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 40[a]
Thanksgiving and Prayer for Help
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
2 [c]I waited patiently for the Lord;
then he stooped down and heard my cry.
3 He raised me up from the desolate pit,
out of the mire of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a rock,
giving me a firm footing.
4 He put a new song[d] in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will look on and be awestruck,
and they will place their trust in the Lord.
5 Blessed[e] is the man
who places his trust in the Lord,
who does not follow the arrogant
or those who go astray after falsehoods.
6 How innumerable, O Lord, my God,
are the wonders you have worked;
no one can compare with you
in the plans you have made for us.
I would proclaim them and recount them,
but there are far too many to enumerate.
7 [f]Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you have made my ears receptive.[g]
Burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not demand.
8 [h]Then I said, “Behold I come;
it is written of me in the scroll of the book.
9 To do your will, O God, is my delight;
your law is in my heart.”[i]
10 I have proclaimed your righteousness in the great assembly;
I did not seal my lips,
as you well know, O Lord.
11 I have not concealed your righteousness within the depths of my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and salvation.
I have not concealed your kindness and your truth
in the great assembly.
12 O Lord, do not withhold your mercy from me;
may your kindness[j] and your truth keep me safe forever.
13 I am surrounded by evils without number;
my sins have so engulfed me that I cannot see.
They outnumber the hairs on my head,
and my heart sinks within me.[k]
14 [l]Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me
O Lord, come quickly to my aid.
15 [m]May all those who seek to take my life
endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
be turned back and humiliated.
16 May those who cry out to me, “Aha, aha!”[n]
be overcome with shame and dismay.
17 But may all who seek you
rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
cry out forever, “The Lord be magnified.”
18 Even though I am poor and needy,[o]
the Lord keeps me in his thoughts.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 54[a]
Prayer in Time of Danger
1 For the director.[b] On stringed instruments. A maskil of David. 2 When the Ziphites came to Saul and said, “David is hiding among us.”
3 O God, save me by your name;[c]
vindicate me by your power.
4 Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
5 Strangers[d] have risen against me;
those who are ruthless seek my life,
and they have no thought of God. Selah
6 Surely God is my helper;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.
7 May their own evil recoil on my foes:
you who are faithful, destroy them.[e]
8 [f]I will freely offer sacrifice to you,
and I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
9 For you have rescued me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies.
Psalm 51[a]
The “Miserere”: Repentance for Sin
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David. 2 When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
3 Have mercy on me, O God,
in accord with your kindness;[c]
in your abundant compassion
wipe away my offenses.
4 Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I am fully aware of my offense,
and my sin is ever before me.
6 Against you, you alone,[d] have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
Therefore, you are right in accusing me
and just in passing judgment.
7 Indeed, I was born in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.[e]
8 But you desire sincerity of heart;[f]
and you endow my innermost being with wisdom.
9 Sprinkle me with hyssop[g] so that I may be cleansed;
wash me until I am whiter than snow.
10 Let me experience joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed exult.
11 Hide your face from my sins,
and wipe out all my offenses.
12 Create[h] in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a resolute spirit within me.
13 Do not cast me out from your presence
or take away from me your Holy Spirit.[i]
14 Restore to me the joy of being saved,
and grant me the strength of a generous spirit.
15 I will teach your ways to the wicked,
and sinners will return to you.
16 Deliver me from bloodguilt,[j] O God,
the God of my salvation,
and I will proclaim your righteousness.
17 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
18 For you take no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to make a burnt offering,
you would refuse to accept it.[k]
19 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a contrite and humble heart,[l] O God,
you will not spurn.
20 [m]In your kindness, deal favorably with Zion;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
21 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole oblations,
and young bulls will be offered on your altar.
Chapter 40
A Prophet in Suffering.[a] 1 Some time later, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two eunuchs, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in prison in the care of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was being held. 4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to their service. They thus remained in prison for a while.
5 Now, the same night, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, both had a dream, each one having his own dream that had its own meaning.
6 The next morning Joseph came to them and saw that they were troubled. 7 He asked the eunuchs of Pharaoh who were with him in prison, in the house of his master, “Why are you so sad today?”
8 They said, “We had a dream, but no one can interpret it.”
Joseph said to them, “Does not God have the power of interpreting? Tell your dreams to me.”
9 The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said, “In my dream I was standing in front of a vine 10 on which there were three branches. As soon as it sprouted, the flowers bloomed, and it brought forth clusters of grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh’s cup in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed their juice into Pharaoh’s cup. I then gave Pharaoh the cup.”
12 Joseph told him, “Here is the interpretation. The three branches are three days. 13 In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you will give Pharaoh his cup just as you once did when you were his cupbearer. 14 When you are happy again, please remember that I was with you. Do me this favor: speak of me to Pharaoh and get me out of here. 15 I was unjustly carried away from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which I should have been placed in this dungeon.”
16 The chief baker, seeing that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, said to him, “As for me, in my dream I was standing with three baskets of white bread on my head. 17 In the baskets on my head were all different kinds of food for Pharaoh that would be prepared by a baker. But birds ate the food from the baskets that I had on my head.”
18 Joseph answered and said, “Here is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head and have you impaled; and the birds will eat away your flesh.”
20 Three days later, it was the birthday of Pharaoh, and there was a banquet for all his ministers. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and lifted off the head of the chief baker before all his ministers. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his office as cupbearer, so that he would hand the cup to Pharaoh. 22 He had the chief baker impaled, just as Joseph had said in his interpretation.
23 But the cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
16 You Belong to Christ. Do you not realize that you are God’s temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one delude himself. If anyone among you considers himself to be wise by worldly standards, he must become a fool in order to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It is written,
“He catches the wise in their own craftiness,”
20 and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.”
21 And so, let no one boast about human beings. For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, the world or life or death, the present or the future. All belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
13 Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew). Once again Jesus went out to the shore of the lake,[a] and as a large crowd came to him, he taught them. 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi[b] the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.
15 Jesus Eats with Sinners. When he was sitting at dinner in his[c] house, many tax collectors and sinners were seated with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed Jesus. 16 Some scribes who were Pharisees noticed that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors, and they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus overheard this remark, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but rather those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
18 A Time of Joy and Grace.[d] John’s disciples and the Pharisees were observing a fast. Some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why do John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not do so?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then on that day they will fast.[e]
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 Nor does anyone pour new wine[f] into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and then the wine and the skins are both lost. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
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