Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Lilies, a Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock; You Who sit enthroned upon the cherubim [of the ark of the covenant], shine forth
2 Before [a]Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up Your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us again, O God; and cause Your face to shine [in pleasure and approval on us], and we shall be saved!
4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will You be angry with Your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and You have given them tears to drink in large measure.
6 You make us a strife and scorn to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us again, O God of hosts; and cause Your face to shine [upon us with favor as of old], and we shall be saved!
8 You brought a vine [Israel] out of Egypt; You drove out the [heathen] nations and planted it [in Canaan].
9 You prepared room before it, and it took deep root and it filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs of it were like the great cedars [cedars of God].
11 [Israel] sent out its boughs to the [Mediterranean] Sea and its branches to the [Euphrates] River.(A)
12 Why have You broken down its hedges and walls so that all who pass by pluck from its fruit?
13 The boar out of the wood wastes it and the wild beast of the field feeds on it.
14 Turn again, we beseech You, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven and see, visit, and have regard for this vine!
15 [Protect and maintain] the stock which Your right hand planted, and the branch (the son) that You have reared and made strong for Yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire, it is cut down; may they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.
18 Then will we not depart from You; revive us (give us life) and we will call upon Your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine [in pleasure, approval, and favor on us], and we shall be saved!
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 When his breath leaves him, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans, and purposes perish.(A)
5 Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,(B)
6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners,
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright in heart and in right standing with Him).(C)
9 The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow and sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin).
10 The Lord shall reign forever, even Your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(D)
Psalm 147
1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God, for He is gracious and lovely; praise is becoming and appropriate.
2 The Lord is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering together the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].(E)
4 He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord and of great power; His understanding is inexhaustible and boundless.
6 The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises with the harp or the lyre to our God!—
8 Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
9 He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens that for which they cry.
10 He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.(F)
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He has strengthened and made hard the bars of your gates, and He has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders; He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends forth His commandment to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives [to the earth] snow like [a blanket of] wool; He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He casts forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends out His word, and melts [ice and snow]; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.(G)
20 He has not dealt so with any [other] nation; they have not known (understood, appreciated, given heed to, and cherished) His ordinances. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(H)
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
19 Then as if this were a little thing in Your eyes, O Lord God, You have spoken also of Your servant’s house in the far distant future. And this is the law for man, O Lord God!
20 What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God.
21 Because of Your promise and as Your own heart dictates, You have done all these astounding things to make Your servant know and understand.
22 Therefore You are great, O Lord God; for none is like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all [You have made] our ears to hear.
23 What [other] one nation on earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be a people for Himself and to make for Himself a name? You have done great and terrible things for Yourself and for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed and delivered for Yourself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.
24 And You have established for Yourself Your people Israel to be Your people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.
25 Now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word You have given as to Your servant and his house; and do as You have said,
26 And Your name [and presence] shall be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of Your servant David will be made firm before You.
27 For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant: I will build you a house. So Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.
28 And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
29 Therefore now let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let [his] house be blessed forever.
3 O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom—right before your very eyes—Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?
2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?]
3 Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing (to no purpose)—if it really is to no purpose and in vain?
5 Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard?
6 Thus Abraham believed in and adhered to and trusted in and relied on God, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (as conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action).(A)
7 Know and understand that it is [really] the people [who live] by faith who are [the true] sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (declare righteous, put in right standing with Himself) the Gentiles in consequence of faith, proclaimed the Gospel [foretelling the glad tidings of a Savior long beforehand] to Abraham in the promise, saying, In you shall all the nations [of the earth] be blessed.(B)
9 So then, those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favored by God [as partners in fellowship] with the believing and trusting Abraham.
10 And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.(C)
11 Now it is evident that no person is justified (declared righteous and brought into right standing with God) through the Law, for the Scripture says, The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live.(D)
12 But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].(E)
13 Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified);(F)
14 To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.
57 Now the time that Elizabeth should be delivered came, and she gave birth to a son.
58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy on her, and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it occurred that on the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, they were intending to call him Zachariah after his father,(A)
60 But his mother answered, Not so! But he shall be called John.
61 And they said to her, None of your relatives is called by that name.
62 And they inquired with signs to his father [as to] what he wanted to have him called.
63 Then Zachariah asked for a writing tablet and wrote, His name is John. And they were all astonished.
64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak, blessing and praising and thanking God.
65 And awe and reverential fear came on all their neighbors; and all these things were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.
66 And all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, Whatever will this little boy be then? For the hand of the Lord was [[a]so evidently] with him [protecting and aiding him].
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