Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 56[a]
Boundless Trust in God
1 For the director.[b] According to Yonath elem rehoqim. A miktam of David. When the Philistines seized him at Gath.
2 Be merciful to me, O God,
for people are trampling upon me;
all day long they keep up their attack.
3 My foes pursue me all day long,
with their forces too many to number.
4 When I am terrified,
I place my trust in you.
5 In God, whose word[c] I praise,
in God I place my trust and know no fear;
what can people do to me?
6 All day long they slander me;
their one thought is to bring evil upon me.
7 In groups they hide in ambush
and spy on my every step,
determined to take my life.
8 Shall they escape in their iniquity?
Strike down the nations, O God, in your anger.
9 You have kept count of my wanderings
and stored my tears in your flask,
recording all these in your book.[d]
10 My foes will turn back
when I call out to you.
Of this I am confident:
that God is on my side.
11 In God, whose word I praise—
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
12 in God I place my trust and know no fear;
what can people do to me?
13 I am bound, O God, by vows[e] to you,
and I will pay you my debt of gratitude.
14 For you have delivered my life from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk in the presence of God[f]
in the light of the living.
Psalm 57[g]
Trust in God amid Suffering
1 For the director.[h] According to “Do not destroy.” A miktam of David. When he fled from Saul into the cave.
2 Have mercy on me, O God,
have mercy on me,
for in you my soul[i] takes refuge.
I will seek shelter in the shadow of your wings
until the time of danger has passed.
3 I call out to God Most High,
to God who takes care of me.[j]
4 May he send his help from heaven to deliver me
and put to shame those who trample upon me; Selah
may God send his kindness[k] and his faithfulness.
5 I lie prostrate in the midst of lions
who are hungrily seeking human prey.
Their teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongues are razor-sharp swords.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory shine over all the earth.[l]
7 They set a trap for my feet,
and I was overcome with distress.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they themselves fell into it. Selah
8 [m]My heart[n] is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and chant your praise;
9 awake, my soul!
Awake, lyre and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.[o]
10 [p]I will give thanks to you among the peoples, O Lord;
I will sing your praises among the nations.
11 For your kindness extends to the heavens;
your faithfulness, to the skies.
12 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory radiate over all the earth.
Psalm 58[q]
The Judge of Unjust Rulers
1 For the director.[r] According to “Do not destroy.” A miktam of David.
2 O you rulers,[s] do you render justice?
Do you judge your people impartially?
3 No! You devise wickedness in your hearts,[t]
and your hands bring about violence on the earth.
4 The wicked have gone astray right from the womb;
from birth these liars have taken the wrong path.[u]
5 Their venom is like that of a serpent;
they are as deaf as an asp that stops its ears
6 so as not to hear the voice of the charmer
no matter how skillful the spells he casts.[v]
7 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of these lions, O Lord.[w]
8 [x]Cause them to vanish like water that drains off;
make them wither like grass that is trampled.[y]
9 Let them melt like a snail[z] that oozes into slime
or like a stillborn child that will never see the sun.
10 Before they sprout thorns[aa] like brambles or thistles,
may your whirlwind sweep them away.
11 The righteous will rejoice
when he sees that justice has been done,
and he will bathe his feet
in the blood[ab] of the wicked.
12 Then the people will say,
“There is truly a reward for the righteous;
there is a God who dispenses justice on the earth.”
Psalm 64[a]
Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
2 Listen, O God, to my cry of lament;
from the dreaded enemy preserve my life.
3 Protect me from the council of the wicked,
from the band of those who do evil.
4 They sharpen their tongues[c] like swords,
and they shoot forth their venomous words like arrows,
5 while they attack the innocent from ambush,
shooting suddenly and without fear.
6 [d]They agree on their evil plan,
and they resolve to lay snares,
saying, “Who will see us?”
7 They plot evil schemes
and devise shrewd plots;
the thoughts of their hearts[e] are hidden.
8 [f]However, God will shoot his arrows at them,[g]
and they will suddenly be struck down.
9 Their own tongues will bring them down,
and all who see them will wag their heads.[h]
10 [i]Then everyone will be in awe,
as they proclaim God’s mighty deeds
and contemplate what he has done.[j]
11 The righteous will rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will praise him.
Psalm 65[k]
Thanksgiving for Divine Blessings
1 For the director.[l] A psalm of David. A song.
2 It is fitting to offer praise to you,[m]
O God, in Zion.
To you our vows must be fulfilled,
3 for you answer our prayers.
To you all flesh must come,[n]
4 burdened by its sinful deeds.
Too heavy for us are our sins,
and only you can blot them out.[o]
5 Blessed[p] is the one whom you choose
and invite to dwell in your courts.
We will be filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
6 Through your awesome deeds[q] of righteousness,
you respond to us, O God, our Savior;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the far-off islands.
7 Clothed in your great power,
you hold the mountains in place.[r]
8 You quiet the roaring of the seas,
the turbulence of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.[s]
9 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth
are awestruck by your wonders.[t]
You call forth songs of joy
from sunrise and sunset.
10 You care for the earth and water it,
making it most fertile.
The streams of God[u] are filled with water
to provide grain for its people.
Thus, you prepare the earth for growth:
11 you water its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its yield.[v]
12 You crown the year with your bounty,[w]
and your tracks dispense fertility.
13 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
and the hills are covered with rejoicing.
14 The meadows are clothed with flocks,
and the valleys are decked out with grain;
in their joy they shout and sing together.[x]
Chapter 6
Plots against Nehemiah. 1 When it had been reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single breach was left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come here and confer with us in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” Their intention was clearly to do me harm.
3 Therefore, I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am engaged in a great project, and I cannot come down to you at this particular time. Why should the work come to a grinding halt while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 They sent me the same invitation four times, and on each occasion I gave them the same reply.
5 Then, for the fifth time, Sanballat sent his servant to me with the same message, but this time in an unsealed letter. 6 In it was written: “It has been reported among the nations, and Geshem[a] confirms it, that you and the Jews are planning a rebellion, that this is the reason you are building the wall, and that you are intending to become their king. 7 We have also heard that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim you king. Needless to say, such rumors will be brought to the attention of the king. So come at once and let us discuss this together.”
8 I sent the following reply to him: “No such thing that you are suggesting has taken place. It is all in your imagination.” 9 They all were trying to frighten us, hoping that we would become lax in our work and the job would not be completed. But instead I became more determined than ever.
10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said to me:
“Let us meet in the house of God
inside the sanctuary,
and let us lock the doors of the temple.
For men are coming to kill you;
they are coming to kill you tonight.”
11 However, I said: “Should a man like me run away? Or should a man like me go into the temple to save his life?”
12 Then I realized that God had not sent Shemaiah to say this, but rather that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been bribed to intimidate me and make me sin by acting in this way. Then they could ruin my reputation and discredit me.
14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to those things they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets whose purpose was to intimidate me.
15 Conclusion of the Work. The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul.[b] It was completed in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, and all the surrounding nations were completely aware of what had been happening, they realized that all this work had been completed with the help of God.
17 At the same time, however, the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and in turn, letters from Tobiah kept coming to them, 18 for many in Judah were bound to him by oath, 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 They were always praising Tobiah’s good deeds in my presence, and they reported my words to him. Furthermore, Tobiah also sent letters to me in an attempt at intimidation.
Chapter 10
A Small Scroll: Sweet and Bitter.[a] 1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire, 2 and his hand held a small scroll that had been opened.
Placing his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 the angel gave forth a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders spoke. 4 After the seven thunders had spoken, I was preparing to write when I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken, but do not write it down.”
5 Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever and who created heaven and earth and the sea and everything that is in them: “There will be no further delay. 7 When the time comes for the seventh angel to sound his trumpet, the mysterious purpose of God[b] will be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the Prophets.”
8 Then I again heard the voice that had spoken to me from heaven, and it said, “Go and take that open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 Therefore, I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He replied, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
10 I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it did taste as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy once again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
36 Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds.[a] Then he dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are angels.
40 “Just as the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all who cause sin and all whose deeds are evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
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