Book of Common Prayer
Faith Persevering in Trial(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I (B)waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of (C)the miry clay,
And (D)set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 (E)He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
4 (F)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 (G)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
(H)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 (I)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 (J)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is (K)within my heart.”
9 (L)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, (M)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10 (N)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
(O)Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
(P)My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 (Q)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 (R)Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my [a]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be (S)confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
Answered Prayer for Deliverance from Adversaries
To the Chief Musician. With [a]stringed instruments. A [b]Contemplation of David (A)when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding with us?”
54 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who [c]uphold my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
[d]Cut them off in Your [e]truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
(B)And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.
A Prayer of Repentance
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David (A)when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
(B)Blot out my transgressions.
2 (C)Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 (D)Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil (E)in Your sight—
(F)That You may be found just [a]when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 (G)Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 (H)Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be (I)whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken (J)may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 (K)Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your (L)Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your (M)generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For (N)You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 (O)The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with (P)the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
22 Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, (A)‘We are very far from you,’ when (B)you dwell near us? 23 Now therefore, you are (C)cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”
24 So they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants were clearly told that the Lord your God (D)commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore (E)we were very much afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now, here we are, (F)in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.” 26 So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 27 And that day Joshua made them (G)woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, (H)in the place which He would choose, even to this day.
The Sun Stands Still
10 Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem (I)heard how Joshua had taken (J)Ai and had utterly destroyed it—(K)as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to (L)Ai and its king—and (M)how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 that they (N)feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. 3 Therefore Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for (O)it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.” 5 Therefore the five kings of the (P)Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, (Q)gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.
6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp (R)at Gilgal, saying, “Do not forsake your servants; come up to us quickly, save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.”
7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and (S)all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, (T)“Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; (U)not a man of them shall (V)stand before you.” 9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. 10 So the Lord (W)routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes (X)to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as (Y)Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, (Z)that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.
12 Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:
(AA)“Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
And Moon, in the Valley of (AB)Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still,
And the moon stopped,
Till the people had revenge
Upon their enemies.
(AC)Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 And there has been (AD)no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for (AE)the Lord fought for Israel.
15 (AF)Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.
From Jerusalem to Illyricum
14 Now (A)I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, (B)filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish [a]one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, (C)because of the grace given to me by God, 16 that (D)I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the (E)offering [b]of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus (F)in the things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things (G)which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, (H)to make the Gentiles obedient— 19 (I)in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, (J)lest I should build on another man’s foundation, 21 but as it is written:
(K)“To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
And those who have not heard shall understand.”
Plan to Visit Rome
22 For this reason (L)I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and (M)having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, [c]I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, (N)and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may (O)enjoy your company for a while.
Jesus Handed Over to Pontius Pilate(A)
27 When morning came, (B)all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. 2 And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and (C)delivered Him to [a]Pontius Pilate the governor.
Judas Hangs Himself(D)
3 (E)Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty (F)pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and (G)departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore that field has been called (H)the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, (I)“And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, 10 and (J)gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.