Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55
Betrayal by a Friend
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
1 God, listen to my prayer
and do not hide from my plea for help.(A)
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.(B)
I am restless and in turmoil with my complaint,(C)
3 because of the enemy’s words,[a]
because of the pressure[b] of the wicked.
For they bring down disaster on me
and harass me in anger.(D)
4 My heart shudders within me;(E)
terrors of death sweep over me.
5 Fear and trembling grip me;
horror has overwhelmed me.(F)
6 I said, “If only I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find rest.(G)
7 How far away I would flee;
I would stay in the wilderness.(H)Selah
8 I would hurry to my shelter
from the raging wind and the storm.”(I)
9 Lord, confuse[c] and confound their speech,[d](J)
for I see violence and strife in the city;
10 day and night they make the rounds on its walls.
Crime and trouble are within it;(K)
11 destruction is inside it;
oppression and deceit never leave its marketplace.(L)
12 Now it is not an enemy who insults me—
otherwise I could bear it;
it is not a foe who rises up against me—
otherwise I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who is my peer,
my companion and good friend!(M)
14 We used to have close fellowship;
we walked with the crowd into the house of God.(N)
15 Let death take them by surprise;(O)
let them go down to Sheol alive,
because evil is in their homes and within them.(P)
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.(Q)
17 I complain and groan morning, noon, and night,(R)
and he hears my voice.(S)
18 Though many are against me,
he will redeem me from my battle unharmed.(T)
19 God, the one enthroned from long ago,(U)
will hear and will humiliate themSelah
because they do not change
and do not fear God.(V)
20 My friend(W) acts violently
against those at peace with him;(X)
he violates his covenant.(Y)
21 His buttery words are smooth,
but war is in his heart.
His words are softer than oil,
but they are drawn swords.(Z)
Psalm 138
A Thankful Heart
Of David.
1 I will give you thanks with all my heart;(A)
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.[a](B)
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your constant love and truth.
You have exalted your name
and your promise above everything else.[b](C)
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
you increased strength within me.[c](D)
4 All the kings on earth will give you thanks, Lord,
when they hear what you have promised.[d](E)
5 They will sing of the Lord’s ways,
for the Lord’s glory is great.(F)
6 Though the Lord is exalted,
he takes note of the humble;
but he knows the haughty from a distance.(G)
7 If I walk into the thick of danger,
you will preserve my life
from the anger of my enemies.(H)
You will extend your hand;
your right hand will save me.(I)
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.(J)
Lord, your faithful love endures forever;
do not abandon the work of your hands.(K)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.(L)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.(M)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.(N)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.(O)
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.(P)
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(Q)
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?(R)
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;(S)
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.(T)
9 If I fly on the wings of the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon,[e]
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.(U)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”(V)—
12 even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to you.(W)
13 For it was you who created my inward parts;[f]
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(X)
14 I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.[g][h]
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.(Y)
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(Z)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(AA)
17 God, how precious[i] your thoughts are to me;
how vast their sum is!
18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;(AB)
when I wake up,[j] I am still with you.(AC)
19 God, if only you would kill the wicked—
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me(AD)—
20 who invoke you deceitfully.
Your enemies swear by you falsely.(AE)
21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you,
and detest those who rebel against you?
22 I hate them with extreme hatred;
I consider them my enemies.(AF)
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.(AG)
18 “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol[a] on your foreheads.[b] 19 Teach them to your children,(A) talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates,(B) 21 so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.(C) 22 For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, and remain faithful[c] to him— 23 the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.(D) 24 Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours.(E) Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River[d] to the Mediterranean Sea.(F) 25 No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as he has promised you.(G)
A Blessing and a Curse
26 “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:(H) 27 there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today, 28 and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.
Christ, a High Priest
5 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness.(A) 3 Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.(B) 4 No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.(C) 5 In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him,
6 also says in another place,
7 During his earthly life,[d] he offered prayers and appeals(F) with loud cries and tears(G) to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.(H) 9 After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 When Jesus[a] learned that the Pharisees(A) had heard he was making(B) and baptizing more disciples than John(C) 2 (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), 3 he left Judea(D) and went again to Galilee.(E) 4 He had to travel through Samaria;(F) 5 so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property[b] that Jacob(G) had given his son Joseph.(H) 6 Jacob’s well(I) was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.[c]
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.(J)
“Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.
9 “How is it that you, a Jew,(K) ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan(L) woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with[d] Samaritans.[e]
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God,(M) and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”(N)
11 “Sir,”(O) said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob,(P) are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”
13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again.(Q) In fact, the water I will give him will become a well[f](R) of water springing up in him for eternal life.”(S)
15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”
16 “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.”
17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered.
“You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,(T) but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”(U)
21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.(V) 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here,(W) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.[g] Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit,(X) and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”(Y)
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah(Z) is coming” (who is called Christ(AA)). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”(AB)
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