Book of Common Prayer
For the choir director; according to shoshannim; by David.
69 Save me, O God!
The water is already up to my neck!
2 I am sinking in deep mud.
There is nothing to stand on.
I am in deep water.
A flood is sweeping me away.
3 I am exhausted from crying for help.
My throat is hoarse.
My eyes are strained ⌞from⌟ looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me for no reason
outnumber the hairs on my head.
Those who want to destroy me are mighty.
They have no reason to be my enemies.
I am forced to pay back what I did not steal.
5 O God, you know my stupidity,
and the things of which I am guilty are not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who wait with hope for you
be put to shame because of me, O Almighty Lord of Armies.
Do not let those who come to you for help
be humiliated because of me, O God of Israel.
7 Indeed, for your sake I have endured insults.
Humiliation has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my ⌞own⌟ brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
9 Indeed, devotion for your house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
10 I cried and fasted, but I was insulted for it.
11 I dressed myself in sackcloth, but I became the object of ridicule.
12 Those who sit at the gate gossip about me,
and drunkards make up songs about me.
13 May my prayer come to you at an acceptable time, O Lord.
O God, out of the greatness of your mercy,
answer me with the truth of your salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mud.
Do not let me sink ⌞into it⌟.
I want to be rescued from those who hate me
and from the deep water.
15 Do not let floodwaters sweep me away.
Do not let the ocean swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, because your mercy is good.
Out of your unlimited compassion, turn to me.
17 I am in trouble, so do not hide your face from me.
Answer me quickly!
18 Come close, and defend my soul.
Set me free because of my enemies.
19 You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated.
All my opponents are in front of you.
20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none.
I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.
21 They poisoned my food,
and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let the table set for them become a trap
and a snare for their friends.
23 Let their vision become clouded so that they cannot see.
Let their thighs continually shake.
24 Pour your rage on them.
Let your burning anger catch up with them.
25 Let their camp be deserted
and their tents empty.
26 They persecute the one you have struck,
and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Charge them with one crime after another.
Do not let them be found innocent.
28 Let their ⌞names⌟ be erased from the Book of Life.
Do not let them be listed with righteous people.
29 I am suffering and in pain.
Let your saving power protect me, O God.
30 I want to praise God’s name with a song.
I want to praise his great name with a song of thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than ⌞sacrificing⌟ an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Oppressed people will see ⌞this⌟ and rejoice.
May the hearts of those who look to God for help be refreshed.
33 The Lord listens to needy people.
He does not despise his own who are in prison.
34 Let heaven and earth, the seas, and everything that moves in them, praise him.
35 When God saves Zion, he will rebuild the cities of Judah.
His servants will live there and take possession of it.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it.
Those who love him will live there.
BOOK THREE
(Psalms 73–89)
A psalm by Asaph.
73 God is truly good to Israel,
to those whose lives are pure.
2 But my feet had almost stumbled.
They had almost slipped
3 because I was envious of arrogant people
when I saw the prosperity that wicked people enjoy.
4 They suffer no pain.
Their bodies are healthy.
5 They have no drudgery in their lives like ordinary people.
They are not plagued ⌞with problems⌟ like others.
6 That is why they wear arrogance like a necklace
and acts of violence like clothing.
7 Their eyes peer out from their fat faces,
and their imaginations run wild.
8 They ridicule.
They speak maliciously.
They speak arrogantly about oppression.
9 They verbally attack heaven,
and they order people around on earth.
10 That is why God’s people turn to wickedness
and swallow their words.
11 Then wicked people ask, “What does God know?”
“Does the Most High know anything?”
12 Look how wicked they are!
They never have a worry.
They grow more and more wealthy.
13 I’ve received no reward for keeping my life pure
and washing my hands of any blame.
14 I’m plagued ⌞with problems⌟ all day long,
and every morning my punishment ⌞begins again⌟.
15 If I had said, “I will continue to talk like that,”
I would have betrayed God’s people.
16 But when I tried to understand this,
it was too difficult for me.
17 Only when I came into God’s holy place
did I ⌞finally⌟ understand what would happen to them.
18 You put them in slippery places
and make them fall into ruin.
19 They are suddenly destroyed.
They are completely swept away by terror!
20 As ⌞someone⌟ gets rid of a dream when he wakes up,
so you, O Lord, get rid of the thought of them
when you wake up.
21 When my heart was filled with bitterness
and my mind was seized ⌞with envy⌟,
22 I was stupid, and I did not understand.
I was like a dumb animal in your presence.
23 Yet, I am always with you.
You hold on to my right hand.
24 With your advice you guide me,
and in the end you will take me to glory.
25 As long as I have you,
I don’t need anyone else in heaven or on earth.
26 My body and mind may waste away,
but God remains the foundation of my life
and my inheritance forever.
27 Without a doubt, those who are far from you will die.
You destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 Being united with God is my highest good.
I have made the Almighty Lord my refuge
so that I may report everything that he has done.
27 ⌞I, Ezra, said:⌟ Thanks be to the Lord God of our ancestors. He put this into the king’s mind to make the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem beautiful. 28 He made the king, his advisers, and all the king’s powerful officials treat me kindly.
I was encouraged because the Lord my God was guiding me. So I gathered leaders in Israel to go with me.
21 Then I announced a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might humble ourselves in the presence of our God to ask him for a safe journey for ourselves, for our little ones, and for all our goods. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king for an armed escort with cavalry to help us against an enemy attack on the way. We had already told the king, “Our God works things out for the good of everyone who dedicates his life to serving him, but his power and his anger oppose everyone who abandons him.” 23 So we fasted and asked our God for a safe journey, and he answered our prayer.
24 Then I selected 12 leaders from the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and 10 of their relatives. 25 I weighed for them the silver, the gold, and the utensils. ⌞These were⌟ the contributions that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all the Israelites had contributed for our God’s temple. 26 I weighed ⌞the contributions⌟ for them to guard: about 24 tons of silver, 100 silver utensils weighing 150 pounds apiece, 7,500 pounds of gold, 27 20 gold bowls weighing 18 pounds apiece, and two utensils of fine polished bronze that were as precious as gold. 28 I told them, “You and the utensils are holy to the Lord. The silver and gold are freewill offerings to the Lord God of your ancestors. 29 Guard them carefully. In Jerusalem, inside the storerooms of the Lord’s temple, weigh these items. Do this in front of the chief priests, Levites, and the leaders of Israel’s families.” 30 So the priests and the Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the utensils. They were responsible for bringing these items to the temple of our God in Jerusalem.
The People Arrive in Jerusalem
31 Then we left the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. God was guiding us, and he rescued us from our enemies and from ambushes along the way. 32 When we reached Jerusalem, we rested for three days. 33 On the fourth day we weighed the silver, the gold, and the utensils in our God’s temple. We put them under the supervision of Meremoth, son of the priest Uriah, as well as Eleazar, the son of Phinehas. The Levites, Jeshua’s son Jozabad, and Binnui’s son Noadiah, assisted them. 34 Everything was counted and weighed, and the entire weight was recorded at that time.
35 The exiles who had come back from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats for an offering for sin. All of these animals were burnt offerings for the Lord.
36 The exiles delivered the king’s orders to the king’s satraps and governors ⌞in the province⌟ west of the Euphrates River. These officials then gave their support to the people and the temple of God.
Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
15 I saw another sign in heaven. It was spectacular and amazing. There were seven angels with the last seven plagues which are the final expression of God’s anger.
2 Then I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who had won the victory over the beast, its statue, and the number of its name were standing on the glassy sea. They were holding God’s harps 3 and singing the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the lamb. They sang,
“The things you do are spectacular and amazing, Lord God Almighty.
The way you do them is fair and true, King of the Nations.
4 Lord, who won’t fear and praise your name?
You are the only holy one,
and all the nations will come to worship you
because they know about your fair judgments.”
5 After these things I looked, and I saw that the temple of the tent containing the words of God’s promise was open in heaven. 6 The seven angels with the seven plagues came out of the temple wearing clean, shining linen with gold belts around their waists. 7 One of the four living creatures gave seven gold bowls full of the anger of God, who lives forever and ever, to the seven angels. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power. No one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels came to an end.
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand(A)
13 When Jesus heard about John, he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities. 14 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and cured their sick people.
15 In the evening the disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. Send the crowds to the villages to buy food for themselves.”
16 Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 They told him, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”
19 Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people. 20 All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.
21 About five thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.