Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5[a]
Morning Prayer for Divine Help
1 For the director.[b] With flutes. A psalm of David.
2 Listen to my words, O Lord;
pay heed to my sighs.
3 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God;
for to you I pray.
4 O Lord, at daybreak[c] you hear my voice;
at daybreak I bring my petition before you
and await your reply.
5 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil cannot remain in your presence.
6 The arrogant shrink before your gaze;
you hate all who do evil.
7 You destroy all who tell lies;
the Lord detests the violent and the deceitful.
8 But I will enter your house
because of your great kindness,[d]
and I will bow down in your holy temple,
filled with awe of you.
9 Lead me in your ways of righteousness, O Lord,
for I am surrounded by enemies;
make your path straight before me.[e]
10 For there is nothing trustworthy in their mouth;[f]
their heart devises treacherous schemes.
Their throat is a wide open grave;
with their tongue they utter flattery.
11 Punish them, O God;
may their intrigues result in their downfall.
Cast them out because of their many transgressions,
for they have rebelled against you.[g]
12 But may all who take refuge in you rejoice;
may they shout for joy forever.
Grant them your protection
so that those who love your name[h] may rejoice in you.
13 Truly, you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you surround them with your goodwill as with a shield.
Psalm 6[i]
Evening Prayer for God’s Mercy
1 For the director.[j] With stringed instruments. “Upon the eighth.” A psalm of David.
2 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or punish me in your wrath.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am tottering;
help me, O Lord, for my body is in agony.[k]
4 My soul[l] is also filled with anguish.
But you, O Lord—how long?
5 Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul;
save me because of your kindness.[m]
6 For among the dead who remembers you?
In the netherworld who sings your praises?[n]
7 I am exhausted from my sighing;
every night I flood my bed with my tears,
and I soak my couch with my weeping.
8 My eyes grow dim because of my grief;
they are worn out[o] because of all my foes.
9 Depart from me, all you evildoers,[p]
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
10 The Lord has listened to my pleas;
the Lord has accepted my prayer.
11 All my enemies will be shamed and terrified;
they will flee in utter confusion.[q]
Psalm 10[a]
Prayer for Help against Oppressors
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you remain hidden in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked hunts down the poor;
let him be ensnared by the schemes he has devised.
3 The wicked boasts of his wicked desires;
he upholds the greedy and renounces the Lord.
4 Filled with arrogance, he does not seek God,
but thinks, “God does not exist.”[b]
5 The wicked always seems to prosper;
your judgments are far from his mind,
and he scoffs at all those who oppose him.
6 He says in his heart,[c] “I will not be swayed;
I will never experience misfortune.”
7 His mouth is filled with curses, deceit, and threats;[d]
his tongue breeds evil and malice.
8 He lies in wait near the villages,
and from ambush he slays the innocent;
his eyes are on the watch for the helpless.
9 He lies in wait like a lurking lion,
ready to strike the helpless;
he snares his victims,
seizing them in his net.
10 He crouches and lies low,
and the poor are overwhelmed by his might.
11 He thinks in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see what is happening.”
12 Arise, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God!
Do not forget the afflicted.
13 Why should the wicked reject God
and say in his heart,
“He will not call me to account”?
14 But you note our troubles and our grief
so that you may resolve our difficulties.
The helpless entrusts himself to you;
you are the recourse of the fatherless.
15 Break the arms of the sinner and the evildoer;
seek out the wicked
until no more endure.[e]
16 [f]The Lord is King forever and ever;
the heathen will disappear from his land.
17 You listen, O Lord, to the longings of the poor;
you strengthen their courage and heed their prayers.
18 You ensure justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that no one on earth may fill them with terror.
Psalm 11[g]
Unshakable Confidence in God
1 For the director.[h] Of David.
[i]In the Lord I take refuge.
How can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to your mountains!
2 For behold, the wicked are bending their bows
as they fit their arrows to the string
so that from the shadows
they can shoot at those who are upright.[j]
3 If the foundations[k] are destroyed,
what can be done by those who are righteous?”
4 [l]The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes are fixed on the world;
his gaze examines everyone.
5 The Lord tests the upright and the wicked;
he detests the lover of violence.
6 Upon the wicked he will rain down
fiery coals and brimstone;[m]
a scorching wind will be their allotted portion.
7 For the Lord is just
and he loves righteous deeds;
the upright will behold his face.[n]
Chapter 3
Origin of Evil.[a] 1 The serpent[b] was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. It said to the woman, “Is it true that God told you not to eat of any of the trees in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but as for the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God said that we must not eat it, nor even touch it, lest we die.”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “Certainly you shall not die! 5 God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing that which is good and that which is evil.”
6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to look at and desirable for imparting wisdom. She took some fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he also ate it. 7 Their eyes were opened and they realized that they were naked. They took fig leaves and sewed them together, making themselves a covering.
8 They then heard the Lord God walking in the garden toward the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where were you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you walking in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who let you know that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man answered, “The woman whom you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
13 The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me and I ate it.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,[c]
“Because you have done this, you will be the most cursed
of all the animals
and of all the wild beasts.
On your belly you shall crawl
and you shall eat dust
for all the days of your life.
15 I will establish hostility
between you and the woman,
between your line and her line.
Her offspring will crush your head
and you will bruise his heel.”[d]
16 To the woman he said,
“I will multiply your sufferings in childbirth;
with pain you shall bear your children.
You shall desire your husband,
but he shall lord it over you.”
17 To the man he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I had commanded you not to eat,
“Cursed be the soil because of you!
With effort you shall obtain food
all the days of your life.
18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for you,
and you shall eat of the plants of the field.
19 You shall have to sweat
to eat your bread
until the day when you return to the earth,
for from it you were drawn.
You are dust,
and unto dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all those who lived.
21 The Lord God made clothing for the man and woman out of animal skins and he clothed them. 22 The Lord God said, “Behold, man has become like one of us, for he has knowledge of that which is good and that which is evil. Now, we must prevent him from reaching out and taking the fruit of the tree of life lest he eat it and live forever.” 23 The Lord God cast him out of the Garden of Eden; henceforth he was to labor tilling the soil from which he had come. 24 When he expelled him, he placed cherubim[e] to the east of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords to keep watch over the way to the tree of life.
Chapter 2
The Oneness of Christian Salvation.[a] 1 Therefore, we should pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message delivered by angels proved to be so valid that every transgression and disobedience brought a proper punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?
It was first announced by the Lord and then confirmed for us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Christ Our Brother.[b] 5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But someone has offered this testimony somewhere:
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
yet crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”
Now in putting everything under his feet, he left nothing that is not subject to his control. Right now we do not yet see everything under his feet. 9 However, we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was completely fitting that he, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Jesus Is the Expected Messiah[a]
19 John the Baptist Is Not the Messiah.[b] This is the testimony offered by John when the Jews[c] sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”[d] 21 Then they asked him, “Who then are you? Are you Elijah?”[e] He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Therefore, they said to him, “Who are you, so we may have an answer to give to those who sent us? What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 He replied, in the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’ ”
24 Some Pharisees were present in this group, 25 and they asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you there is one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me. I am not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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