Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
Perplexity about God’s Promises
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.(A)
1 I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;(B)
I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations
with my mouth.(C)
2 For I will declare,
“Faithful love is built up forever;
You establish Your faithfulness in the heavens.”(D)
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David My servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.’”(E)
5 Lord, the heavens praise Your wonders(F)—
Your faithfulness also—
in the assembly of the holy ones.(G)
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[a] is like the Lord?(H)
7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than[b] all who surround Him.(I)
8 Lord God of Hosts,
who is strong like You, Lord?(J)
Your faithfulness surrounds You.
9 You rule the raging sea;
when its waves surge, You still them.(K)
10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;(L)
You scattered Your enemies with Your powerful arm.(M)
11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours.
The world and everything in it—You founded them.(N)
12 North and south—You created them.(O)
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.(P)
13 You have a mighty arm;
Your hand is powerful;
Your right hand is lifted high.(Q)
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation
of Your throne;(R)
faithful love and truth go before You.(S)
15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;(T)
Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.(U)
16 They rejoice in Your name all day long,
and they are exalted by Your righteousness.(V)
17 For You are their magnificent strength;(W)
by Your favor our horn is exalted.(X)
18 Surely our shield[c] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.(Y)
19 You once spoke in a vision to Your loyal ones
and said: “I have granted help to a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen[d] from the people.(Z)
20 I have found David My servant;
I have anointed him with My sacred oil.(AA)
21 My hand will always be with him,
and My arm will strengthen him.(AB)
22 The enemy will not afflict[e] him;
no wicked man will oppress him.(AC)
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike those who hate him.(AD)
24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,
and through My name
his horn will be exalted.(AE)
25 I will extend his power to the sea
and his right hand to the rivers.(AF)
26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,(AG)
my God, the rock of my salvation.’(AH)
27 I will also make him My firstborn,
greatest of the kings of the earth.(AI)
28 I will always preserve My faithful love for him,
and My covenant with him will endure.(AJ)
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as heaven lasts.[f](AK)
30 If his sons forsake My instruction
and do not live by My ordinances,(AL)
31 if they dishonor My statutes
and do not keep My commands,(AM)
32 then I will call their rebellion
to account with the rod,
their sin with blows.(AN)
33 But I will not withdraw
My faithful love from him
or betray My faithfulness.(AO)
34 I will not violate My covenant
or change what My lips have said.(AP)
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.(AQ)
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before Me,(AR)
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”(AS)
38 But You have spurned and rejected him;
You have become enraged with Your anointed.(AT)
39 You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;
You have completely dishonored his crown.[g](AU)
40 You have broken down all his walls;
You have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.(AV)
41 All who pass by plunder him;(AW)
he has become an object of ridicule
to his neighbors.(AX)
42 You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.(AY)
43 You have also turned back his sharp sword
and have not let him stand in battle.(AZ)
44 You have made his splendor[h] cease
and have overturned his throne.(BA)
45 You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.(BB)
46 How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your anger keep burning like fire?(BC)
47 Remember how short my life is.
Have You created everyone for nothing?(BD)
48 What man can live and never see death?
Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?(BE)
49 Lord, where are the former acts of Your faithful love
that You swore to David in Your faithfulness?(BF)
50 Remember, Lord, the ridicule against Your servants—
in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples—
51 how Your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.(BG)
52 May the Lord be praised forever.
Amen and amen.(BH)
Foreign Refugees in Israel
24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.(A) 25 When they first lived there, they did not fear Yahweh. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.(B) 26 The settlers spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations that you have deported and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land. Therefore He has sent lions among them that are killing them because the people don’t know the requirements of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria issued a command: “Send back one of the priests you deported.(C) Have him go and live there so he can teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” 28 So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel,(D) and he began to teach them how they should fear Yahweh.
29 But the people of each nation were still making their own gods in the cities where they lived and putting them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made.(E) 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire(F) to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim. 32 They feared the Lord, but they also appointed from their number priests to serve them in the shrines of the high places.(G) 33 They feared the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods(H) according to the custom of the nations where they had been deported from.
34 They are still practicing the former customs to this day. None of them fear the Lord or observe their statutes and ordinances, the law and commandments the Lord commanded the descendants of Jacob. He had renamed him Israel.(I) 35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “Do not fear other gods; do not bow down to them;(J) do not serve them; do not sacrifice to them.(K) 36 Instead fear the Lord, who brought you from the land of Egypt with great power(L) and an outstretched arm.(M) You are to bow down to Him, and you are to sacrifice to Him. 37 You are to be careful always(N) to observe the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandments He wrote for you; do not fear other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant that I have made with you.(O) Do not fear other gods, 39 but fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”(P)
40 However, they would not listen but continued practicing their former customs. 41 These nations feared the Lord but also served their idols. Their children and grandchildren continue doing as their fathers did until today.(Q)
About the Unmarried and Widows
25 About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy(A) is trustworthy.(B) 26 Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 However, if you do get married,(C) you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life,[a] and I am trying to spare you. 29 And I say this, brothers: The time is limited,(D) so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice(E) as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.(F)
The Cure for Anxiety
25 “This is why I tell you:(A) Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?(B) 26 Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?(C) 27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height[a] by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith?(D) 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters[b] eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God[c](E) and His righteousness,(F) and all these things will be provided for you.(G) 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble(H) of its own.
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