Book of Common Prayer
Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.
To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
66 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
2
Sing of the honor and glory and magnificence of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
3
Say to God, “How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will pretend to be obedient to You.
4
“All the earth will [bow down to] worship You [in submissive wonder],
And will sing praises to You;
They will praise Your name in song.” Selah.
5
Come and see the works of God,
He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of men.
6
He turned the sea into dry land;
They crossed through the river on foot;
There we rejoiced in Him.(A)
7
Who rules by His might forever,
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
8
Bless our God, O peoples,
And make the sound of His praise be heard abroad,
9
Who keeps us among the living,
And does not allow our feet to slip or stumble.
10
For You have tested us, O God;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11
You brought us into the net;
You laid a heavy burden [of servitude] on [a]us.
12
You made men (charioteers) [b]ride over our heads [in defeat];
We went through fire and through water,
Yet You brought us out into a [broad] place of abundance [to be refreshed].
13
I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;
I shall pay You my vows,
14
Which my lips uttered
And my mouth spoke as a promise when I was in distress.
15
I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs,
With the [sweet] smoke of rams;
I will offer bulls with male goats. Selah.
16
Come and hear, all who fear God [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],
And I will tell what He has done for me.
17
I cried aloud to Him;
He was highly praised with my tongue.
18
If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],
The Lord will not hear [me];(B)
19
But certainly God has heard [me];
He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
20
Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer
Nor His lovingkindness from me.
The Nations Exhorted to Praise God.
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
67 God be gracious and kind-hearted to us and bless us,
And make His face shine [with favor] on us— Selah.
2
That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation and deliverance among all nations.
3
Let the [c]peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
For You will judge the people fairly
And guide the nations on earth. Selah.
5
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
6
The earth has yielded its harvest [as evidence of His approval];
God, our God, blesses us.
7
God blesses us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].
The Works and the Word of God.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.(A)
2
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
3
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.
4
Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,(B)
5
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6
The sun’s rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7
The law of the Lord is perfect (flawless), restoring and refreshing the soul;
The statutes of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8
The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.
10
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed];
In keeping them there is great reward.
12
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.
13
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.
God the Refuge of His People.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to soprano voices. A Song.
46 God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable],
A very present and well-proved help in trouble.
2
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas,
3
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah.
4
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5
God is in the midst of her [His city], she will not be moved;
God will help her when the morning dawns.
6
The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.
8
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has brought desolations and wonders on the earth.
9
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
11
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.
Jephthah the Ninth Judge
11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless and unprincipled men gathered around Jephthah, and went out [on raids] with him.
4 Now it happened after a while that the Ammonites fought against Israel. 5 When the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; 6 and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, so that we may fight against the Ammonites.” 7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” 8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have turned to you now: that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back [home] to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, will I [really] become your head?” 10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is [a]the witness between us; be assured that we will do as you have said.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah [b]repeated everything that he had promised before the Lord at Mizpah.
Jephthah’s Tragic Vow
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 32 Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight with them; and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33 And from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith he struck them, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim (brook by the vineyard), with a very great defeat. So the Ammonites were subdued and humbled before the Israelites.
34 Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and this is what he saw: his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. 35 And when he saw her, he tore his clothes [in grief] and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me great disaster, and you are the cause of ruin to me; for I have [a]made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.” 36 And she said to him, “My father, you have made a vow to the Lord; do to me as you have vowed, since the Lord has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 And she said to her father, “Let this one thing be done for me; let me alone for two months, so that I may go to the mountains and weep over my [b]virginity, I and my companions.” 38 And he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed; and she had no relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel, 40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to tell the story of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
21 To my shame, I must say, we have been too weak [in comparison to those pseudo-apostles who take advantage of you].
But in whatever anyone else dares to boast—I am speaking foolishly—I also dare to boast. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they [self-proclaimed] servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if I were out of my mind—I am more so [for I exceed them]; with far more labors, with far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, and often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews [a]thirty-nine lashes.(A) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift on the sea; 26 many times on journeys, [exposed to] danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger on the sea, danger among those posing as believers; 27 in labor and hardship, often unable to sleep, in hunger and thirst, often [driven to] fasting [for lack of food], in cold and exposure [without adequate clothing]. 28 Besides those external things, there is the daily [inescapable] pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel [his] weakness? Who is made to sin, and I am not on fire [with sorrow and concern]?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that reveal my weakness [the things by which I am made weak in the eyes of my opponents]. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed and to be praised forevermore, knows that I am not lying.
Jesus Stills the Sea
35 On that [same] day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee].” 36 So leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him.(A) 37 And a [a]fierce windstorm began to blow, and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already being swamped. 38 But Jesus was in the stern, asleep [with His head] on the [sailor’s leather] cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?” 39 And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness]. 40 Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence [in Me]?” 41 They were filled with great fear, and said to each other, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
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