Book of Common Prayer
A Morning Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.
5 Lord, listen to my words.
Understand my sadness.
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
because I pray to you.
3 Lord, every morning you hear my voice.
Every morning, I tell you what I need,
and I wait for your answer.
4 You are not a God who is pleased with the wicked;
you do not live with those who do evil.
5 Those people who make fun of you cannot stand before you.
You hate all those who do evil.
6 You destroy liars;
the Lord hates those who kill and trick others.
7 Because of your great love,
I can come into your Temple.
Because I fear and respect you,
I can worship in your holy Temple.
8 Lord, since I have many enemies,
show me the right thing to do.
Show me clearly how you want me to live.
9 My enemies’ mouths do not tell the truth;
in their hearts they want to destroy others.
Their throats are like open graves;
they use their tongues for telling lies.
10 God, declare them guilty!
Let them fall into their own traps.
Send them away because their sins are many;
they have turned against you.
11 But let everyone who trusts you be happy;
let them sing glad songs forever.
Protect those who love you
and who are happy because of you.
12 Lord, you bless those who do what is right;
you protect them like a soldier’s shield.
A Prayer for Mercy in Troubled Times
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Upon the sheminith. A psalm of David.
6 Lord, don’t correct me when you are angry;
don’t punish me when you are very angry.
2 Lord, have mercy on me because I am weak.
Heal me, Lord, because my bones ache.
3 I am very upset.
Lord, how long will it be?
4 Lord, return and save me;
save me because of your kindness.
5 Dead people don’t remember you;
those in the grave don’t praise you.
6 I am tired of crying to you.
Every night my bed is wet with tears;
my bed is soaked from my crying.
7 My eyes are weak from so much crying;
they are weak from crying about my enemies.
8 Get away from me, all you who do evil,
because the Lord has heard my crying.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for help;
the Lord will answer my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and troubled.
They will turn and suddenly leave in shame.
A Complaint About Evil People
10 Lord, why are you so far away?
Why do you hide when there is trouble?
2 Proudly the wicked chase down those who suffer.
Let them be caught in their own traps.
3 They brag about the things they want.
They bless the greedy but hate the Lord.
4 The wicked people are too proud.
They do not look for God;
there is no room for God in their thoughts.
5 They always succeed.
They are far from keeping your laws;
they make fun of their enemies.
6 They say to themselves, “Nothing bad will ever happen to me;
I will never be ruined.”
7 Their mouths are full of curses, lies, and threats;
they use their tongues for sin and evil.
8 They hide near the villages.
They look for innocent people to kill;
they watch in secret for the helpless.
9 They wait in hiding like a lion.
They wait to catch poor people;
they catch the poor in nets.
10 The poor are thrown down and crushed;
they are defeated because the others are stronger.
11 The wicked think, “God has forgotten us.
He doesn’t see what is happening.”
12 Lord, rise up and punish the wicked.
Don’t forget those who need help.
13 Why do wicked people hate God?
They say to themselves, “God won’t punish us.”
14 Lord, surely you see these cruel and evil things;
look at them and do something.
People in trouble look to you for help.
You are the one who helps the orphans.
15 Break the power of wicked people.
Punish them for the evil they have done.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever.
Destroy from your land those nations that do not worship you.
17 Lord, you have heard what the poor people want.
Do what they ask, and listen to them.
18 Protect the orphans and put an end to suffering
so they will no longer be afraid of evil people.
Trust in the Lord
For the director of music. Of David.
11 I trust in the Lord for protection.
So why do you say to me,
“Fly like a bird to your mountain.
2 Like hunters, the wicked string their bows;
they set their arrows on the bowstrings.
They shoot from dark places
at those who are honest.
3 When the foundations for good collapse,
what can good people do?”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord sits on his throne in heaven.
He sees what people do;
he keeps his eye on them.
5 The Lord tests those who do right,
but he hates the wicked and those who love to hurt others.
6 He will send hot coals and burning sulfur on the wicked.
A whirlwind is what they will get.
7 The Lord does what is right, and he loves justice,
so honest people will see his face.
The Song of Moses
15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord,
because he is worthy of great honor.
He has thrown the horse and its rider
into the sea.
2 The Lord gives me strength and makes me sing;
he has saved me.
He is my God,
and I will praise him.
He is the God of my ancestors,
and I will honor him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
4 The chariots and soldiers of the king of Egypt
he has thrown into the sea.
The king’s best officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The deep waters covered them,
and they sank to the bottom like a rock.
6 Your right hand, Lord,
is amazingly strong.
Lord, your right hand
broke the enemy to pieces.
7 In your great victory
you destroyed those who were against you.
Your anger destroyed them,
like fire burning straw.
8 Just a blast of your breath,
and the waters piled up.
The moving water stood like a wall;
the deep waters became solid in the middle of the sea.
9 “The enemy bragged,
‘I’ll chase them and catch them.
I’ll take all their riches;
I’ll take all I want.
I’ll pull out my sword,
and my hand will destroy them.’
10 But you blew on them with your breath
and covered them with the sea.
They sank like lead
in the raging water.
11 “Are there any gods like you, Lord?
There are no gods like you.
You are wonderfully holy,
amazingly powerful,
a worker of miracles.
12 You reached out with your right hand,
and the earth swallowed our enemies.
13 You keep your loving promise
and lead the people you have saved.
With your strength you will guide them
to your holy place.
14 “The other nations will hear this and tremble with fear;
terror will take hold of the Philistines.
15 The leaders of the tribes of Edom will be very frightened;
the powerful men of Moab will shake with fear;
the people of Canaan will lose all their courage.
16 Terror and horror will fall on them.
When they see your strength,
they will be as still as a rock.
They will be still until your people pass by, Lord.
They will be still until the people you have taken as your own pass by.
17 You will lead your people and place them
on your very own mountain,
the place that you, Lord, made for yourself to live,
the temple, Lord, that your hands have made.
18 The Lord will be king forever!”
19 The horses, chariot drivers, and chariots of the king of Egypt went into the sea, and the Lord covered them with water from the sea. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry land. 20 Then Aaron’s sister Miriam, a prophetess, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing. 21 Miriam told them:
“Sing to the Lord,
because he is worthy of great honor;
he has thrown the horse and its rider
into the sea.”
A Call to Holy Living
13 So prepare your minds for service and have self-control. All your hope should be for the gift of grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ is shown to you. 14 Now that you are obedient children of God do not live as you did in the past. You did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted. 15 But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy. 16 It is written in the Scriptures: “You must be holy, because I am holy.”[a]
17 You pray to God and call him Father, and he judges each person’s work equally. So while you are here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way, a way passed down from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for your sake. 21 Through Christ you believe in God, who raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22 Now that your obedience to the truth has purified your souls, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart.[b] 23 You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever. 24 The Scripture says,
“All people are like the grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass dies and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord will live forever.” Isaiah 40:6–8
And this is the word that was preached to you.
18 “I will not leave you all alone like orphans; I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live, too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me and I am in you. 21 Those who know my commands and obey them are the ones who love me, and my Father will love those who love me. I will love them and will show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you plan to show yourself to us and not to the rest of the world?”
23 Jesus answered, “If people love me, they will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Those who do not love me do not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine; it is from my Father, who sent me.
25 “I have told you all these things while I am with you. 26 But the Helper will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.
27 “I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going, but I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you should be happy that I am going back to the Father, because he is greater than I am. 29 I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens, you will believe. 30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, 31 but the world must know that I love the Father, so I do exactly what the Father told me to do.
“Come now, let us go.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.