Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 26
Prayer for Vindication
Of David.
1 Vindicate me, Lord,
because I have lived with integrity
and have trusted in the Lord without wavering.(A)
2 Test me, Lord, and try me;
examine my heart and mind.(B)
3 For your faithful love guides me,[a]
and I live by your truth.(C)
4 I do not sit with the worthless
or associate with hypocrites.
5 I hate a crowd of evildoers,
and I do not sit with the wicked.(D)
6 I wash my hands in innocence(E)
and go around your altar, Lord,(F)
7 raising my voice in thanksgiving(G)
and telling about your wondrous works.(H)
Psalm 28
My Strength
Of David.
1 Lord, I call to you;
my rock, do not be deaf to me.(A)
If you remain silent to me,
I will be like those going down to the Pit.(B)
2 Listen to the sound of my pleading
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your holy sanctuary.(C)
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with the evildoers,
who speak in friendly ways with their neighbors
while malice is in their hearts.(D)
4 Repay them according to what they have done—
according to the evil of their deeds.
Repay them according to the work of their hands;
give them back what they deserve.(E)
5 Because they do not consider
what the Lord has done
or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and not rebuild them.(F)
Psalm 36
Human Wickedness and God’s Love
For the choir director. Of David, the Lord’s servant.
1 An oracle within my heart
concerning the transgression of the wicked person:
Dread of God has no effect on him.[a](A)
2 For with his flattering opinion of himself,
he does not discover and hate his iniquity.(B)
3 The words from his mouth are malicious and deceptive;(C)
he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.(D)
4 Even on his bed he makes malicious plans.(E)
He sets himself on a path that is not good,
and he does not reject evil.(F)
5 Lord, your faithful love reaches to heaven,
your faithfulness to the clouds.(G)
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your judgments like the deepest sea.(H)
Lord, you preserve people and animals.(I)
7 How priceless your faithful love is, God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.(J)
8 They are filled from the abundance of your house.
You let them drink from your refreshing stream.(K)
9 For the wellspring of life is with you.(L)
By means of your light we see light.(M)
Psalm 39
The Fleeting Nature of Life
For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will guard my ways
so that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle
as long as the wicked are in my presence.”(A)
2 I was speechless and quiet;
I kept silent, even from speaking good,
and my pain intensified.(B)
3 My heart grew hot within me;
as I mused, a fire burned.(C)
I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me aware of my end
and the number of my days
so that I will know how short-lived I am.(D)
5 In fact, you have made my days just inches long,
and my life span is as nothing to you.
Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.(E)Selah
6 Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.(F)
7 “Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.(G)
8 Rescue me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the taunt of fools.(H)
9 I am speechless; I do not open my mouth
because of what you have done.(I)
10 Remove your torment from me.
Because of the force of your hand I am finished.(J)
11 You discipline a person with punishment for iniquity,
consuming like a moth what is precious to him;(K)
yes, every human being is only a vapor.(L)Selah
65 Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath[a](A) to the Brook of Egypt(B)—observed the festival at that time(C) in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days—fourteen days.[b](D) 66 On the fifteenth day[c] he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homes[d] rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.(E)
The Lord’s Response
9 When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord,(F) the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,(G) 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.(H) 3 The Lord said to him:
I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put[e] my name there forever;(I) my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.(J)
4 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances,(K) 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.(L)
6 If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands—my statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,(M) 7 I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them,(N) and I will reject[f] the temple I have sanctified for my name.(O) Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(P) 8 Though this temple is now exalted,[g] everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff.[h] They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”(Q) 9 Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”(R)
Faith and Works
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?(A) 17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”[a] Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.(B) 19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.(C)
20 Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,(D) 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,[b](E) and he was called God’s friend.(F) 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?(G) 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Peter Denies His Lord
66 While(A) Peter(B) was in the courtyard below, one of the high priest’s maidservants came. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.”(C)
68 But he denied it: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” Then he went out to the entryway,[a] and a rooster crowed.[b]
69 When the maidservant saw him again, she began to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”
70 But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you’re also a Galilean.”[c](D)
71 Then he started to curse and swear,(E) “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”
72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time,(F) and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
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