Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 63
Praise God Who Satisfies
A Davidic psalm. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.(A)
1 God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You;
my body faints for You
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.(B)
2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary
to see Your strength and Your glory.(C)
3 My lips will glorify You
because Your faithful love is better than life.(D)
4 So I will praise You as long as I live;
at Your name, I will lift up my hands.(E)
5 You satisfy me as with rich food;[a](F)
my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.(G)
Psalm 103
The Forgiving God
Davidic.
1 My soul, praise Yahweh,
and all that is within me, praise His holy name.(A)
2 My soul, praise the Lord,
and do not forget all His benefits.(B)
3 He forgives all your sin;(C)
He heals all your diseases.(D)
4 He redeems your life from the Pit;(E)
He crowns you with faithful love and compassion.(F)
5 He satisfies you[a] with goodness;(G)
your youth is renewed like the eagle.(H)
6 The Lord executes acts of righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.(I)
7 He revealed His ways to Moses,(J)
His deeds to the people of Israel.(K)
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love.(L)
9 He will not always accuse us
or be angry forever.(M)
10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our offenses.(N)
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His faithful love
toward those who fear Him.(O)
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from us.(P)
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.(Q)
14 For He knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.(R)
15 As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;(S)
16 when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.[b](T)
17 But from eternity to eternity
the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him,
and His righteousness toward the grandchildren(U)
18 of those who keep His covenant,
who remember to observe His precepts.(V)
19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.(W)
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem,(A) he mobilized 180,000 choice warriors from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin(B) to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 But a revelation from God came to Shemaiah,(C) the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for I have done this.’”(D)
So they listened to what the Lord said and went back as He had told them.
Jeroboam’s Idolatry
25 Jeroboam built Shechem(E) in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.(F) 26 Jeroboam said to himself, “The way things are going now, the kingdom might return to the house of David.(G) 27 If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem,(H) the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah.” 28 So the king sought advice.
Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your God[a] who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”(I) 29 He set up one in Bethel,(J) and put the other in Dan.(K) 30 This led to sin;(L) the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.[b](M)
31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places(N) and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites.(O) 32 Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah.(P) He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.(Q) 33 He offered sacrifices on[c] the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own.(R) He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.(S)
18 So they called for them and ordered them not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide;(A) 20 for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”(B)
21 After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them, because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done;(C) 22 for this sign of healing had been performed on a man over 40 years old.
Prayer for Boldness
23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, “Master, You are the One who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.(D) 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Your servant:[a]
Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot futile things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand
and the rulers assembled together
against the Lord and against His Messiah.(E)[b]
27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people[c] of Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed,(F) 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness,(G) 30 while You stretch out Your hand for healing, signs, and wonders(H) to be performed through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.(I)
Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus
31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone Him.(A)
32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works(B) from the Father. Which of these works are you stoning Me for?”
33 “We aren’t stoning(C) You for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because You—being a man—make Yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your scripture,[a] I said, you are gods?(D)[b] 35 If He called those whom the word(E) of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture(F) cannot be broken— 36 do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the One the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?(G) 37 If I am not doing My Father’s works,(H) don’t believe Me. 38 But if I am doing them and you don’t believe Me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand[c] that the Father is in Me and I in the Father.”(I) 39 Then they were trying again to seize Him,(J) yet He eluded their grasp.(K)
Many beyond the Jordan Believe in Jesus
40 So He departed again across the Jordan(L) to the place where John(M) had been baptizing earlier, and He remained there. 41 Many came to Him(N) and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in Him there.
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