Book of Common Prayer
An Oracle Concerning Sacrifices
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
50 The Supreme God, God, Yahweh, has spoken
and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun
to its setting.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and he is not silent.
Before him fire devours,
and around him it is very tempestuous.
4 He summons the heavens above
and the earth that he might judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my loyal ones,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens declare his righteousness,
because God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 It is not concerning a lack of your sacrifices that I rebuke you,
and your burnt offerings are before me continually.
9 I will not take from your house a bull
or from your stalls a he-goat,
10 because every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and every moving creature in the field is mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
because the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a thank offering
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 And call me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
and mention my covenant with your mouth,[b]
17 while you yourself hate discipline,
and cast my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, then you are pleased with him,
and your association is with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and you harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
You imagined that I was just like you.
I will rebuke you and present an argument before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.
23 He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,
and he who orders his way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
A Prayer for Protection
For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
Of David. A miktam.
When Saul dispatched men and they watched the house to kill him.[a]
59 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God.
Protect[b] me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from workers of iniquity,
and from men of bloodshed save me.
3 For look, they lie in wait for my life.[c]
The mighty attack[d] against me,
not because of my transgression or my sin, O Yahweh.
4 Without guilt on my part they run and ready themselves.
Awake to meet me and see.
5 And you, Yahweh, God of hosts, are the God of Israel.
Rouse yourself to punish all the nations.
Do not be gracious to any who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6 They return at evening; they howl like dogs[e]
while they prowl the city.
7 Look, they pour out talk with their mouth.
Swords are on their lips,
for they say, “Who hears?”
8 But you, O Yahweh, will laugh at them;
you will mock all the nations.
9 O my strength,[f] I will watch for you,
because you, O God, are my (high) stronghold.
10 My[g] God of loyal love will meet me;
God will cause me to look in triumph on my enemies.
11 Do not kill them, lest my people forget.
Make them to wander by your power,
and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.
12 By the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
even in their pride, let them be trapped,
and for the curses[h] and lies[i] they proclaim.
13 Destroy in anger; destroy so they are no more,
so that they may know that God is ruling in Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 They return at evening; they howl like dogs[j]
while they prowl the city.
15 As for them, they wander for food.
If they are not satisfied, then they continue all night.[k]
16 But as for me, I will sing of your strength,
and I will hail your loyal love in the morning,
because you have been my high stronghold
and a refuge in my time[l] of trouble.
17 O my strength, to you I will give praise,
because God is my high stronghold,
my God of loyal love.
A Lament After a Defeat and a Prayer for Restoration
For the music director, according to Shushan Eduth.[m]
A miktam of David. To teach.
When he fought Mesopotamia and Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand persons.[n]
60 O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us.
You have been angry. Restore us!
2 You have made the land quake. You have split it open.
Heal its fissures, because it totters.
3 You have shown your people hard things;
You have given us wine that staggers.
4 You have rallied those who fear you round a banner
out of bowshot,[o] Selah
5 so that your beloved ones may be rescued.
Save by your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken in his holiness,
“I will rejoice;
I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is the helmet for[p] my head;
Judah is my scepter.[q]
8 Moab is my washing pot;
over Edom, I will cast my sandal.
On account of me, O Philistia, raise a shout.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have not you yourself rejected us, O God,
and not gone out with our armies, O God?
11 Give us help against the adversary,
for the help of humankind is futile.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,[r]
and it is he who will tread down our enemies.
Praise to Yahweh for His Character and Creation
33 Exult in Yahweh, O you righteous,
for praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre;
with a harp of ten strings play to him.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully with jubilant shout.
4 For the word of Yahweh is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loyal love of Yahweh.
6 By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea like a heap.
He put the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he himself spoke[a] and it came to pass.
He himself commanded[b] and it stood firm.
10 Yahweh brings to nothing[c] the plan of nations;
he frustrates[d] the intents of peoples.
11 The plan of Yahweh stands firm forever,
the intents of his heart from one generation to the next.[e]
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
13 From heaven Yahweh looks;
he sees all the children of humankind.
14 From his dwelling place[f] he gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions altogether their heart,
he who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the greatness of an army.
The warrior is not delivered by the greatness of strength.
17 The horse is a false hope for victory,
nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
18 Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him,
on those who hope[g] for his loyal love
19 to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for Yahweh;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For in him our heart rejoices
because in his holy name we trust.
22 Let your loyal love, O Yahweh, be upon us,
even as[h] we hope in you.
Zechariah’s Fifth Vision
4 And the angel who was talking with me returned, and he wakened me as one who is wakened from his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and look, a lampstand all of gold,[a] and a bowl was on its top, and its seven lamps on it, and seven lips on each of the lamps that are on its top. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I answered and said to the angel who was talking to me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel who was talking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 And he answered and said to me, “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by strength and not by power, but only by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of hosts. 7 ‘Who are you O great mountain? Before[b] Zerubbabel you will become level ground, and he will bring out the top stone amid the shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” 8 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, and his hands will finish it. And you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things will rejoice and will see the plumb line[c] in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
These seven are the eyes of Yahweh which are ranging throughout the whole earth.[d] 11 And I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?” 12 And I replied a second time and asked him, “What are these two twigs of olive trees[e] on the right of the lampstand and on its left?” 13 And he replied to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 14 And he said, “These are the two anointed ones[f] standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever[a], 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever[b], and put down their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
because you have created all things,
and because of your will they existed and were created.”
The Scroll with Seven Seals and the Lamb
5 And I saw in the right hand of the one who is seated on the throne a scroll, written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. 4 And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins who took their lamps and[a] went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 For when[b] the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take olive oil with them. 4 But the wise ones took olive oil in flasks with their lamps. 5 And when[c] the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.[d] 6 But in the middle of the night there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your olive oil, because our lamps are going out!’ 9 But the wise ones answered saying, “Certainly there will never be enough for us and for you! Go instead to those who sell olive oil[e] and buy some[f] for yourselves.’ 10 But while[g] they had gone away to buy it[h] the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding celebration, and the door was shut. 11 And later the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open the door[i] for us!’ 12 But he answered and[j] said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you!’ 13 Therefore be on the alert, because you do not know the day or the hour!
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software