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
Nebuchadnezzar’s Humiliation
28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking [a]about the royal palace of Babylon. 30 The king (A)spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
31 (B)While the word was still in the king’s mouth, (C)a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! 32 And (D)they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven [b]times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”
33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
34 And (E)at the end of the [c]time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him (F)who lives forever:
For His dominion is (G)an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
35 (H)All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
(I)He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
(J)No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, (K)“What have You done?”
36 At the same time my reason returned to me, (L)and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was (M)restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was (N)added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, (O)praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, (P)all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. (Q)And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.
Knowing God Through Love(A)
7 (B)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who (C)loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 (D)In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten (E)Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, (F)not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son (G)to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, (H)if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Seeing God Through Love
12 (I)No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 (J)By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And (K)we have seen and testify that (L)the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 (M)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and (N)he who abides in love abides in God, and God (O)in him.
The Consummation of Love
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that (P)we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 (Q)We love [a]Him because He first loved us.
Obedience by Faith
20 (R)If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, [b]how can he love God (S)whom he has not seen? 21 And (T)this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit(A)
31 Then (B)He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 And they were (C)astonished at His teaching, (D)for His word was with authority. 33 (E)Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? (F)I know who You are—(G)the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, [a]“Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.