Book of Common Prayer
Complaint about a Friend’s Treachery
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God;
and hide not thyself from my supplication!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am overcome by my trouble.
I am distraught 3 by the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they bring[a] trouble upon me,
and in anger they cherish enmity against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me,
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yea, I would wander afar,
I would lodge in the wilderness,Selah
8 I would haste to find me a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy their plans,[b] O Lord, confuse their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls;
and mischief and trouble are within it,
11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its market place.
12 It is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to hold sweet converse together;
within God’s house we walked in fellowship.
15 Let death[c] come upon them;
let them go down to Sheol alive;
let them go away in terror into their graves.[d]
16 But I call upon God;
and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.
18 He will deliver my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.
19 God will give ear, and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old;
because they keep no law,[e]
and do not fear God.Selah
20 My companion stretched out his hand against his friends,
he violated his covenant.
21 His speech was smoother than butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden[f] on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
23 But thou, O God, wilt cast them down
into the lowest pit;
men of blood and treachery
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in thee.
Thanksgiving and Praise
A Psalm of David.
138 I give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing thy praise;
2 I bow down toward thy holy temple
and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness;
for thou hast exalted above everything
thy name and thy word.[a]
3 On the day I called, thou didst answer me,
my strength of soul thou didst increase.[b]
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of thy mouth;
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
but the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
thou dost preserve my life;
thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and thy right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of thy hands.
The Inescapable God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!
2 Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
thou discernest my thoughts from afar.
3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou dost beset me behind and before,
and layest thy hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there thy hand shall lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to thee,
the night is bright as the day;
for darkness is as light with thee.
13 For thou didst form my inward parts,
thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.[c]
Wonderful are thy works!
Thou knowest me right well;
15 my frame was not hidden from thee,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
16 Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;
in thy book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee.[d]
19 O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God,
and that men of blood would depart from me,
20 men who maliciously defy thee,
who lift themselves up against thee for evil![e]
21 Do I not hate them that hate thee, O Lord?
And do I not loathe them that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
Hostile Plots Thwarted
4 [a] Now when Sanbal′lat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he ridiculed the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brethren and of the army of Samar′ia, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobi′ah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn back their taunt upon their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight; for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.
6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height. For the people had a mind to work.
7 [b] But when Sanbal′lat and Tobi′ah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ash′dodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry; 8 and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
10 But Judah said, “The strength of the burden-bearers is failing, and there is much rubbish; we are not able to work on the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come into the midst of them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived by them came they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live[c] they will come up against us.”[d] 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were laden in such a way that each with one hand labored on the work and with the other held his weapon. 18 And each of the builders had his sword girded at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn till the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his hand.[e]
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand[a] sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel, 5 twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand of the tribe of Gad, 6 twelve thousand of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand of the tribe of Naph′tali, twelve thousand of the tribe of Manas′seh, 7 twelve thousand of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand of the tribe of Is′sachar, 8 twelve thousand of the tribe of Zeb′ulun, twelve thousand of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin.
The Multitude from Every Nation
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;[b] they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night within his temple;
and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water;
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
The Parable of the Yeast
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”
The Use of Parables
34 All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet:[a]
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.