Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 25[a]
Confident Prayer for Forgiveness and Guidance
1 Of David.
I
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul,
2 (A)my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be disgraced;(B)
do not let my enemies gloat over me.
3 No one is disgraced who waits for you,(C)
but only those who are treacherous without cause.
4 Make known to me your ways, Lord;
teach me your paths.(D)
5 Guide me by your fidelity and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
for you I wait all the day long.
6 Remember your compassion and your mercy, O Lord,
for they are ages old.(E)
7 Remember no more the sins of my youth;(F)
remember me according to your mercy,
because of your goodness, Lord.
II
8 Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore he shows sinners the way,
9 He guides the humble in righteousness,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
toward those who honor his covenant and decrees.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
pardon my guilt, though it is great.
12 Who is the one who fears the Lord?
God shows him the way he should choose.(G)
13 He will abide in prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.(H)
14 The counsel of the Lord belongs to those who fear him;
and his covenant instructs them.
15 My eyes are ever upon the Lord,
who frees my feet from the snare.(I)
III
16 Look upon me, have pity on me,
for I am alone and afflicted.(J)
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart;
bring me out of my distress.
18 Look upon my affliction and suffering;
take away all my sins.
19 See how many are my enemies,
see how fiercely they hate me.
20 Preserve my soul and rescue me;
do not let me be disgraced, for in you I seek refuge.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me;
I wait for you, O Lord.
22 [b]Redeem Israel, O God,
from all its distress!
Psalm 9[a]
Thanksgiving for Victory and Prayer for Justice
1 For the leader; according to Muth Labben.[b] A psalm of David.
I
2 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
3 I will delight and rejoice in you;
I will sing hymns to your name, Most High.
4 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before you.
II
5 For you upheld my right and my cause,
seated on your throne, judging justly.
6 You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out for all time.(A)
7 The enemies have been ruined forever;
you destroyed their cities;
their memory has perished.
III
8 The Lord rules forever,
has set up his throne for judgment.
9 It is he who judges the world with justice,(B)
who judges the peoples with fairness.
10 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.(C)
11 Those who know your name trust in you;
you never forsake those who seek you, Lord.
IV
12 Sing hymns to the Lord enthroned on Zion;
proclaim his deeds among the nations!
13 For the avenger of bloodshed remembers,
does not forget the cry of the afflicted.(D)
V
14 Be gracious to me, Lord;
see how my foes afflict me!
You alone can raise me from the gates of death.(E)
15 Then I will declare all your praises,
sing joyously of your salvation
in the gates of daughter Zion.[c]
VI
16 The nations fall into the pit they dig;
in the snare they hide, their own foot is caught.
17 [d]The Lord is revealed in making judgments:
by the deeds they do the wicked are trapped.(F)
Higgaion. Selah
VII
18 To Sheol the wicked will depart,
all the nations that forget God.
19 For the needy will never be forgotten,
nor will the hope of the afflicted ever fade.(G)
20 Arise, Lord, let no mortal prevail;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
21 Strike them with terror, Lord;
show the nations they are only human.
Selah
Psalm 15[a]
The Righteous Israelite
1 (A)A psalm of David.
I
Lord, who may abide in your tent?[b]
Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
II
2 Whoever walks without blame,(B)
doing what is right,
speaking truth from the heart;
3 Who does not slander with his tongue,
does no harm to a friend,
never defames a neighbor;
4 Who disdains the wicked,
but honors those who fear the Lord;
Who keeps an oath despite the cost,
5 lends no money at interest,[c]
accepts no bribe against the innocent.(C)
III
Whoever acts like this
shall never be shaken.
Oracles of Reproach[a]
8 [b]Ah! Those who join house to house,
who connect field with field,
Until no space remains, and you alone dwell
in the midst of the land!(A)
9 In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn:(B)
Many houses shall be in ruins,
houses large and fine, with nobody living there.(C)
10 Ten acres of vineyard
shall yield but one bath,[c]
And a homer of seed
shall yield but an ephah.
11 [d]Ah! Those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
lingering late
inflamed by wine,
12 Banqueting on wine with harp and lyre,
timbrel and flute,(D)
But the deed of the Lord they do not regard,
the work of his hands they do not see!(E)
18 Ah! Those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity,
and at sin as if with cart ropes!
19 [a]Who say, “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work, that we may see it;
On with the plan of the Holy One of Israel!
let it come to pass, that we may know it!”(A)
20 Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil,
who change darkness to light, and light into darkness,
who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!(B)
21 Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes,
prudent in their own view!(C)
22 Ah! Those who are champions at drinking wine,
masters at mixing drink!
23 Those who acquit the guilty for bribes,
and deprive the innocent of justice!(D)
Chapter 5
Vigilance. 1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you.(A) 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.(B) 3 When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief.(C) 5 For all of you are children of the light[a] and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. 6 Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.(D) 7 Those who sleep go to sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.(E) 9 For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.[b] 11 Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.(F)
20 (A)“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand.(B) 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city,(C) 22 for these days are the time of punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled. 23 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people.(D) 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles[a] are fulfilled.(E)
The Coming of the Son of Man.(F) 25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.(G) 26 People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens[b] will be shaken.(H) 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.(I) 28 But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”(J)
The Lesson of the Fig Tree.(K)
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