Book of Common Prayer
God the Sovereign Savior(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David (B)the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of (C)this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
18 I (D)will love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my [a]strength, (E)in whom I will trust;
My shield and the [b]horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, (F)who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
4 (G)The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of [c]ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
7 (H)Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
9 (I)He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
10 (J)And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
(K)He flew upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place;
(L)His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
12 (M)From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered (N)His voice,
[d]Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 (O)He sent out His arrows and scattered [e]the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 (P)He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
19 (Q)He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 (R)The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also blameless [f]before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 (S)Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25 (T)With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And (U)with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
27 For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down (V)haughty looks.
28 (W)For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can [g]run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, (X)His way is perfect;
(Y)The word of the Lord is [h]proven;
He is a shield (Z)to all who trust in Him.
31 (AA)For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
32 It is God who (AB)arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
33 (AC)He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And (AD)sets me on my high places.
34 (AE)He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You enlarged my path under me,
(AF)So my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
38 I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have [i]subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save;
(AG)Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I (AH)cast them out like dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
(AI)You have made me the head of the [j]nations;
(AJ)A people I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners [k]submit to me.
45 (AK)The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me,
(AL)And subdues the peoples under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
(AM)You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 (AN)Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the [l]Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.
Solomon’s Wise Judgment
16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and (A)stood before him. 17 And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; [a]no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22 Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23 And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for (B)she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27 So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the (C)wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
27 Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. 28 And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and [a]prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.
33 And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, (A)since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and (B)gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat. 36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. 37 And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six (C)persons on the ship. 38 So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.
Shipwrecked on Malta
39 When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. 40 And they [b]let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. 41 But striking [c]a place where two seas met, (D)they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.
42 And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was (E)that they all escaped safely to land.
Jesus Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples(A)
12 (B)Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they [a]killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”
16 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.
17 (C)In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, (D)one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”
19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” [b]And another said, “Is it I?”
20 He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. 21 (E)The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”
Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper(F)
22 (G)And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, [c]eat; this is My (H)body.”
23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the [d]new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 (I)And when they had sung [e]a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.