Book of Common Prayer
Prayer in Time of Chastening
A Psalm of David. (A)To bring to remembrance.
38 O Lord, do not (B)rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am [a]troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
11 My loved ones and my friends (C)stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar off.
12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response.
15 For [b]in You, O Lord, (D)I hope;
You will [c]hear, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”
17 (E)For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will (F)declare my iniquity;
I will be (G)in [d]anguish over my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
20 Those also (H)who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, (I)be not far from me!
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!
ד DALETH
25 (A)My soul clings to the dust;
(B)Revive me according to Your word.
26 I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
(C)Teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So (D)shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28 (E)My soul [a]melts from [b]heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
30 I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31 I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32 I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall (F)enlarge my heart.
ה HE
33 (G)Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
34 (H)Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36 [c]Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to (I)covetousness.
37 (J)Turn[d] away my eyes from (K)looking at worthless things,
And revive me in [e]Your way.
38 (L)Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness.
ו WAW
41 Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—
Your salvation according to Your word.
42 So shall I have an answer for him who [f]reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I have hoped in Your ordinances.
44 So shall I keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever.
45 And I will walk [g]at (M)liberty,
For I seek Your precepts.
46 (N)I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48 My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments,
Which I love,
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet(A)
6 In the year that (B)King Uzziah died, I (C)saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, (D)with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am [a]undone!
Because I am a man of (G)unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from (H)the altar. 7 And he (I)touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin [b]purged.”
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for (J)Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9 And He said, “Go, and (K)tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make (L)the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
(M)Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
And He answered:
(N)“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
12 (O)The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So (P)the holy seed shall be its stump.”
Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 (A)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s Final Judgment and Glory
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that (B)we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God (C)for your patience and faith (D)in all your persecutions and [a]tribulations that you endure, 5 which is (E)manifest[b] evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, (F)for which you also suffer; 6 (G)since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with [c]tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled (H)rest with us when (I)the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 (J)These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and (K)from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, (L)to be (M)glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who [d]believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would (N)count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and (O)the work of faith with power, 12 (P)that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World
53 [a]And everyone went to his own house.
Jesus the Light of the World
8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now [b]early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and (A)taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, [c]this woman was caught in (B)adultery, in the very act. 5 (C)Now [d]Moses, in the law, commanded us [e]that such should be stoned. But what do You [f]say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they (D)might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, [g]as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He [h]raised Himself up and said to them, (E)“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, (F)being[i] convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up [j]and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers [k]of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, (G)“Neither do I condemn you; go [l]and (H)sin no more.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.