Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [b]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [c]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[d]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[e] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[f]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[g]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[h]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[i]
10 “For forty years[j] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[k]
Psalm 32[a]
The Joy of Being Forgiven
1 Of David. A maskil.[b]
[c]Blessed is the one whose offense is forgiven,
whose sin is erased.
2 Blessed is the one to whom the Lord charges no guilt
and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 As long as I remained silent,[d]
my body wasted away
as the result of my groaning throughout the day.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength withered steadily
as though consumed by the summer heat.[e] Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I made no attempt to conceal my guilt.
I said, “I will confess my offenses[f] to the Lord,”
and you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore, let everyone who is faithful pray to you
where you may be found.[g]
Even if great floods threaten,
they will never reach him.
7 You are a place of refuge for me;
you preserve me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.[h] Selah
8 I will instruct you
and guide you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you
and keep my eyes upon you.
9 Do not behave without understanding
like a horse or a mule;
if its temper is not curbed with bit and bridle,
it will not come near you.
10 The wicked has a multitude of troubles,
but the man who trusts in the Lord
is surrounded by kindness.[i]
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
shout for joy, all you upright of heart.[j]
Psalm 143[a]
Prayer of a Penitent in Distress
1 [b]A psalm of David.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
incline your ear to my supplications.
In your faithfulness respond to me
with your righteousness.
2 Do not subject your servant to your judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.[c]
3 [d]An enemy has stalked me unrelentingly
and crushed me into the ground;
he has left me to live in darkness[e]
like those long dead.
4 My spirit is faint within me,
and my heart[f] has succumbed to fear.
5 I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your actions
and meditating on the works of your hands.[g]
6 I stretch out my hands[h] to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
7 [i]Answer me quickly, O Lord,
for my spirit grows faint.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.[j]
8 At dawn[k] let me experience your kindness,
for in you I place my trust.
Show me the path I must walk,
for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord,
for in you I seek refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.[l]
Let your gracious Spirit lead me
along a level path.
11 For your name’s sake,[m] O Lord, preserve my life;
in your righteousness deliver me from distress.
12 In your kindness, destroy my enemies,
and annihilate all those who oppress me,
for I am your servant.[n]
Psalm 102[a]
Prayer of an Exile
1 The prayer of one afflicted. When he is wasting away[b] and pours out his anguish before the Lord.
2 [c]O Lord, give heed to my prayer;
let my plea for help reach you.
3 Do not conceal your face[d] from my sight
in the time of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
on the day when I call out to you, answer me speedily.
4 For my days are fading away like smoke,
and my bones are burning like live coals.
5 My heart[e] is stricken, withered like grass;
I am too exhausted to eat my bread.
6 As a result of my incessant groaning,
I am now nothing more than skin and bones.
7 I am like a pelican[f] of the wilderness,
like an owl among the ruins.
8 I am sleepless[g] and I moan
like a lone sparrow on a rooftop.
9 All day long my enemies revile me;[h]
those who rage against me use my name as a curse.
10 [i]I eat ashes as though they were bread,
and I mingle tears with my drink.
11 Because of your indignation and wrath,
you have raised me up only to cast me down.
12 My days are like a lengthening shadow,
and I am withering away like grass.
13 [j]But, you, O Lord, are enthroned forever,
and your renown will endure for all generations.
14 You will arise and show mercy to Zion,
for it is time for you to have pity on her;
the appointed time[k] has come.
15 For her stones are precious to your servants,
and her dust causes them to weep.[l]
16 The nations will revere your name,[m] O Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will sing of your glory.
17 For the Lord will rebuild Zion
and reveal himself in all his glory.[n]
18 He will answer the prayer of the destitute,
and he will not ignore their petition.
19 Let this be written[o] for future generations
so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
20 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high
and gazed on the earth from heaven,
21 to hear the sighs of the prisoners
and to set free those under sentence of death.”[p]
22 Then the name of the Lord will be proclaimed in Zion,
and his praise[q] in Jerusalem
23 when all peoples and kingdoms come together
to worship the Lord.[r]
24 [s]He has taken away my strength on my life’s journey;
he has cut short my days.
25 So I said: “Do not carry me off, O my God,
before half my days are done,[t]
for your years endure from age to age.
26 [u]“Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
27 They will pass away but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like clothing,
and they will perish.[v]
28 “However, you remain always the same,
and your years will have no end.[w]
29 The children of your servants will be secure,
and their descendants will dwell in your presence.”[x]
Psalm 130[a]
Prayer for Pardon and Peace
1 A song of ascents.
Out of the depths[b] I cry to you, O Lord;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cries of supplication.[c]
3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins,
O Lord, who could stand[d] upright?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you may be revered.[e]
5 I wait for the Lord[f] in anxious expectation;
I place my hope in his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the dawn.
More than watchmen wait for the dawn[g]
7 [h]let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is kindness,
as well as plenteous redemption.
8 He alone will redeem Israel
from all its sins.
6 Seek the Lord and you will live,
or else, like a fire,
he will sweep through the house of Joseph,
with no one able to quench the flames.
Hymn to God the Creator
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns heavy darkness into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the surface of the earth,
9 who brings destruction on the strong
and ruin upon the fortress:
the Lord is his name.
7 Woe to those who turn justice to wormwood
and thrust righteousness to the ground.
Because You Crush the Weak
10 They hate the one who preaches justice at the city gate
and abhor the one who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore, because you have trampled upon the poor
and extorted levies on their wheat,
even though you have built houses of hewn stone,
you will never live in them;
although you have planted pleasant vineyards,
you will never drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your crimes
and how monstrous are your sins.
You oppress the innocent, accept bribes,
and push aside the destitute at the gates.
13 Therefore, the prudent man keeps silent in such a situation,
for it is an evil period.
Seek the Good So That You Will Live
14 Seek good and not evil,
so that you may live.
Then the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you
as you claim he is.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the city gate.
Then it is possible that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will show mercy to the remnant of Joseph.[a]
Let Us Run with Eyes Fixed on Jesus[a]
Chapter 12
You Have Not Yet Resisted to the Point of Bloodshed. 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,[b] let us throw off everything that weighs us down and the sins that so easily distract us and with perseverance run the race that lies ahead of us, 2 with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, ignoring its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Reflect on how he endured such great hostility from sinners so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
God Is Treating You as His Children.[c] 5 You have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children:
“My son, do not scorn the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when you are punished by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and he chastises every son whom he acknowledges.”
7 Endure the trials you receive as a form of discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there who is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you have not received the discipline in which all share, then you are illegitimate and not true sons.
9 In addition, we have all received discipline from our earthly fathers, and we respected them. Should we not then be even more willing to submit to the Father of spirits and live? 10 They disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but he does so for our benefit so that we may share his holiness.
11 At the time that discipline is received, it always seems painful rather than pleasant, but afterward it yields a harvest of peace and uprightness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that your weakened limbs may not be disabled but rather may be healed.
14 Seek Peace and Sanctification.[d] Seek peace with everyone, as well as the holiness without which no one will ever see the Lord.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.[a] 9 He also told the following parable to some people who prided themselves about their own righteousness and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and said this prayer to himself: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and pay tithes on all my income.’
13 “The tax collector, however, stood some distance away and would not even raise his eyes to heaven. Rather, he kept beating his breast as he said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ 14 This man, I tell you, returned to his home justified, whereas the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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