Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 40
Thanksgiving and a Cry for Help
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.(A)
2 He brought me up from a desolate[a] pit,
out of the muddy clay,(B)
and set my feet on a rock,
making my steps secure.(C)
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.(D)
Many will see and fear,
and they will trust in the Lord.(E)
4 How happy is anyone
who has put his trust in the Lord
and has not turned to the proud
or to those who run after lies!(F)
5 Lord my God, you have done many things—
your wondrous works and your plans for us;
none can compare with you.
If I were to report and speak of them,
they are more than can be told.(G)
6 You do not delight in sacrifice and offering;
you open my ears to listen.[b]
You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.(H)
7 Then I said, “See, I have come;
in the scroll it is written about me.(I)
8 I delight to do your will, my God,(J)
and your instruction is deep within me.”(K)
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
see, I do not keep my mouth closed[c]—
as you know, Lord.(L)
10 I did not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I spoke about your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your constant love and truth
from the great assembly.(M)
11 Lord, you do not[d] withhold your compassion from me.
Your constant love and truth will always guard me.(N)
12 For troubles without number have surrounded me;
my iniquities have overtaken me; I am unable to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my courage leaves me.(O)
13 Lord, be pleased to rescue me;
hurry to help me, Lord.(P)
Psalm 54
Prayer for Deliverance
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?” (A)
1 God, save me by your name,
and vindicate me by your might!(B)
2 God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words from my mouth.(C)
3 For strangers rise up against me,
and violent men intend to kill me.
They do not let God guide them.[a](D)Selah
Psalm 51
A Prayer for Restoration
For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.(A)
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.(B)
2 Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.(C)
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.(D)
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.(E)
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.(F)
5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.(G)
6 Surely you desire integrity in the inner self,
and you teach me wisdom deep within.(H)
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.(I)
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.(J)
9 Turn your face away[a] from my sins
and blot out all my guilt.(K)
10 God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast[b] spirit within me.(L)
11 Do not banish me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.(M)
12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me,
and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.(N)
13 Then I will teach the rebellious your ways,
and sinners will return to you.(O)
14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God(P)—
God of my salvation—
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.(Q)
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.(R)
16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it;
you are not pleased with a burnt offering.(S)
17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is[c] a broken spirit.
You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.(T)
Assyria, the Instrument of Wrath
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—
the staff in their hands is my wrath.
6 I will send him against a godless nation;
I will command him to go
against a people destined for my rage,
to take spoils, to plunder,(A)
and to trample them down like clay(B) in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
8 For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?
9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria(C) like Damascus?[a]
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of worthless images,
kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images
will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?” (D)
Judgment on Assyria
12 But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I[b] will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”(E) 13 For he said:
I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;(F)
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.[c](G)
14 My hand has reached out, as if into a nest,
to seize the wealth of the nations.
Like one gathering abandoned eggs,
I gathered the whole earth.
No wing fluttered;
no beak opened or chirped.
15 Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a rod waving the ones who lift[d] it!
It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of Armies
will inflict an emaciating disease
on the well-fed of Assyria,
and he will kindle a burning fire
under its glory.
17 Israel’s Light will become a fire,
and its Holy One, a flame.(H)
In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.(I)
18 He will completely destroy
the glory of its forests and orchards
as a sickness consumes a person.
19 The remaining trees of its forest
will be so few in number
that a child could count them.
17 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.(A) 18 For by uttering boastful, empty words,(B) they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped[a] from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.(C) 20 For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord[b] and Savior Jesus Christ,(D) they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.(E) 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness(F) than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command(G) delivered(H) to them.(I) 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit,[c](J) and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”
2 Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples(A) 3 and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (B)
4 Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,(C) 6 and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”(D)
7 As these men were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?(E) 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who wear soft clothes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.(F) 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared,[c] but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence,[d] and the violent have been seizing it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come.(H) 15 Let anyone who has ears[e] listen.(I)
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