Book of Common Prayer
True Worship[a]
50 The Almighty God, the Lord, speaks;
he calls to the whole earth from east to west.
2 God shines from Zion,
the city perfect in its beauty.
3 Our God is coming, but not in silence;
a raging fire is in front of him,
a furious storm around him.
4 He calls heaven and earth as witnesses
to see him judge his people.
5 He says, “Gather my faithful people to me,
those who made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim that God is righteous,
that he himself is judge.
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 I do not reprimand you because of your sacrifices
and the burnt offerings you always bring me.
9 And yet I do not need bulls from your farms
or goats from your flocks;
10 all the animals in the forest are mine
and the cattle on thousands of hills.
11 All the wild birds are mine
and all living things in the fields.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food,
for the world and everything in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God,[b]
and give the Almighty all that you promised.
15 Call to me when trouble comes;
I will save you,
and you will praise me.”
16 But God says to the wicked,
“Why should you recite my commandments?
Why should you talk about my covenant?
17 You refuse to let me correct you;
you reject my commands.
18 You become the friend of every thief you see,
and you associate with adulterers.
19 “You are always ready to speak evil;
you never hesitate to tell lies.
20 You are ready to accuse your own relatives
and to find fault with them.
21 You have done all this, and I have said nothing,
so you thought that I am like you.
But now I reprimand you
and make the matter plain to you.
22 “Listen to this, you that ignore me,
or I will destroy you,
and there will be no one to save you.
23 Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honors me,
and I will surely save all who obey me.”
(A)A Prayer for Safety[a]
59 Save me from my enemies, my God;
protect me from those who attack me!
2 Save me from those evil people;
rescue me from those murderers!
3 Look! They are waiting to kill me;
cruel people are gathering against me.
It is not because of any sin or wrong I have done,
4 nor because of any fault of mine, O Lord,
that they hurry to their places.
5 Rise, Lord God Almighty, and come to my aid;
see for yourself, God of Israel!
Wake up and punish the heathen;
show no mercy to evil traitors!
6 They come back in the evening,
snarling like dogs as they go about the city.
7 Listen to their insults and threats.
Their tongues are like swords in their mouths,
yet they think that no one hears them.
8 But you laugh at them, Lord;
you mock all the heathen.
9 I have confidence in your strength;
you are my refuge, O God.
10 My God loves me and will come to me;
he will let me see my enemies defeated.
11 Do not kill them, O God, or my people may forget.
Scatter them by your strength and defeat them,
O Lord, our protector.
12 Sin is on their lips; all their words are sinful;
may they be caught in their pride!
Because they curse and lie,
13 destroy them in your anger;
destroy them completely.
Then everyone will know that God rules in Israel,
that his rule extends over all the earth.
14 My enemies come back in the evening,
snarling like dogs as they go about the city,
15 like dogs roaming about for food
and growling if they do not find enough.
16 But I will sing about your strength;
every morning I will sing aloud of your constant love.
You have been a refuge for me,
a shelter in my time of trouble.
17 I will praise you, my defender.
My refuge is God,
the God who loves me.
(B)A Prayer for Deliverance[b]
60 You have rejected us, God, and defeated us;
you have been angry with us—but now turn back to us.[c]
2 You have made the land tremble, and you have cut it open;
now heal its wounds, because it is falling apart.
3 You have made your people suffer greatly;
we stagger around as though we were drunk.
4 You have warned those who have reverence for you,
so that they might escape destruction.
5 Save us by your might; answer our prayer,
so that the people you love may be rescued.
6 From his sanctuary[d] God has said,
“In triumph I will divide Shechem
and distribute Sukkoth Valley to my people.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh too;
Ephraim is my helmet
and Judah my royal scepter.
8 But I will use Moab as my washbowl,
and I will throw my sandals on Edom,
as a sign that I own it.
Did the Philistines think they would shout in triumph over me?”
9 Who, O God, will take me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you really rejected us?
Aren't you going to march out with our armies?
11 Help us against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
12 With God on our side we will win;
he will defeat our enemies.
God's Glory in Creation[a]
19 How clearly the sky reveals God's glory!
How plainly it shows what he has done!
2 Each day announces it to the following day;
each night repeats it to the next.
3 No speech or words are used,
no sound is heard;
4 (A)yet their message[b] goes out to all the world
and is heard to the ends of the earth.
God made a home in the sky for the sun;
5 it comes out in the morning like a happy bridegroom,
like an athlete eager to run a race.
6 It starts at one end of the sky
and goes across to the other.
Nothing can hide from its heat.
The Law of the Lord
7 The law of the Lord is perfect;
it gives new strength.
The commands of the Lord are trustworthy,
giving wisdom to those who lack it.
8 The laws of the Lord are right,
and those who obey them are happy.
The commands of the Lord are just
and give understanding to the mind.
9 Reverence for the Lord is good;
it will continue forever.
The judgments of the Lord are just;
they are always fair.
10 They are more desirable than the finest gold;
they are sweeter than the purest honey.
11 They give knowledge to me, your servant;
I am rewarded for obeying them.
12 None of us can see our own errors;
deliver me, Lord, from hidden faults!
13 Keep me safe, also, from willful sins;
don't let them rule over me.
Then I shall be perfect
and free from the evil of sin.
14 May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer!
God Is with Us[a]
46 God is our shelter and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken
and mountains fall into the ocean depths;
3 even if the seas roar and rage,
and the hills are shaken by the violence.
4 There is a river that brings joy to the city of God,
to the sacred house of the Most High.
5 God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed;
at early dawn he will come to its aid.
6 Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken;
God thunders, and the earth dissolves.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done.
See what amazing things he has done on earth.
9 He stops wars all over the world;
he breaks bows, destroys spears,
and sets shields on fire.
10 “Stop fighting,” he says, “and know that I am God,
supreme among the nations,
supreme over the world.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
23 (A)And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him. 24 Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against the Lord.
25 “So I lay face downward in the Lord's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you. 26 And I prayed, ‘Sovereign Lord, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people. 28 Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them. 29 After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.’
Moses Receives the Commandments Again(B)
10 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and make a wooden Box to put them in. Come up to me on the mountain, 2 and I will write on those tablets what I wrote on the tablets that you broke, and then you are to put them in the Box.’
3 “So I made a Box of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first ones and took them up the mountain. 4 Then the Lord wrote on those tablets the same words that he had written the first time, the Ten Commandments that he gave you when he spoke from the fire on the day you were gathered at the mountain. The Lord gave me the tablets, 5 and I turned and went down the mountain. Then, just as the Lord had commanded, I put them in the Box that I had made—and they have been there ever since.”
4 Now, God has offered us the promise that we may receive that rest he spoke about. Let us take care, then, that none of you will be found to have failed to receive that promised rest. 2 For we have heard the Good News, just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good, because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith. 3 (A)We who believe, then, do receive that rest which God promised. It is just as he said,
“I was angry and made a solemn promise:
‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’”
He said this even though his work had been finished from the time he created the world.
4 (B)For somewhere in the Scriptures this is said about the seventh day: “God rested on the seventh day from all his work.” 5 (C)This same matter is spoken of again: “They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest.” 6 Those who first heard the Good News did not receive that rest, because they did not believe. There are, then, others who are allowed to receive it. 7 (D)This is shown by the fact that God sets another day, which is called “Today.” Many years later he spoke of it through David in the scripture already quoted:
“If you hear God's voice today,
do not be stubborn.”
8 (E)If Joshua had given the people the rest that God had promised, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day. 10 (F)For those who receive that rest which God promised will rest from their own work, just as God rested from his.
16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
18 Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. 19 This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. 20 Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.