Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Help in Despondency
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A [a]Contemplation of (A)Heman the Ezrahite.
88 O Lord, (B)God of my salvation,
I have cried out day and night before You.
2 Let my prayer come before You;
[b]Incline Your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
And my life (C)draws near to the grave.
4 I am counted with those who (D)go[c] down to the pit;
(E)I am like a man who has no strength,
5 [d]Adrift among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom You remember no more,
And who are cut off from Your hand.
6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,
In darkness, in the depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all (F)Your waves. Selah
8 (G)You have [e]put away my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an abomination to them;
(H)I am shut up, and I cannot get out;
9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.
(I)Lord, I have called daily upon You;
I have stretched out my hands to You.
10 Will You work wonders for the dead?
Shall [f]the dead arise and praise You? Selah
11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul?
Why do You hide Your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
I suffer Your terrors;
I am distraught.
16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;
Your terrors have [g]cut me off.
17 They came around me all day long like water;
They engulfed me altogether.
18 (J)Loved one and friend You have put far from me,
And my acquaintances into darkness.
Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God
91 He (A)who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide (B)under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 (C)I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely (D)He shall deliver you from the snare of the [a]fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 (E)He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and [b]buckler.
5 (F)You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only (G)with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord, who is (H)my refuge,
Even the Most High, (I)your dwelling place,
10 (J)No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 (K)For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall [c]bear you up,
(L)Lest you [d]dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will [e]set him on high, because he has (M)known My name.
15 He shall (N)call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be (O)with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With [f]long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
Praise to the Lord for His Love and Faithfulness
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is (P)good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To (Q)declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
3 (R)On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
4 For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
5 (S)O Lord, how great are Your works!
(T)Your thoughts are very deep.
6 (U)A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
7 When (V)the wicked [g]spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.
8 (W)But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.
9 For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall (X)be scattered.
10 But (Y)my [h]horn You have exalted like a wild ox;
I have been (Z)anointed with fresh oil.
11 (AA)My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies;
My ears hear my desire on the wicked
Who rise up against me.
12 (AB)The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be [i]fresh and [j]flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
(AC)He is my rock, and (AD)there is no unrighteousness in Him.
God’s Spirit Poured Out
28 “And(A) it shall come to pass afterward
That (B)I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
(C)Your sons and your (D)daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My (E)menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “And (F)I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 (G)The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
(H)Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
32 And it shall come to pass
That (I)whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be [a]saved.
For (J)in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be [b]deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among (K)the remnant whom the Lord calls.
God Judges the Nations
3 “For behold, (L)in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 (M)I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I (N)will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.
3 They have (O)cast lots for My people,
Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,
And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
4 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me,
(P)O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?
Will you [c]retaliate against Me?
But if you [d]retaliate against Me,
Swiftly and speedily I will return your [e]retaliation upon your own head;
5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold,
And have carried into your temples My [f]prized possessions.
6 Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
You have sold to the Greeks,
That you may remove them far from their borders.
7 “Behold, (Q)I will raise them
Out of the place to which you have sold them,
And will return your [g]retaliation upon your own head.
8 I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hand of the people of Judah,
And they will sell them to the (R)Sabeans,[h]
To a people (S)far off;
For the Lord has spoken.”
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 (A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, (B)with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 (C)Of His own will He brought us forth by the (D)word of truth, (E)that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Qualities Needed in Trials
19 [a]So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, (F)slow to speak, (G)slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Doers—Not Hearers Only
21 Therefore (H)lay aside all filthiness and [b]overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, (I)which is able to save your souls.
22 But (J)be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For (K)if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But (L)he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, (M)this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone [c]among you thinks he is religious, and (N)does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 (O)Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: (P)to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, (Q)and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was [a]wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an (A)account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred [b]measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred [c]measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than (B)the sons of light.
9 “And I say to you, (C)make friends for yourselves by unrighteous [d]mammon, that when [e]you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.