Book of Common Prayer
Promised Faithfulness to the Lord
A Psalm of David.
101 I will sing of mercy and justice;
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will behave wisely in a [a]perfect way.
Oh, when will You come to me?
I will (A)walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set nothing [b]wicked before my eyes;
(B)I hate the work of those (C)who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not (D)know wickedness.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
(E)The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.
6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a [c]perfect way,
He shall serve me.
7 He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not [d]continue in my presence.
8 (F)Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers (G)from the city of the Lord.
Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
109 Do(A) not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a (B)lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me (C)without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus (D)they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let (E)an [a]accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And (F)let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be (G)few,
And (H)let another take his office.
9 (I)Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children [b]continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them [c]seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 (J)Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 (K)Let his [d]posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their (L)name be blotted out.
14 (M)Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother (N)be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may (O)cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the (P)broken in heart.
17 (Q)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it (R)enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone (S)like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My (T)knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become (U)a reproach to them;
When they look at me, (V)they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 (W)That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 (X)Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let (Y)Your servant rejoice.
29 (Z)Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, (AA)I will praise Him among the multitude.
ע AYIN
121 I have done justice and righteousness;
Do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Be (A)surety[a] for Your servant for good;
Do not let the proud oppress me.
123 My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation
And Your righteous word.
124 Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy,
And teach me Your statutes.
125 (B)I am Your servant;
Give me understanding,
That I may know Your testimonies.
126 It is time for You to act, O Lord,
For they have [b]regarded Your law as void.
127 (C)Therefore I love Your commandments
More than gold, yes, than fine gold!
128 Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things
I consider to be right;
I hate every false way.
פ PE
129 Your testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The entrance of Your words gives light;
(D)It gives understanding to the (E)simple.
131 I opened my mouth and (F)panted,
For I longed for Your commandments.
132 (G)Look upon me and be merciful to me,
(H)As Your custom is toward those who love Your name.
133 (I)Direct my steps by Your word,
And (J)let no iniquity have dominion over me.
134 (K)Redeem me from the oppression of man,
That I may keep Your precepts.
135 (L)Make Your face shine upon Your servant,
And teach me Your statutes.
136 (M)Rivers of water run down from my eyes,
Because men do not keep Your law.
צ TSADDE
137 (N)Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
138 (O)Your testimonies, which You have commanded,
Are righteous and very faithful.
139 (P)My zeal has [c]consumed me,
Because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 (Q)Your word is very [d]pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised,
Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is (R)truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have [e]overtaken me,
Yet Your commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting;
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
9 Now (A)it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, (B)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 (C)Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them (D)in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they (E)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
13 And (F)in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah (G)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave [a]it to the king of Assyria.
Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord(H)
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the [b]Tartan, the [c]Rabsaris, and the [d]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the (I)aqueduct from the upper pool, (J)which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 18 And when they had called to the king, (K)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the [e]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. 19 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: (L)“What confidence is this in which you trust? 20 You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are [f]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 21 (M)Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He (N)whose [g]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ 23 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 24 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25 Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
Be Sensitive to Conscience
8 Now (A)concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have (B)knowledge. (C)Knowledge [a]puffs up, but love [b]edifies. 2 And (D)if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that (E)an idol is nothing in the world, (F)and that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are (G)so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet (H)for us there is one God, the Father, (I)of whom are all things, and we for Him; and (J)one Lord Jesus Christ, (K)through whom are all things, and (L)through whom we live.
7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, (M)with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is (N)defiled. 8 But (O)food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
9 But (P)beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become (Q)a [c]stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not (R)the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And (S)because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But (T)when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, (U)if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
The Narrow Way(A)
13 (B)“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits(C)
15 (D)“Beware of false prophets, (E)who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 (F)You will know them by their fruits. (G)Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, (H)every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 (I)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You(J)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, (K)‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who (L)does the will of My Father in heaven.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.