Book of Common Prayer
97 The Lord rules as king.
Let the earth rejoice.
Let all the islands be joyful.
2 Clouds and darkness surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne.
3 Fire spreads ahead of him.
It burns his enemies who surround him.
4 His flashes of lightning light up the world.
The earth sees them and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax in the presence of the Lord,
in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens tell about his righteousness,
and all the people of the world see his glory.
7 Everyone who worships idols
and brags about false gods will be put to shame.
All the gods will bow to him.
8 Zion hears about this and rejoices.
The people of Judah are delighted with your judgments, O Lord.
9 You, O Lord, the Most High, are above the whole earth.
You are highest. You are above all the gods.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil.
The one who guards the lives of his godly ones
will rescue them from the power of wicked people.
11 Light dawns for righteous people [a]
and joy for those whose motives are decent.
12 Find joy in the Lord, you righteous people.
Give thanks to him as you remember how holy he is.
99 The Lord rules as king.
Let the people tremble.
He is enthroned over the angels.[a]
Let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is mighty in Zion.
He is high above all people.
3 Let them give thanks to your great and fearful name.
He is holy!
4 The king’s strength is that he loves justice.
You have established fairness.
You have done what is fair and right for Jacob.
5 Highly honor the Lord our God.
Bow down at his footstool.
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests.
Samuel was among those who prayed to him.
They called to the Lord, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from a column of smoke.
They obeyed his written instructions and the laws that he gave them.
8 O Lord, our God, you answered them.
You showed them that you are a forgiving God
and that you are a God who punishes their ⌞sinful⌟ deeds.
9 Highly honor the Lord our God.
Bow at his holy mountain.
The Lord our God is holy!
A psalm of thanksgiving.
100 Shout happily to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord cheerfully.
Come into his presence with a joyful song.
3 Realize that the Lord alone is God.
He made us, and we are his.[b]
We are his people and the sheep in his care.
4 Enter his gates with a song of thanksgiving.
Come into his courtyards with a song of praise.
Give thanks to him; praise his name.
5 The Lord is good.
His mercy endures forever.
His faithfulness endures throughout every generation.
94 O Lord, God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, appear!
2 Arise, O Judge of the earth.
Give arrogant people what they deserve.
3 How long, O Lord, will wicked people triumph?
How long?
4 They ramble.
They speak arrogantly.
All troublemakers brag about themselves.
5 They crush your people, O Lord.
They make those who belong to you suffer.
6 They kill widows and foreigners, and they murder orphans.
7 They say, “The Lord doesn’t see it.
The God of Jacob doesn’t even pay attention to it.”
8 Pay attention, you stupid people!
When will you become wise, you fools?
9 God created ears.
Do you think he can’t hear?
He formed eyes.
Do you think he can’t see?
10 He disciplines nations.
Do you think he can’t punish?
He teaches people.
Do you think he doesn’t know anything?
11 The Lord knows that people’s thoughts are pointless.
12 O Lord, blessed is the person
whom you discipline and instruct from your teachings.
13 You give him peace and quiet from times of trouble
while a pit is dug to trap wicked people.
14 The Lord will never desert his people
or abandon those who belong to him.
15 The decisions of judges will again become fair,
and everyone whose motives are decent will pursue justice.
16 Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
Who will stand by my side against troublemakers?
17 If the Lord had not come to help me,
my soul would have quickly fallen silent ⌞in death⌟.
18 When I said, “My feet are slipping,”
your mercy, O Lord, continued to hold me up.
19 When I worried about many things,
your assuring words soothed my soul.
20 Are wicked rulers who use the law to do unlawful things
able to be your partners?
21 They join forces to take the lives of righteous people.
They condemn innocent people to death.
22 The Lord has become my stronghold.
My God has become my rock of refuge.
23 He has turned their own wickedness against them.
He will destroy them because of their sins.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
95 Come, let’s sing joyfully to the Lord.
Let’s shout happily to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let’s come into his presence with a song of thanksgiving.
Let’s shout happily to him with psalms.
3 The Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth,
and the mountain peaks are his.
5 The sea is his.
He made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let’s worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel in front of the Lord, our maker,
7 because he is our God
and we are the people in his care,
the flock that he leads.
If only you would listen to him today!
8 “Do not be stubborn like ⌞my people were⌟ at Meribah,
like the time at Massah in the desert.
9 Your ancestors challenged me and tested me there,
although they had seen what I had done.
10 For 40 years I was disgusted with those people.
So I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts continue to stray.
They have not learned my ways.’
11 That is why I angrily took this solemn oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest!’ ”
The Ark Is Returned to Israel
6 The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months 2 when the Philistines called for priests and people skilled in explaining omens. The Philistines asked, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how to return it to its ⌞proper⌟ place.”
3 The priests answered, “If you’re returning the ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty, but by all means return it to its ⌞proper⌟ place with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why he would not turn his anger away from you.”
4 The Philistines asked, “What kind of guilt offering should we give him?”
The priests answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice for the ⌞five⌟ Philistine rulers because all of you and your rulers suffer from the same plague. 5 Make models of your tumors and your mice which are destroying the country, and give glory to the God of Israel. Maybe he will no longer be so hard on you, your gods, and your country. 6 Why should you be as stubborn as the Egyptians and their Pharaoh were? After he toyed with the Egyptians, didn’t they send the Israelites on their way? 7 Now get a new cart ready for two dairy cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart. Take their calves away, and leave them in their stall. 8 Take the ark of the Lord, and put it on the cart. Put the gold objects which you’re giving him as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark. Send the cart on its way, 9 but then watch where it goes. If it goes up the road to its own country toward Beth Shemesh, then this disaster is the Lord’s doing. But if not, we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us, but what happened to us was an accident.”
10 The people did this. They took two dairy cows, hitched them to a cart, and shut the calves in the stall. 11 They put the ark of the Lord and the box containing the gold mice and the models of their hemorrhoids on the cart. 12 The cows went straight up the road to Beth Shemesh. Continually mooing, they stayed on the road and didn’t turn right or left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there by a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 (The Levites had already taken down ⌞from the cart⌟ the ark of the Lord and the box which contained the gold objects and put them on the large rock.) The people of Beth Shemesh presented burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord that day. 16 After the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they went back to Ekron that same day.
27 When they brought back the apostles, they made them stand in front of the council. The chief priest questioned them. 28 He said, “We gave you strict orders not to mention Jesus’ name when you teach. Yet, you’ve filled Jerusalem with your teachings. You want to take revenge on us for putting that man to death.”
29 Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than people. 30 You murdered Jesus by hanging him on a cross. But the God of our ancestors brought him back to life. 31 God used his power to give Jesus the honored position—the one next to him on the heavenly throne as leader and savior. He did this to lead the people of Israel to him, to change the way they think and act, and to forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When the men on the council heard this, they became furious and wanted to execute the apostles. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up. He was a highly respected expert in Moses’ Teachings. He ordered that the apostles should be taken outside for a little while.
35 Then he said to the council, “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you do with these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared. He claimed that he was important, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all his followers were scattered. The whole movement was a failure.
37 “After that man, at the time of the census, Judas from Galilee appeared and led people in a revolt. He, too, died, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “We should keep away from these men for now. We should leave them alone. I can guarantee that if the plan they put into action is of human origin, it will fail. 39 However, if it’s from God, you won’t be able to stop them. You may even discover that you’re fighting against God.”
40 The council took his advice. They called the apostles, beat them, ordered them not to speak about the one named Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the council room. They were happy to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for speaking about Jesus. 42 Every day in the temple courtyard and from house to house, they refused to stop teaching and telling the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah.
37 During the day Jesus would teach in the temple courtyard. But at night he would go to the Mount of Olives (as it was called) and spend the night there. 38 All of the people would get up early to hear him speak in the temple courtyard.
The Plot to Kill Jesus(A)
22 The Festival of Unleavened Bread, called Passover, was near. 2 The chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings were looking for some way to kill Jesus. However, they were afraid of the people.
3 Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles. 4 Judas went to the chief priests and the temple guards and discussed with them how he could betray Jesus. 5 They were pleased and agreed to give him some money. 6 So Judas promised to do it. He kept looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them when there was no crowd.
The Passover(B)
7 The day came during the Festival of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb had to be killed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John and told them, “Go, prepare the Passover lamb for us to eat.”
9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
10 He told them, “Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house that the teacher asks, ‘Where is the room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 12 He will take you upstairs and show you a large furnished room. Get things ready there.”
13 The disciples left. They found everything as Jesus had told them and prepared the Passover.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.