man whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.” 28 This happened in Bethany[j] on the other side[k] of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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