Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption
A Psalm of David.
26 Vindicate (A)me, O Lord,
For I have (B)walked in my integrity.
(C)I have also trusted in the Lord;
I shall not slip.
2 (D)Examine me, O Lord, and [a]prove me;
Try my mind and my heart.
3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And (E)I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not (F)sat with idolatrous mortals,
Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
5 I have (G)hated the assembly of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence;
So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,
7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
And tell of all Your wondrous works.
8 Lord, (H)I have loved the habitation of Your house,
And the place [b]where Your glory dwells.
9 (I)Do[c] not gather my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 In whose hands is a sinister scheme,
And whose right hand is full of (J)bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
12 (K)My foot stands in an even place;
In the congregations I will bless the Lord.
Rejoicing in Answered Prayer
A Psalm of David.
28 To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock:
(A)Do not be silent to me,
(B)Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
(C)When I lift up my hands (D)toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not [a]take me away with the wicked
And with the workers of iniquity,
(E)Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.
4 (F)Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
Give them according to the work of their hands;
Render to them what they deserve.
5 Because (G)they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His hands,
He shall destroy them
And not build them up.
Man’s Wickedness and God’s Perfections
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
36 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:
(A)There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.
3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
(B)He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 (C)He devises wickedness on his bed;
He sets himself (D)in a way that is not good;
He does not [a]abhor (E)evil.
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the [b]great mountains;
(F)Your judgments are a great deep;
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men (G)put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8 (H)They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from (I)the river of Your pleasures.
9 (J)For with You is the fountain of life;
(K)In Your light we see light.
10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been cast down and are not able to rise.
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my (A)tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
2 (B)I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was [a]musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, (C)make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but (D)vapor. Selah
6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they [b]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My (E)hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me (F)the reproach of the foolish.
9 (G)I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was (H)You who did it.
10 (I)Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty (J)melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. Selah
65 At that time Solomon held (A)a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from (B)the entrance of Hamath to (C)the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, (D)seven days and seven more days—fourteen days. 66 (E)On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they [a]blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the Lord had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.
God’s Second Appearance to Solomon(F)
9 And (G)it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord (H)and the king’s house, and (I)all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, (J)as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him: (K)“I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built (L)to put My name there forever, (M)and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you (N)walk before Me (O)as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you (P)keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, (Q)as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 (R)But if you or your sons at all [b]turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 (S)then I will [c]cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated (T)for My name I will cast out of My sight. (U)Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for (V)this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, (W)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this (X)calamity on them.’ ”
Faith Without Works Is Dead(A)
14 (B)What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 (C)If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and (D)one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” (E)Show me your faith without [a]your works, (F)and I will show you my faith by [b]my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [c]dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works (G)when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see (H)that faith was working together with his works, and by (I)works faith was made [d]perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, (J)“Abraham believed God, and it was [e]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called (K)the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, (L)was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Peter Denies Jesus, and Weeps(A)
66 (B)Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. 67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with (C)Jesus of Nazareth.”
68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are saying.” And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.
69 (D)And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, “This is one of them.” 70 But he denied it again.
(E)And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, “Surely you are one of them; (F)for you are a Galilean, [a]and your [b]speech shows it.”
71 Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!”
72 (G)A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought about it, he wept.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.