Book of Common Prayer
Faith Persevering in Trial(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I (B)waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of (C)the miry clay,
And (D)set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 (E)He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
4 (F)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 (G)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
(H)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 (I)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 (J)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is (K)within my heart.”
9 (L)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, (M)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10 (N)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
(O)Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
(P)My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 (Q)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 (R)Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my [a]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be (S)confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
Answered Prayer for Deliverance from Adversaries
To the Chief Musician. With [a]stringed instruments. A [b]Contemplation of David (A)when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding with us?”
54 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who [c]uphold my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
[d]Cut them off in Your [e]truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
(B)And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.
A Prayer of Repentance
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David (A)when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
(B)Blot out my transgressions.
2 (C)Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 (D)Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil (E)in Your sight—
(F)That You may be found just [a]when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 (G)Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 (H)Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be (I)whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken (J)may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 (K)Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your (L)Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your (M)generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For (N)You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 (O)The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with (P)the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
Elijah’s Mount Carmel Victory
20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and (A)gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, (B)“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, (C)follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, (D)“I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; (E)but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who (F)answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, [a]“It is well spoken.”
25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, [b]hear us!” But there was (G)no voice; no one answered. Then they [c]leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry [d]aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and (H)cut themselves, as was their custom, with [e]knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, (I)they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was (J)no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. (K)And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, (L)“Israel shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an altar (M)in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he (N)put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and (O)pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled (P)the trench with water.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord (Q)God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, (R)let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that (S)I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then (T)the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, (U)“The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
40 And Elijah said to them, (V)“Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook (W)Kishon and (X)executed them there.
All for Christ
3 Finally, my brethren, (A)rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
2 (B)Beware of dogs, beware of (C)evil workers, (D)beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are (E)the circumcision, (F)who worship [a]God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 4 though (G)I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I (H)more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, (I)of the tribe of Benjamin, (J)a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, (K)a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, (L)persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But (M)what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss (N)for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having (O)my own righteousness, which is from the law, but (P)that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the (Q)power of His resurrection, and (R)the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may (S)attain[b] to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already (T)attained,[c] or am already (U)perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, (V)forgetting those things which are behind and (W)reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 (X)I press toward the goal for the prize of (Y)the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are (Z)mature, (AA)have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, (AB)God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already [e]attained, (AC)let us walk (AD)by the same [f]rule, let us be of the same mind.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way(A)
3 In those days (B)John the Baptist came preaching (C)in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for (D)the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
(E)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
(F)‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 Now (G)John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was (H)locusts and (I)wild honey. 5 (J)Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 (K)and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, (L)“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from (M)the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, (N)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. (O)Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 (P)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. (Q)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [a]and fire. 12 (R)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will (S)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.