Book of Common Prayer
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
20 The Lord will answer you in times of trouble.
The name of the God of Jacob will protect you.
2 He will send you help from his holy place
and support you from Zion.
3 He will remember all your grain offerings
and look with favor on your burnt offerings. Selah
4 He will give you your heart’s desire
and carry out all your plans.
5 We will joyfully sing about your victory.
We will wave our flags in the name of our God.
The Lord will fulfill all your requests.
6 Now I know that the Lord will give victory to his anointed king.
He will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty deeds of his powerful hand.
7 Some ⌞rely⌟ on chariots and others on horses,
but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They will sink to their knees and fall,
but we will rise and stand firm.
9 Give victory to the king, O Lord.
Answer us when we call.
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
21 The king finds joy in your strength, O Lord.
What great joy he has in your victory!
2 You gave him his heart’s desire.
You did not refuse the prayer from his lips. Selah
3 You welcomed him with the blessings of good things
and set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life.
You gave him a long life, forever and ever.
5 Because of your victory his glory is great.
You place splendor and majesty on him.
6 Yes, you made him a blessing forever.
You made him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 Indeed, the king trusts the Lord,
and through the mercy of the Most High, he will not be moved.
8 Your hand will discover all your enemies.
Your powerful hand will find all who hate you.
9 When you appear, you will make them ⌞burn⌟ like a blazing furnace.
The Lord will swallow them up in his anger.
Fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their children from the earth
and their offspring from among Adam’s descendants.
11 Although they scheme and plan evil against you,
they will not succeed.
12 They turn their backs ⌞and flee⌟
because you aim your bow at their faces.
13 Arise, O Lord, in your strength.
We will sing and make music to praise your power.
A psalm by David.
110 The Lord said to my Lord,
“Take the honored position—the one next to me [God the Father] on the heavenly throne
until I put your enemies under your control.”[a]
2 The Lord will extend your powerful scepter from Zion.
Rule your enemies who surround you.
3 Your people will volunteer when you call up your army.
Your young people will come to you in holy splendor
like dew in the early morning.[b]
4 The Lord has taken an oath and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever, in the way Melchizedek was a priest.”
5 The Lord is at your right side.
He will crush kings on the day of his anger.
6 He will pass judgment on the nations
and fill them with dead bodies.
Throughout the earth he will crush ⌞their⌟ heads.
7 He will drink from the brook along the road.
He will hold his head high.
116 I love the Lord because he hears my voice, my pleas for mercy.
2 I will call on him as long as I live
because he turns his ear toward me.
3 The ropes of death became tangled around me.
The horrors of the grave took hold of me.
I experienced pain and agony.
4 But I kept calling on the name of the Lord:
“Please, Lord, rescue me!”
5 The Lord is merciful and righteous.
Our God is compassionate.
6 The Lord protects defenseless people.
When I was weak, he saved me.
7 Be at peace again, my soul,
because the Lord has been good to you.
8 You saved me from death.
You saved my eyes from tears ⌞and⌟ my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk in the Lord’s presence in this world of the living.
10 I kept my faith even when I said,
“I am suffering terribly.”
11 I also said when I was panic-stricken,
“Everyone is undependable.”
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the good that he has done for me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will keep my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O Lord, I am indeed your servant.
I am your servant,
the son of your female servant.
You have freed me from my chains.
17 I will bring a song of thanksgiving to you as a sacrifice.
I will call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will keep my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courtyards of the Lord’s house,
in the middle of Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
117 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Praise him, all you people of the world!
2 His mercy toward us is powerful.
The Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Hallelujah!
22 These are the commandments the Lord spoke to your whole assembly on the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice from the fire, the cloud, and the gloomy darkness. Then he stopped speaking. He wrote the commandments on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
23 But when you heard the voice coming from the darkness and saw the mountain blazing with fire, all the leaders and heads of your tribes came to me. 24 You said, “The Lord our God has let us see how great and glorious he is. We’ve heard his voice come from the fire. Today we’ve seen that people can live even if God speaks to them. 25 Why should we die? This great fire will consume us! If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, we’ll die! 26 Who has ever heard the voice of the living God speak from a fire, as we did, and lived? 27 ⌞Moses,⌟ go and listen to everything that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We’ll listen and obey.”
28 When the Lord heard the words that you spoke to me, he said, “I have heard what these people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 If only they would fear me and obey all my commandments as long as they live! Then things would go well for them and their children forever.
30 “Tell the people to go back to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me. I will give you all the commands, laws, and rules that you must teach them to obey in the land which I’m giving them to possess.”
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Never stop living this way. 33 Follow all the directions the Lord your God has given you. Then you will continue to live, life will go well for you, and you will live for a long time in the land that you are going to possess.
Paul Tells the Corinthians to Prepare for His Visit
13 This is the third time that I’ll be visiting you. Every accusation must be verified by two or three witnesses. 2 I already warned you when I was with you the second time, and even though I’m not there now, I’m warning you again. When I visit you again, I won’t spare you. That goes for all those who formerly led sinful lives as well as for all the others. 3 Since you want proof that Christ is speaking through me, that’s what you’ll get. Christ isn’t weak in dealing with you. Instead, he makes his power felt among you. 4 He was weak when he was crucified, but by God’s power he lives. We are weak with him, but by God’s power we will live for you with his help.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are still in the Christian faith. Test yourselves! Don’t you recognize that you are people in whom Jesus Christ lives? Could it be that you’re failing the test? 6 I hope that you will realize that we haven’t failed the test. 7 We pray to God that you won’t do anything wrong. It’s not that we want to prove that we’ve passed the test. Rather, we want you to do whatever is right, even if we seem to have failed. 8 We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. 9 We’re glad when we are weak and you are strong. We are also praying for your improvement.
10 That’s why I’m writing this letter while I’m not with you. When I am with you I don’t want to be harsh by using the authority that the Lord gave me. The Lord gave us this authority to help you, not to hurt you.
Farewell
11 With that, brothers and sisters, I must say goodbye. Make sure that you improve. Accept my encouragement. Share the same attitude and live in peace. The God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All of God’s holy people greet you.[a]
13 May the Lord Jesus Christ’s good will,[b] God’s love, and the Holy Spirit’s presence be with all of you!
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them publicly, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.’
Build on the Rock(A)
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. 25 Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock.
26 “Everyone who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. 27 Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster.”
28 When Jesus finished this speech, the crowds were amazed at his teachings. 29 Unlike their experts in Moses’ Teachings, he taught them with authority.
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