Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 69[a]
A Cry of Anguish in Great Distress
1 For the leader; according to “Lilies.”[b] Of David.
I
2 Save me, God,
for the waters[c] have reached my neck.(A)
3 I have sunk into the mire of the deep,
where there is no foothold.
I have gone down to the watery depths;
the flood overwhelms me.(B)
4 I am weary with crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
from looking for my God.(C)
5 More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause.(D)
Those who would destroy me are mighty,
my enemies without reason.
Must I now restore
what I did not steal?[d]
II
6 God, you know my folly;
my faults are not hidden from you.
7 Let those who wait in hope for you, Lord of hosts,
not be shamed because of me.
Let those who seek you, God of Israel,(E)
not be disgraced because of me.
8 For it is on your account I bear insult,
that disgrace covers my face.(F)
9 I have become an outcast to my kindred,
a stranger to my mother’s children.(G)
10 Because zeal for your house has consumed me,[e]
I am scorned by those who scorn you.(H)
11 When I humbled my spirit with fasting,(I)
this led only to scorn.
12 When I clothed myself in sackcloth;
I became a byword for them.
13 Those who sit in the gate gossip about me;
drunkards make me the butt of songs.
III
14 But I will pray to you, Lord,
at a favorable time.
God, in your abundant kindness, answer me
with your sure deliverance.(J)
15 Rescue me from the mire,(K)
and do not let me sink.
Rescue me from those who hate me
and from the watery depths.
16 Do not let the flood waters overwhelm me,
nor the deep swallow me,
nor the pit close its mouth over me.
17 Answer me, Lord, in your generous love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
18 Do not hide your face from your servant;
hasten to answer me, for I am in distress.(L)
19 Come and redeem my life;
because of my enemies ransom me.
20 You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace;
before you stand all my foes.
21 Insult has broken my heart, and I despair;
I looked for compassion, but there was none,(M)
for comforters, but found none.
22 Instead they gave me poison for my food;
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar.(N)
IV
23 May their own table be a snare for them,
and their communion offerings a trap.(O)
24 Make their eyes so dim they cannot see;
keep their backs ever feeble.
25 Pour out your wrath upon them;
let the fury of your anger overtake them.
26 Make their camp desolate,
with none to dwell in their tents.(P)
27 For they pursued the one you struck,
added to the pain of the one you wounded.
28 Heap punishment upon their punishment;
let them gain from you no vindication.
29 May they be blotted from the book of life;
not registered among the just!(Q)
V
30 But here I am miserable and in pain;
let your saving help protect me, God,
31 [f]That I may praise God’s name in song
and glorify it with thanksgiving.
32 That will please the Lord more than oxen,
more than bulls with horns and hooves:(R)
33 “See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, take heart!(S)
34 For the Lord hears the poor,
and does not spurn those in bondage.
35 Let the heaven and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!”
VI
Third Book—Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73[a]
The Trial of the Just
1 A psalm of Asaph.
How good God is to the upright,
to those who are pure of heart!
I
2 But, as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped,
3 Because I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(A)
4 For they suffer no pain;
their bodies are healthy and sleek.
5 They are free of the burdens of life;
they are not afflicted like others.
6 Thus pride adorns them as a necklace;
violence clothes them as a robe.
7 Out of such blindness comes sin;
evil thoughts flood their hearts.(B)
8 They scoff and spout their malice;
from on high they utter threats.(C)
9 [b]They set their mouths against the heavens,
their tongues roam the earth.
10 [c]So my people turn to them
and drink deeply of their words.
11 They say, “Does God really know?”
“Does the Most High have any knowledge?”(D)
12 Such, then, are the wicked,
always carefree, increasing their wealth.
II
13 Is it in vain that I have kept my heart pure,
washed my hands in innocence?(E)
14 For I am afflicted day after day,
chastised every morning.
15 Had I thought, “I will speak as they do,”
I would have betrayed this generation of your children.
16 Though I tried to understand all this,
it was too difficult for me,
17 Till I entered the sanctuary of God
and came to understand their end.[d]
III
18 You set them, indeed, on a slippery road;
you hurl them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly they are devastated;
utterly undone by disaster!
20 They are like a dream after waking, Lord,
dismissed like shadows when you arise.(F)
IV
21 Since my heart was embittered
and my soul deeply wounded,
22 I was stupid and could not understand;
I was like a brute beast in your presence.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you take hold of my right hand.(G)
24 With your counsel you guide me,
and at the end receive me with honor.[e]
25 Whom else have I in the heavens?
None beside you delights me on earth.
26 Though my flesh and my heart fail,
God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.
27 But those who are far from you perish;
you destroy those unfaithful to you.
28 As for me, to be near God is my good,
to make the Lord God my refuge.
I shall declare all your works
in the gates of daughter Zion.[f]
Jehoiakim
13 Woe to him who builds his house on wrongdoing,
his roof-chambers on injustice;
Who works his neighbors without pay,[a]
and gives them no wages.(A)
14 Who says, “I will build myself a spacious house,
with airy rooms,”
Who cuts out windows for it,
panels it with cedar,
and paints it with vermilion.
15 Must you prove your rank among kings[b]
by competing with them in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And act justly and righteously?
Then he prospered.(B)
16 Because he dispensed justice to the weak and the poor,
he prospered.
Is this not to know me?—
oracle of the Lord.(C)
17 But your eyes and heart are set on nothing
except your own gain,
On shedding innocent blood
and practicing oppression and extortion.(D)
18 Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They shall not lament him,
“Alas! my brother”; “Alas! sister.”[c]
They shall not lament him,
“Alas, Lord! alas, Majesty!”(E)
19 The burial of a donkey[d] he shall be given,
dragged forth and cast out
beyond the gates of Jerusalem.(F)
Jeconiah
20 Climb Lebanon and cry out,[e]
in Bashan lift up your voice;
Cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are crushed.(G)
21 I spoke to you when you were secure,
but you answered, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way from your youth,
not to listen to my voice.
22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
your lovers shall go into exile.
Surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded
because of all your wickedness.
23 You who dwell on Lebanon,
who nest in the cedars,
How you shall groan when pains come upon you,
like the pangs of a woman in childbirth!
12 Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.(A)
Children of God Through Adoption.[a] 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.(B) 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba,[b] Father!”(C) 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,(D) 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.(E)
Destiny of Glory.[c] 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.(F) 19 For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; 20 for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,(G) in hope 21 that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.(H) 22 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;(I) 23 and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.(J) 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?(K) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
26 In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. 27 And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.(L)
41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”(A) 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring[a] among yourselves.(B) 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets:
‘They shall all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.(C) 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.(D) 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;(E) 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”(F)
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