Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Silent Dove Among Those Far Away.” Of David. A record of memorable thoughts when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample me or devour me; all the day long the adversary oppresses me.
2 They that lie in wait for me would swallow me up or trample me all day long, for they are many who fight against me, O Most High!
3 What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.
4 By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh, do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words and trouble my affairs; all their thoughts are against me for evil and my hurt.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they watch my steps, even as they have [expectantly] waited for my life.
7 They think to escape with iniquity, and shall they? In Your indignation bring down the peoples, O God.
8 You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
9 Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I cry out; this I know, for God is for me.(A)
10 In God, Whose word I praise, in the Lord, Whose word I praise,
11 In God have I put my trust and confident reliance; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
12 Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render praise to You and give You thank offerings.
13 For You have delivered my life from death, yes, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life and of the living.
Psalm 57
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David when he fled from Saul in the cave.
1 Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, be merciful and gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge and finds shelter and confidence in You; yes, in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge and be confident until calamities and destructive storms are passed.
2 I will cry to God Most High, Who performs on my behalf and rewards me [Who brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them]!
3 He will send from heaven and save me from the slanders and reproaches of him who would trample me down or swallow me up, and He will put him to shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! God will send forth His mercy and loving-kindness and His truth and faithfulness.
4 My life is among lions; I must lie among those who are aflame—the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!
6 They set a net for my steps; my very life was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way; into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody.
8 Awake, my glory (my inner self); awake, harp and lyre! I will awake right early [I will awaken the dawn]!
9 I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great, reaching to the heavens, and Your truth and faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth.
Psalm 58
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David.
1 Do you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? [Or is the righteousness, rightness, and justice you should speak quite dumb?] Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.
3 The ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,
5 Which listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.
8 Let them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like [the child to which] a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns [that are placed under them for fuel], He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.
10 The [unyieldingly] righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Men will say, Surely there is a reward for the [uncompromisingly] righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.
Psalm 64
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; guard and preserve my life from the terror of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel and conspiracy of the ungodly, from the scheming of evildoers,
3 Who whet their tongues like a sword, who aim venomous words like arrows,
4 Who shoot from ambush at the blameless man; suddenly do they shoot at him, without self-reproach or fear.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose, they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who will discover us?
6 They think out acts of injustice and say, We have accomplished a well-devised thing! For the inward thought of each one [is unsearchable] and his heart is deep.
7 But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them; and suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 And they will be made to stumble, their own tongues turning against them; all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away.
9 And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.
10 The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise.
Psalm 65
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A song.
1 To You belongs silence (the submissive wonder of reverence which bursts forth into praise) and praise is due and fitting to You, O God, in Zion; and to You shall the vow be performed.
2 O You Who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities and much varied guilt prevail against me; [yet] as for our transgressions, You forgive and purge them away [make atonement for them and cover them out of Your sight]!
4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.
5 By fearful and glorious things [that terrify the wicked but make the godly sing praises] do You answer us in righteousness (rightness and justice), O God of our salvation, You Who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas;
6 Who by [Your] might have founded the mountains, being girded with power,
7 Who still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples,
8 So that those who dwell in earth’s farthest parts are afraid of [nature’s] signs of Your presence. You make the places where morning and evening have birth to shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and saturate it with water; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide them with grain when You have so prepared the earth.
10 You water the field’s furrows abundantly, You settle the ridges of it; You make the soil soft with showers, blessing the sprouting of its vegetation.
11 You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness.
12 The [luxuriant] pastures in the uncultivated country drip [with moisture], and the hills gird themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.
6 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates,
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they intended to do me harm.
3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to you?
4 They sent to me four times this way, and I answered them as before.
5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me again the fifth time with an open letter.
6 In it was written: It is reported among the neighboring nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore you are building the wall, that you may be their king, according to the report.
7 Also you have set up prophets to announce concerning you in Jerusalem, There is a king in Judah. And now this will be reported to the [Persian] king. So, come now and let us take counsel together.
8 I replied to him, No such things as you say have been done; you are inventing them out of your own heart and mind.
9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, Their hands will be so weak that the work will not be done. But now strengthen my hands!
10 I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up. He said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you—at night they are coming to kill you.
11 But I said, Should such a man as I flee? And what man such as I could go into the temple [where only the priests are allowed to go] and yet live? I will not go in.
12 And behold, I saw that God had not sent him, but he made this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 He was hired that I should be made afraid and do as he said and sin, that they might have matter for an evil report with which to taunt and reproach me.
14 My God, think on Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.
15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
16 When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us feared and fell far in their own esteem, for they saw that this work was done by our God.
17 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.
18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
19 Also they spoke of [Tobiah’s] good deeds before me and told him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.
10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, robed in a cloud, with a [halo like a] rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire.
2 He had a little book (scroll) open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,
3 And he shouted with a loud voice like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders gave voice and uttered their message in distinct words.
4 And when the seven thunders had spoken (sounded), I was going to write [it down], but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said! Do not write it down!
5 Then the [mighty] angel whom I had seen stationed on sea and land raised his right hand to heaven (the [a]sky),(A)
6 And swore in the name of (by) Him Who lives forever and ever, Who created the heavens ([b]sky) and all they contain, and the earth and all that it contains, and the sea and all that it contains. [He swore] that no more time should intervene and there should be no more waiting or delay,
7 But that when the days come when the trumpet call of the seventh angel is about to be sounded, then God’s mystery (His secret design, His hidden purpose), as He had announced the glad tidings to His servants the prophets, should be fulfilled (accomplished, completed).(B)
8 Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke again to me, saying, Go and take the little book (scroll) which is open on the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.
9 So I went up to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it. It will embitter your stomach, though in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.(C)
10 So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate and swallowed it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was embittered.
11 Then they said to me, You are to make a fresh prophecy concerning many peoples and races and nations and languages and kings.(D)
36 Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.
37 He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,
39 And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40 Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [[a]persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,
42 And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.
43 Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him [b]consider and perceive and understand by hearing.(A)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation