Book of Common Prayer
Meditations on the Excellencies of the Word of God
א ALEPH
119 Blessed are the [a]undefiled in the way,
(A)Who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the (B)whole heart!
3 (C)They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!
6 (D)Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
ב BETH
9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have (E)sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 (F)Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord!
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have (G)declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And [b]contemplate Your ways.
16 I will (H)delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
ג GIMEL
17 (I)Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.
19 (J)I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 (K)My soul [c]breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
22 (L)Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.
Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy
To the Chief Musician. (A)On [a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
12 Help,[b] Lord, for the godly man (B)ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 (C)They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and [c]a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord [d]cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks [e]proud things,
4 Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are (D)pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
Trust in the Salvation of the Lord
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
(E)How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
(F)Enlighten my eyes,
(G)Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph(H)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
14 The (I)fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.
2 (J)The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 (K)They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
The Future House of God(A)
2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Now (B)it shall come to pass (C)in the latter days
(D)That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
(E)“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
(F)For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning [a]hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
The Day of the Lord
5 O house of Jacob, come and let us (G)walk
In the light of the Lord.
6 For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled (H)with eastern ways;
They are (I)soothsayers like the Philistines,
(J)And they [b]are pleased with the children of foreigners.
7 (K)Their land is also full of silver and gold,
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
8 (L)Their land is also full of idols;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
9 People bow down,
And each man humbles himself;
Therefore do not forgive them.
Their Conversion
13 For this reason we also thank God (A)without ceasing, because when you (B)received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it (C)not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively (D)works in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators (E)of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For (F)you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 (G)who killed both the Lord Jesus and (H)their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God (I)and are [a]contrary to all men, 16 (J)forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always (K)to fill up the measure of their sins; (L)but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
Longing to See Them
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time (M)in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. 18 Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but (N)Satan hindered us. 19 For (O)what is our hope, or joy, or (P)crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the (Q)presence of our Lord Jesus Christ (R)at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they [a]feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.
The Pharisees: Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar?(A)
20 (B)So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
21 Then they asked Him, saying, (C)“Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, [b]“Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, (D)“Render[c] therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.