Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 51
For the worship leader. A song of David after Nathan the prophet accused him of infidelity with Bathsheba.
One of the most difficult episodes in King David’s life was his affair with Bathsheba and all that resulted from it. Psalm 51 reflects the emotions he felt after Nathan confronted him with stealing Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 11–12).
At one time or another, all people experience the painful consequences of sin. Psalm 51 has been a comfort and a help to millions who have prayed these words as their own. It invites all who are broken to come before God and lean upon His compassion. It teaches that we need not only to be forgiven for the wrong we have done, but we also need to be cleansed of its effects on us. Ultimately, it helps us recognize that if we are to be healed, it is the work of God to create in us a heart that is clean and a spirit that is strong.
1 Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God,
according to Your generous love.
According to Your great compassion,
wipe out every consequence of my shameful crimes.
2 Thoroughly wash me, inside and out, of all my crooked deeds.
Cleanse me from my sins.
3 For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong,
and my guilt is there, staring me in the face.
4 It was against You, only You, that I sinned,
for I have done what You say is wrong, right before Your eyes.
So when You speak, You are in the right.
When You judge, Your judgments are pure and true.[a]
5 For I was guilty from the day I was born,
a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.
6 But still, You long to enthrone truth throughout my being;
in unseen places deep within me, You show me wisdom.
7 Cleanse me of my wickedness with hyssop, and I will be clean.
If You wash me, I will be whiter than snow.
8 Help me hear joy and happiness as my accompaniment,
so my bones, which You have broken, will dance in delight instead.
9 Cover Your face so You will not see my sins,
and erase my guilt from the record.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
restore within me a sense of being brand new.
11 Do not throw me far away from Your presence,
and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by You;
let Your willing Spirit sustain me.
13 If You do, I promise to teach rebels Your ways
and help sinners find their way back to You.
14 Free me from the guilt of murder, of shedding a man’s blood,
O God who saves me.
Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are.
15 O Lord, pry open my lips
that this mouth will sing joyfully of Your greatness.
16 I would surrender my dearest possessions or destroy all that I prize to prove my regret,
but You don’t take pleasure in sacrifices or burnt offerings.
17 What sacrifice I can offer You is my broken spirit
because a broken spirit, O God,
a heart that honestly regrets the past,
You won’t detest.
18 Be good to Zion; grant her Your favor.
Make Jerusalem’s walls steady and strong.
19 Then there will be sacrifices made,
burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings,
With right motives that will delight You.
And costly young bulls will be offered up to Your altar, only the best.
Psalm 69
For the worship leader. A song of David to the tune “Lilies.”[a]
This Davidic lament complains to God of enemies, false witnesses, insults, abandonment by friends and family, and even poisoning. Early Christians interpreted this psalm prophetically in order to understand Jesus’ experience in His suffering and death on the cross.
1 Reach down for me, True God; deliver me.
The waters have risen to my neck; I am going down!
2 My feet are swallowed in this murky bog;
I am sinking—there is no sturdy ground.
I am in the deep;
the floods are crashing in!
3 I am weary of howling;
my throat is scratched dry.
I still look for my God
even though my eyes fail.
4 My enemies despise me without any cause;
they outnumber the hairs on my head.
They torment me with their power;
they have absolutely no reason to hate me.
Now I am set to pay for crimes
I have never committed!
5 O True God, my foolish ways are plain before You;
my mistakes—no, nothing can be hidden from You.
6 Don’t let Your hopeful followers face disgrace because of me,
O Lord, Eternal One, Commander of heaven’s armies;
Don’t let Your seekers be shamed on account of me,
O True God of Israel.
7 I have been mocked when I stood up for You;
I cower, shamefaced.
8 You know my brothers and sisters?
They now reject me—they act as if I never existed.
I’m like a stranger to my own family.
9 And here’s why: I am consumed with You, completely devoted to protecting Your house;
when they insult You, they insult me.
10 When I mourn and discipline my soul by fasting,
they deride me.
11 And when I put on sackcloth,
they mock me.
12 Those who sit at the gate gossip about me;
I am shamed by the slurred songs of drunkards.
13 But, Eternal One, I just pray the time is right
that You would hear me. And, True God,
because You are enduring love, that You would answer.
In Your faithfulness, please, save me.
14 Pluck me from this murky bog;
don’t let it pull me down!
Pull me from this rising water;
take me away from my enemies to dry land.
15 Don’t let the flood take me under
or let me, Your servant, be swallowed into the deep
or let the yawning pit seal me in!
16 O Eternal One, hear me. Answer me. For Your enduring love is good comfort;
in Your great mercy, turn toward me.
17 Yes, shine Your face upon me, Your servant;
put an end to my anguish—don’t wait another minute.
18 Come near; rescue me!
Set me free from my enemies.
19 You know all my opponents;
You see them, see the way they treat me—
humiliating me with insults, trying to disgrace me.
20 All this ridicule has broken my heart,
killed my spirit.
I searched for sympathy, and I came up empty.
I looked for supporters, but there was no one.
21 Even more, they gave me poison for my food
and offered me only sour vinegar to drink.
22 Let them be ambushed at the dinner table,
caught in a trap when they least expect it.
23 Cloud their vision so they cannot see;
make their bodies shake, their knees knock in terror.
12 Jeremiah: Eternal, You always do what is right
when I bring a complaint Your way.
So now let me put a case before You:
Why do the wicked prosper so much?
Why do all the untrustworthy have it so easy?
2 You plant them and watch them take root;
You allow them to grow and even bear fruit.
And yet, Your words mean nothing to them, deep down.
3 Still, You know me, Eternal One; You see what is deep inside me.
You’ve examined my heart,
So why aren’t they brought to justice? Deal with them as sheep
set aside for slaughter, singled out for death.
4 How long must the land cry out in mourning,
the grasses of the field wither and bake in the sun?
The birds and wild animals have simply vanished,
all because of the wicked living here—
Because they say, “God does not see what will become of us.”
Jeremiah’s complaint is a common one; it is as old as civilization itself: Why do the wicked prosper? Why do good people have to wait for God’s justice? God doesn’t shrink back from such questions, and He does not punish those who dare ask them. In fact, Scripture invites us to ask God the hard questions through Jeremiah’s example. The answers to hard questions are never easy. In fact, as Jeremiah will soon discover, his troubles are only beginning. God calls him again to endure.
5 Eternal One: If you are worn out after only running with a few men,
how will you one day compete against horses?
If you stumble on the easy terrain,
how will you manage in the thick brush near the Jordan?
6 Jeremiah, even your brothers and the rest of your family
are ready to betray you.
Even they cry out for your death; don’t trust any of them,
no matter how nicely they speak to your face.
7 I have turned away My house,
abandoned My heritage;
I have given My deeply beloved one over to her enemies.
8 My very own people have acted toward Me like a lion in the wild,
roaring at Me in defiance. For this, I hate her.
9 Have My own people become like colorful vultures?
Are birds of prey circling all around them?[a]
Gather the wild beasts and bring them on to devour My beloved.
10 Many shepherds have already destroyed My vineyard;
they have crushed My fields.
My beautiful land of promise has turned into a barren wasteland.
11 The very ground cries out to Me in this empty and forsaken land;
the whole land is desolate, but no one seems to care.
12 The destroyers pour over the bare hills in the desert
as the sword of the Eternal devours the land from one end to another.
There is no peace for anyone.
13 The people planted wheat, but they will reap only thorns.
In the end, there will be nothing to show for all their hard work.
Shame will be their harvest because of the Eternal’s burning anger against them.
Jeremiah now speaks to the nations. They, too, must trust God. His love and mercy are not for Israel alone.
The Eternal has this to say:
Eternal One: 14 As for My wicked neighbors so eager to take away the inheritance I gave My people Israel, look! There will come a day when I will uproot them from their lands, and I will take Judah from their midst. 15 But after I have uprooted them from their homelands, I will have mercy on them and restore them to their own lands and their own possessions. 16 And if they diligently learn the ways of My people and trust in Me instead of idols, if they swear by My name saying, “As the Eternal lives,” just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then I will establish them alongside My people.
3 It is time that I wrap up these thoughts to you, my brothers and sisters. Rejoice in the Lord! (I don’t mind writing these things over and over to you, as I know it keeps you safe.)
2 Watch out for the dogs—wicked workers who run in packs looking for someone to maul with their false circumcision.
Circumcision has become a flash point for the early church. Some are teaching that non-Jews have to become Jews to follow Jesus completely, including circumcision, dietary regulations, keeping weekly and annual holy days, and other Jewish practices. Since the time of Abraham, circumcision has been the mark of the covenant with Abraham’s spiritual children. Things are changing: outsiders, non-Jews, are entering into the new covenant.
Do they enter by faith alone, or is it faith plus following God’s law for Israel? Paul’s answer is clear: it is faith alone that makes Jews and outsiders right with God. So he cautions the Philippians to watch out for those who would chastise them into a false circumcision. Real followers of Jesus know that salvation doesn’t come from the blade of a knife but from His cross.
3 We are the true circumcision—those who worship God in Spirit and make our boast in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King—so we do not rely on what we have accomplished in the flesh.
4 If any try to throw around their pedigrees to you, remember my résumé—which is more impressive than theirs. 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day—as the law prescribes—born of the nation of Israel, descended from the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew born of Hebrews; I have observed the law according to the strict piety of the Pharisees, separate from those embracing a less rigorous kind of Judaism. 6 Zealous? Yes. I ruthlessly pursued and persecuted the church. And when it comes to the righteousness required by the law, my record is spotless.
7 But whatever I used to count as my greatest accomplishments, I’ve written them off as a loss because of the Anointed One. 8 And more so, I now realize that all I gained and thought was important was nothing but yesterday’s garbage compared to knowing the Anointed Jesus my Lord. For Him I have thrown everything aside—it’s nothing but a pile of waste—so that I may gain Him. 9 When it counts, I want to be found belonging to Him, not clinging to my own righteousness based on law, but actively relying on the faithfulness of the Anointed One. This is true righteousness, supplied by God, acquired by faith. 10 I want to know Him inside and out. I want to experience the power of His resurrection and join in His suffering, shaped by His death, 11 so that I may arrive safely at the resurrection from the dead.
The crucified and risen Jesus is the model that Paul desires to embody by walking deep in His pathway of death and life—suffering and resurrection.
12 I’m not there yet, nor have I become perfect; but I am charging on to gain anything and everything the Anointed One, Jesus, has in store for me—and nothing will stand in my way because He has grabbed me and won’t let me go. 13 Brothers and sisters, as I said, I know I have not arrived; but there’s one thing I am doing: I’m leaving my old life behind, putting everything on the line for this mission. 14 I am sprinting toward the only goal that counts: to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God’s call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus the Anointed.
9 Word spread of Jesus’ presence, and a large crowd was gathering to see Jesus and the formerly deceased Lazarus, whom He had brought back from the dead. 10 The chief priests were secretly plotting Lazarus’s murder since, 11 because of him, many Jews were leaving their teachings and believing in Jesus.
12 The next day, a great crowd of people who had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem; 13 so they gathered branches of palm trees to wave as they celebrated His arrival.
Crowds (shouting): Hosanna!
He who comes in the name of the Lord is truly blessed[a]
and is King of all Israel.
14 Jesus found a young donkey, sat on it, and rode through the crowds mounted on this small beast. The Scriptures foretold of this day:
15 Daughter of Zion, do not be afraid.
Watch! Your King is coming.
You will find Him seated on the colt of a donkey.[b]
16 The disciples did not understand any of this at the time; these truths did not sink in until Jesus had been glorified. As they reflected on their memories of Jesus, they realized these things happened just as they were written. 17 Those who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus enthusiastically spoke of Jesus to all who would listen, 18 and that is why the crowd went out to meet Him. They had heard of the miraculous sign He had done.
His followers may suspect during their time with Jesus that He is more than a man, but it takes the power and glory of the resurrection to convince them completely that Jesus is divine. When they see Him, touch Him, and hear the sound of His voice thunder in their souls, the disciples know they are face-to-face with God’s immense glory, the unique Son of God. Reading and rereading the Scriptures in light of their experiences of Him, it becomes clear that Jesus’ life and story are the climax of God’s covenants with His people.
Pharisees (to one another): 19 Our efforts to squelch Him have not worked, but now is not the time for action. Look, the world is following after Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.