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
16 (A)“You shall not [a]tempt the Lord your God (B)as you [b]tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall (C)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you (D)shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 (E)to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.
20 (F)“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt (G)with a mighty hand; 22 and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He [c]swore to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to [d]observe all these [e]statutes, (H)to fear the Lord our God, (I)for our good always, that (J)He might preserve us alive, as it is [f]this day. 25 Then (K)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’
Do Not Neglect Salvation
2 Therefore we must give [a]the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word (A)spoken through angels proved steadfast, and (B)every transgression and disobedience received a just [b]reward, 3 (C)how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, (D)which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was (E)confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 (F)God also bearing witness (G)both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and (H)gifts[c] of the Holy Spirit, (I)according to His own will?
The Son Made Lower than Angels(J)
5 For He has not put (K)the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:
(L)“What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
7 You have made him [d]a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
[e]And set him over the works of Your hands.
8 (M)You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now (N)we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, (O)who was made [f]a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death (P)crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death (Q)for everyone.
Bringing Many Sons to Glory
10 For it was fitting for Him, (R)for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation (S)perfect through sufferings.
A Voice in the Wilderness(A)
19 Now this is (B)the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 (C)He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you (D)the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said: (E)“I am
(F)‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, (G)“I baptize with water, (H)but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 (I)It is He who, coming after me, [a]is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done (J)in [b]Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.