Book of Common Prayer
A Call to Worship and Obedience
95 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with (A)psalms.
3 For (B)the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 [a]In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
5 (C)The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let (D)us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And (E)we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep [b]of His hand.
(F)Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the [c]rebellion,
(G)As in the day of [d]trial in the wilderness,
9 When (H)your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they (I)saw My work.
10 For (J)forty years I was [e]grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
11 So (K)I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
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.
The Essence of the Law
12 “And now, Israel, (A)what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to (B)love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today (C)for your [a]good? 14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the (D)Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their [b]descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your (E)heart, and be (F)stiff-necked[c] no longer. 17 For the Lord your God is (G)God of gods and (H)Lord of lords, the great God, (I)mighty and awesome, who (J)shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 (K)He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 (L)You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
The Word Discovers Our Condition
11 (A)Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is (B)living and powerful, and (C)sharper than any (D)two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is (E)a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 (F)And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are (G)naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Our Compassionate High Priest
14 Seeing then that we have a great (H)High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, (I)let us hold fast our confession. 15 For (J)we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but (K)was in all points tempted as we are, (L)yet without sin. 16 (M)Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
John the Baptist Exalts Christ
22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them (A)and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near (B)Salim, because there was much water there. (C)And they came and were baptized. 24 For (D)John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, (E)to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all (F)are coming to Him!”
27 John answered and said, (G)“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, (H)‘I am not the Christ,’ but, (I)‘I have been sent before Him.’ 29 (J)He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but (K)the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 (L)He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 (M)He who comes from above (N)is above all; (O)he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. (P)He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And (Q)what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony (R)has certified that God is true. 34 (S)For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit (T)by measure. 35 (U)The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 (V)He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the (W)wrath of God abides on him.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.