Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31
A Plea for Protection
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(A)
Save me by your righteousness.
2 Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mountain fortress to save me.(B)
3 For you are my rock and my fortress;(C)
you lead and guide me
for your name’s sake.(D)
4 You will free me from the net
that is secretly set for me,
for you are my refuge.(E)
5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit;(F)
you have redeemed me,[a] Lord, God of truth.(G)
6 I[b] hate those who are devoted to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.(H)
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love
because you have seen my affliction.
You know the troubles of my soul(I)
8 and have not handed me over to the enemy.(J)
You have set my feet in a spacious place.(K)
9 Be gracious to me, Lord,
because I am in distress;(L)
my eyes are worn out from frustration—
my whole being[c] as well.(M)
10 Indeed, my life is consumed with grief
and my years with groaning;(N)
my strength has failed
because of my iniquity,[d]
and my bones waste away.(O)
11 I am ridiculed by all my adversaries
and even by my neighbors.
I am dreaded by my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street run from me.(P)
12 I am forgotten: gone from memory
like a dead person—like broken pottery.(Q)
13 I have heard the gossip of many;
terror is on every side.(R)
When they conspired against me,
they plotted to take my life.(S)
14 But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(T)
15 The course of my life is in your power;(U)
rescue me from the power of my enemies
and from my persecutors.(V)
16 Make your face shine on your servant;(W)
save me by your faithful love.(X)
17 Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on you.(Y)
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them be quiet[e][f] in Sheol.(Z)
18 Let lying lips(AA)
that arrogantly speak against the righteous
in proud contempt be silenced.(AB)
19 How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you.
In the presence of everyone[g] you have acted
for those who take refuge in you.(AC)
20 You hide them in the protection of your presence;(AD)
you conceal them in a shelter
from human schemes,
from quarrelsome tongues.(AE)
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me
in a city under siege.(AF)
22 In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight.”(AG)
But you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to you for help.(AH)
Psalm 35
Prayer for Victory
Of David.
1 Oppose my opponents, Lord;
fight those who fight me.(A)
2 Take your shields—large and small—
and come to my aid.(B)
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers,
and assure me, “I am your deliverance.”(C)
4 Let those who intend to take my life
be disgraced and humiliated;
let those who plan to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.(D)
5 Let them be like chaff in the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away.(E)
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.(F)
7 They hid their net for me without cause;
they dug a pit for me without cause.(G)
8 Let ruin come on him unexpectedly,
and let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his ruin.(H)
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will delight in his deliverance.(I)
10 All my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like you,(J)
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor or the needy from one who robs him?” (K)
11 Malicious witnesses come forward;
they question me about things I do not know.(L)
12 They repay me evil for good,
making me desolate.(M)
13 Yet when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting,
and my prayer was genuine.[a](N)
14 I went about mourning as if for my friend or brother;
I was bowed down with grief,
like one mourning for a mother.(O)
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
they gathered against me.
Assailants I did not know
tore at me and did not stop.(P)
16 With godless mockery[b]
they gnashed their teeth at me.(Q)
17 Lord, how long will you look on?(R)
Rescue me from their ravages;
rescue my precious life from the young lions.(S)
18 I will praise you in the great assembly;
I will exalt you among many people.(T)
19 Do not let my deceitful enemies rejoice over me;
do not let those who hate me without cause(U)
wink at me maliciously.(V)
20 For they do not speak in friendly ways,
but contrive fraudulent schemes[c]
against those who live peacefully in the land.(W)
21 They open their mouths wide against me and say,
“Aha, aha! We saw it!” [d](X)
22 You saw it, Lord; do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.(Y)
23 Wake up and rise to my defense,
to my cause, my God and my Lord!(Z)
24 Vindicate me, Lord my God,
in keeping with your righteousness,
and do not let them rejoice over me.(AA)
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Just what we wanted.”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him up!” (AB)
26 Let those who rejoice at my misfortune
be disgraced and humiliated;
let those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and reproach.(AC)
The Good and the Bad Figs
24 After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported Jeconiah[a] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths(A) from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs(B) placed in front of the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket contained very good figs, like early figs,(C) but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. 3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”
4 The word of the Lord came to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will keep my eyes on them for their good(D) and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.(E) 7 I will give them a heart to know me,(F) that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart.(G)
8 “But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible,(H) this is what the Lord says: In this way I will deal with King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land or living in the land of Egypt.(I) 9 I will make them an object of horror(J) and a disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, an example for disgrace, scorn, ridicule,(K) and cursing, wherever I have banished them.(L) 10 I will send the sword, famine, and plague(M) against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”
19 You will say to me,(A) therefore, “Why then does he still find fault?(B) For who resists his will?” (C) 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(D) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” (E) 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay,(F) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? 22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience(G) objects of wrath prepared for destruction?(H) 23 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory(I) on objects of mercy(J) that he prepared beforehand for glory(K)— 24 on us, the ones he also called,(L) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(M) 25 As it[a] also says in Hosea,
I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.[b](N)
26 And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not my people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.[c](O)
27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
Though the number of Israelites
is like the sand of the sea,(P)
only the remnant will be saved;(Q)
28 since the Lord will execute his sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.[d][e] (R)
29 And just as Isaiah predicted:
If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring,(S)
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.[f](T)
Israel’s Present State
30 What should we say then?(U) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.(V) 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness,(W) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.[g](X) 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.[h] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(Y) 33 As it is written,
The Sixth Sign: Healing a Man Born Blind
9 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,(A) who sinned, this man(B) or his parents,(C) that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works(D) might be displayed in him. 4 We[a] must do the works(E) of him who sent me[b] while it is day.(F) Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”(G)
6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud(H) from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam”(I) (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.(J)
8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?” 9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.”
He kept saying, “I’m the one.”
10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam(K) and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.”(L)
12 “Where is he?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The Healed Man’s Testimony
13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.(M) 14 The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.(N) 15 Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight.
“He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God,(O) because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man(P) perform such signs?” And there was a division(Q) among them.
17 Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?”
“He’s a prophet,”(R) he said.
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