Book of Common Prayer
Hope in God in the Midst of Despair
For the music director. A maskil of the sons of Korah.[a]
42 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[b]
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These I remember and I pour out my soul within me:
that I would go with the multitude;
I led them in procession to the house[c] of God,
with a voice of rejoicing and thanksgiving,
a crowd celebrating a festival.
5 Why are you in despair,[d] O my soul,
and disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
for the salvation of his presence.
6 O my God, within me my soul is in despair;[e]
therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.
7 Deep is calling to deep
at[f] the thunder of your waterfalls.
All your breakers and your waves
have passed over me.
8 By day Yahweh commands his loyal love,
and in the night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a shattering in my bones
my oppressors taunt me,
while they say to me all day,[g]
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair,[h] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I shall again praise him,
my salvation[i] and my God.
A Prayer for Rescue
43 Judge me, O God, and plead my case
against[j] an unfaithful[k] nation.
From a man of deceit and wickedness rescue me,
2 because you are the God of my refuge.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send your light and your truth;
they shall lead[l] me.
They shall bring me to your holy mountain[m]
and to your dwelling places.
4 Then[n] I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my surpassing joy,[o]
and I will praise you with lyre,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you in despair,[p] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
my salvation[q] and my God.
2 Then Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in Yahweh, my strength is exalted in Yahweh; I grin[a] over my enemies, for I rejoice over your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like Yahweh, for there is no one besides you,
and there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not increase speaking very proud[b] words!
Let no arrogance go forth from your mouth,
for Yahweh is a God of knowledge
whose deeds are not weighed.[c]
4 The bows of mighty warriors are shattered,
but those who stumble gird themselves with strength.
5 Those who were full must hire themselves out for bread,
but those who are hungry will become fat.
As for the infertile, she will bear seven,
but she who has many sons withers away.
6 Yahweh kills and restores alive,
he brings down to Sheol[d] and raises up.
7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and also exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust.
From the ash heap he lifts up the needy,
to cause them to sit with noble people
and to cause them to inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth belong to Yahweh
and he has set the inhabited world on them.
9 He will guard the feet of his faithful[e] ones,
but the wicked will be destroyed[f] in the darkness,
because a man will not prevail by his might.
10 Yahweh will shatter[g] his adversaries;[h]
he will thunder against them in the heavens.
Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king
and will exalt the might of his anointed one.
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They replied to him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus replied to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And the slave does not remain in the household forever;[a] the son remains forever.[b] 36 So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free.
The Greatness of God in Zion
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[a]
48 Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.[b]
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion,[c] in the far north,[d]
the city of the great king.
3 God is in her citadels;
he is known as a high stronghold.
4 For see, the kings assembled;[e]
they advanced together.
5 They themselves saw[f] it, so they were astonished.
They were terrified; they ran off.
6 Trembling seized them there—
pain as of a woman in labor.
7 With an east wind
you shatter[g] the ships of Tarshish.[h]
8 As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
9 We have pondered your loyal love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 As is your name, O God, so is your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion[i] rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and circle it;
count her towers.
13 Consider well[j] her ramparts.
Go through her citadels
so that you can tell the next generation
14 that this is God, our God forever and ever.
He himself[k] will guide us until death.
Foreign Nations Come to Worship in Jerusalem
Of the sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.[a]
87 His foundation is on the holy mountains.
2 Yahweh loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken about[b] you,
O city of God. Selah
4 I will record[c] those who know me
in Rahab[d] and Babylon,
behold in Philistia and Tyre with Cush,
“This one was born there.”
5 But with respect to Zion it shall be said,
“Each one[e] was born in her,”
for the Most High himself will establish her.
6 Yahweh will record in writing the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 And while dancing, singers will sing,
“All my springs are in you.”
3 See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called children of God, and we are! Because of this the world does not know us: because it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as that one is pure.
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that that one was revealed in order that he might take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 Everyone who resides in him does not sin. Everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous. 8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was revealed: in order to destroy the works of the devil.
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