Book of Common Prayer
A song of Asaph.
The Acceptable Sacrifice
50 God, the Lord,[a] has spoken.
He has summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting place.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shined forth.
3 Our God has appeared and he has not been silent;
a devouring fire blazed before him,
and a mighty storm swirled around him.
4 He summoned the heavens above
and the earth below,[b]
to sit in judgment on his people.
5 “Assemble before me, my saints,
who have entered into my covenant by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens revealed his justice,
for God is himself the judge.
7 “Listen, my people,
for I am making a pronouncement:
Israel, I, God, your God, am testifying against you.
8 I do not rebuke you because of your sacrifices;
indeed, your burnt offerings are continuously before me.
9 I will no longer accept a sacrificial[c] bull from your household;
nor goats from your pens.
10 Indeed, every animal of the forest is mine,
even the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds in the mountains;
indeed, everything that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is mine along with everything in it.
13 Why should I eat the flesh of oxen
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a thanksgiving praise;
pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of distress;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
16 As for the wicked, God says,
“How dare you recite my statutes
or speak about my covenant with your lips!
17 You hate instruction
and toss my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you befriend him,
and you keep company with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth free reign for evil,
and your tongue devises deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you did, and I kept silent,
because you assumed that I was like you.
But now I am going to rebuke you,
and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes.”
22 Consider this, you who have forgotten God—
Otherwise, I will tear you in pieces
and there will be no deliverer:
23 Whoever offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,
and I will reveal the salvation of God
to whomever continues in my way.”[d]
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm[a] to the tune of[b] “Do Not Destroy,” when Saul sent men to watch the house in order to kill him.
A Prayer for Deliverance and Justice
59 Save me from my enemies, my God!
Keep me safe from those who rise up against me.
2 Save me from those who practice evil;
deliver me from bloodthirsty men.
3 Look, they lie in ambush for my life;
these violent men gather together against me,
but not because of any transgression or sin of mine, Lord.
4 Without any fault on my part,
they rush together and prepare themselves.
Get up!
Come help me!
Pay attention!
5 You, Lord God of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel,
stir yourself up to punish all the nations.
Show no mercy to those wicked transgressors.
6 At night they return like howling dogs;
they prowl around the city.
7 Look what pours out of their mouths!
They use their lips like swords,
saying[c] “Who will hear us?”
8 But you, Lord, will laugh at them;
you will mock all the nations.
9 My Strength, I will watch for you,
for God is my fortress.
10 My God of Gracious Love will meet me;
God will enable me to see what happens[d] to my enemies.
11 Don’t kill them!
Otherwise, my people may forget.
By your power make them stumble around;
bring them down low,
Lord, our Shield.
12 The sin of their mouth is the word on their lips.
They will be caught in their own conceit;
for they speak curses and lies.
13 Go ahead and destroy them in anger!
Wipe them out,
and they will know to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob.[e]
14 At night they return like howling dogs;
they prowl around the city.
15 They scavenge for food.
If they find nothing,
they become hungry and growl.
16 But I will sing of your power
and in the morning I will shout for joy about your gracious love.
For you have been a fortress for me;
and a refuge when I am distressed.[f]
17 My Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, God of Gracious Love, are my fortress.
To the Director: A special Davidic psalm to the tune of[g] “Lily of The Covenant,” for teaching about his battle with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, when Joab returned and attacked 12,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley.[h]
A Prayer for God’s Help against Adversaries
60 God, you have cast us off;
you have breached our defenses
and you have become enraged.
Return to us!
2 You made the earth quake;
you broke it open.
Repair its fractures,
because it has shifted.
3 You made your people go through hard times;
you had us drink wine that makes us stagger.
4 But you have given a banner to those who fear you,
so they may display it in honor of truth.[i]
5 So your loved ones may be delivered,
save us by your power[j]
and answer us quickly!
6 Then God spoke in his holiness,
“I will rejoice—
I will divide Shechem;
I will portion out the Succoth Valley.
7 Gilead belongs to me,
and Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim is my helmet,
and Judah my scepter.
8 Moab is my wash basin;
over Edom I will throw my shoes;
over Philistia I will celebrate my triumph.”
9 Who will lead me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Aren’t you the one, God, who has cast us off?
Didn’t you refuse, God, to accompany our armies?
Praise to the Creator and Deliverer
33 Rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones;
for the praise of the upright is beautiful.
2 With the lyre, give thanks to the Lord;
with the ten stringed harp, play music to him;
3 with a new song, sing to him;
with shouts of joy, play skillfully.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright;
and all his works are done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the world is filled with the gracious love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made;
all the heavenly bodies[a] by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the oceans into a single place;
he put the deep water into storehouses.
8 Let all the world fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him;
9 because he spoke and it came to be,
because he commanded, it stood firm.
10 The Lord makes void the counsel of nations;
he frustrates the plans of peoples.
11 But the Lord’s counsel stands firm forever,
the plans in his mind for all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
13 When the Lord looks down from heaven,
he observes every human being.
14 From his dwelling place,
he looks down on all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He formed the hearts of them all;
he understands everything they do.
16 A king is not saved by a large army;
a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength.
17 It is vain to trust in a horse for deliverance,
even with its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Indeed, the Lord watches those who fear him;
those who trust in his gracious love
19 to deliver them from death;
to keep them alive in times of famine.
20 We wait on the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart will rejoice in him,
because we have placed our trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, may your gracious love be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
The Vision of the Golden Menorah
4 Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me up as if I had been asleep. 2 Then he asked me, “What do you see?”
So I said, “I have been watching—and look!—there is a menorah made completely of gold with a bowl on top of it. And there are seven lights on it, along with seven feeder channels to the lamps, which are also on top of it. 3 Two olive trees are near it, one on the right side of the bowl and one on the left.”
4 Then I asked the angel who had been speaking with me, “Sir,[a] what are these?”
5 The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, “You don’t know what these mean, do you?”
So I responded, “No, sir.”
The Lord’s First Charge to Zerubbabel
6 Then he replied to me, “This is this message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by valor nor by strength, but only by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. 7 ‘Who are you, great mountain? You will become a plain in Zerubbabel’s presence, and he will position the capstone, exulting over it, “How beautiful! How beautiful!”’”
The Lord’s Second Charge to Zerubbabel
8 Then this message from the Lord came to me again: 9 “Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this Temple, and his hands will finish it, so that you will know that the Lord of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to all of you. 10 For who has despised the time[b] of insignificant things? They will rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.[c] These seven lights[d] represent the eyes of the Lord, which are looking throughout all of the earth.”
The Two Anointed Ones
11 Then I asked the angel,[e] “What are these two olive trees, one[f] on the right of the menorah and one[g] on the left?” 12 I also asked him a second question: “What are these two olive branches on either side of[h] the two golden feeder channels that carry the golden oil to the seven lights?”[i]
13 The angel[j] replied, “You don’t know what these are, do you?”
I responded to him, “No, sir.”
14 He said, “These are the two anointed ones,[k] who stand continuously beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the 24 elders bow down and worship in front of the one who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. They throw their victor’s crowns in front of the throne and say,
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory, honor, and power,
because you created all things;
they came into existence
and were created because of your will.”
The Vision of the Scroll with Seven Seals
5 Then I saw in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals. 2 I also saw a powerful angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth could open the scroll or look inside it. 4 I began to cry bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look inside it.
5 “Stop crying,” one of the elders told me. “Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
The Parable about the Ten Bridesmaids
25 “At that time, the kingdom from[a] heaven will be comparable to ten bridesmaids[b] who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the groom.[c] 2 Now five of them were foolish, and five were wise, 3 because when the foolish ones took their lamps, they didn’t take any oil with them. 4 But the wise ones took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 Since the groom was late, all of them became sleepy and lay down. 6 But at midnight there came a shout: ‘The groom is here! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all the bridesmaids[d] woke up and got their lamps ready.
8 “But the foolish ones told the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out!’
9 “But the wise ones replied, ‘No! There will never be enough for us and for you. You’d better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “While they were away buying it, the groom arrived. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was closed. 11 Later, the other bridesmaids[e] arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘I tell all of you[f] with certainty, I don’t know you!’ 13 So keep on watching, because you don’t know the day or the hour.”[g]
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