Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61
For the music leader, with stringed instruments. Of David.
61 God, listen to my cry;
pay attention to my prayer!
2 When my heart is weak,
I cry out to you from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am
3 because you have been my refuge,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
4 Please let me live in your tent forever!
Please let me take refuge
in the shelter of your wings! Selah
5 Because you, God, have heard my promises;
you’ve given me[a] the same possession
as those who honor your name.
6 Add days to the king’s life!
Let his years extend for many generations!
7 Let him be enthroned forever before God!
Make it so love and faithfulness watch over him!
8 Then I will sing praises to your name forever,
and I will do what I promised every single day.
Psalm 62
For the music leader. According to Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
62 Only in God do I[b] find rest;
my salvation comes from him.
2 Only God is my rock and my salvation—
my stronghold!—I won’t be shaken anymore.
3 How long will all of you attack others;
how long will you tear them down[c]
as if they were leaning walls or broken-down fences?
4 The only desire of this people
is to bring others down low;
they delight in deception.
With their mouths they bless,
but inside they are cursing. Selah
5 Oh, I[d] must find rest in God only,
because my hope comes from him!
6 Only God is my rock and my salvation—
my stronghold!—I will not be shaken.
7 My deliverance and glory depend on God.
God is my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
8 All you people: Trust in him at all times!
Pour out your hearts before him!
God is our refuge! Selah
9 Human beings are nothing but a breath.
Human beings are nothing but lies.
They don’t even register on a scale;
taken all together they are lighter than a breath!
10 Don’t trust in violence;
don’t set false hopes in robbery.
When wealth bears fruit,
don’t set your heart on it.
11 God has spoken one thing—
make it two things—
that I myself have heard:
that strength belongs to God,
12 and faithful love comes from you, my Lord—
and that you will repay
everyone according to their deeds.
Psalm 68
For the music leader. Of David. A psalm. A song.
68 Let God rise up;
let his enemies scatter;
let those who hate him
run scared before him!
2 Like smoke is driven away,
drive them away!
Like wax melting before fire,
let the wicked perish before God!
3 But let the righteous be glad
and celebrate before God.
Let them rejoice with gladness!
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!
Exalt the one who rides the clouds!
The Lord is his name.
Celebrate before him!
5 Father of orphans and defender of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the lonely in their homes;
he sets prisoners free with happiness,[a]
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 When you went forth before your people, God,
when you marched through the wasteland, Selah
8 the earth shook!
Yes, heaven poured down
before God, the one from Sinai—
before God, the God of Israel!
9 You showered down abundant rain, God;
when your inheritance grew weary,
you restored it yourself,
10 and your creatures settled in it.
In your goodness, God,
you provided for the poor.
11 My Lord gives the command—
many messengers are bringing good news:
12 “The kings of armies are on the run!
The women back home divide the spoil.
13 Even if you lie down among the sheepfolds,
there are wings of a dove covered with silver;
its pinions covered in precious gold.”[b]
14 When the Almighty[c] scattered the kings there,
snow fell on Mount Zalmon.
15 Mighty mountain, Mount Bashan;
many-peaked mountain, Mount Bashan!
16 You many-peaked mountain:
Why do you look with envy
at the mountain God desired for his dwelling,
the mountain where the Lord dwells forever?
17 God’s chariots are twice ten thousand—
countless thousands!
My Lord came from Sinai[d] into the sanctuary.
18 You ascended the heights,
leading away your captives,
receiving tribute from people,
even from those who rebel
against the Lord God’s dwelling there.
19 Bless the Lord!
The God of our salvation
supports us day after day! Selah
20 Our God is the God of salvation,
and escape from certain death comes through God my Lord.
21 Yes, God will shatter the heads of his enemies—
the very skulls of those who walk in guilt.
22 My Lord has spoken:
“From Bashan I will bring those people back.
I will bring them back from the ocean’s depths
23 so that you can wash your feet in their blood,
so that your dogs’ tongues
can lap up their share of your enemies.”
24 They saw your procession, God—
the procession of my God,
my king, into the sanctuary.
25 First came the singers,
then the musicians;
between them the young women
were playing hand drums:
26 “Bless God in the great congregation;
bless the Lord from Israel’s fountain!”
27 There’s Benjamin leading them,
though he’s little;
then the princes of Judah,
their speaker;
then the princes of Zebulun
and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Summon your strength, God!
Show how strong you are, God,
just as you’ve done for us before,
29 from your temple above Jerusalem,
where kings bring you gifts.
30 Rebuke the wild animals of the marshland,
the herd of bulls among the calves of the peoples.
Trample those who delight in money;
scatter the peoples who take pleasure in battles.
31 Let ambassadors come from Egypt;
let Cush stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, all kingdoms of the earth!
Sing praises to my Lord. Selah
33 Sing to the one who rides through heaven,
the most ancient heaven.
Look! God sends forth his voice,
his mighty voice.
34 Recognize how strong God is!
His majesty extends over Israel;
his strength is in the clouds.
35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries—
the God of Israel who gives strength and power to his people!
Bless God!
Isaac’s birth
21 The Lord was attentive to Sarah just as he had said, and the Lord carried out just what he had promised her. 2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was old, at the very time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son—the one Sarah bore him—Isaac.[a] 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old just as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. 6 Sarah said, “God has given me laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.”[b] 7 She said, “Who could have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? But now I’ve given birth to a son when he was old!”
Hagar and Ishmael evicted
8 The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet. 9 Sarah saw Hagar’s son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Send this servant away with her son! This servant’s son won’t share the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son. 12 God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac. 13 But I will make of your servant’s son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant.” 14 Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away.
She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba. 15 Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs. 16 She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can’t bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.
17 God heard the boy’s cries, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “Hagar! What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy’s cries over there. 18 Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink. 20 God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer. 21 He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.
13 All these people died in faith without receiving the promises, but they saw the promises from a distance and welcomed them. They confessed that they were strangers and immigrants on earth. 14 People who say this kind of thing make it clear that they are looking for a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return to it. 16 But at this point in time, they are longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God isn’t ashamed to be called their God—he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested. The one who received the promises was offering his only son. 18 He had been told concerning him, Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac.[a] 19 He figured that God could even raise him from the dead. So in a way he did receive him back from the dead.
20 By faith Isaac also blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.
21 By faith Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons as he was dying and bowed in worship over the head of his staff.[b]
22 By faith Joseph recalled the exodus of the Israelites at the end of his life, and gave instructions about burying his bones.
41 The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.[a] Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible