Book of Common Prayer
God’s Covenant with David
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of thy steadfast love, O Lord,[a] for ever;
with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For thy steadfast love was established for ever,
thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
3 Thou hast said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations.’”Selah
5 Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O Lord,
thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[b] is like the Lord,
7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and terrible[c] above all that are round about him?
8 O Lord God of hosts,
who is mighty as thou art, O Lord,
with thy faithfulness round about thee?
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass,
thou didst scatter thy enemies with thy mighty arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine;
the world and all that is in it, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south, thou hast created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise thy name.
13 Thou hast a mighty arm;
strong is thy hand, high thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee.
15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance,
16 who exult in thy name all the day,
and extol[d] thy righteousness.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength;
by thy favor our horn is exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Of old thou didst speak in a vision
to thy faithful one, and say:
“I have set the crown[e] upon one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
21 so that my hand shall ever abide with him,
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, ‘Thou art my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
27 And I will make him the first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his line for ever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my ordinances,
31 if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with scourges;
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love,
or be false to my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant,
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36 His line shall endure for ever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
37 Like the moon it shall be established for ever;
it shall stand firm while the skies endure.”[f]Selah
38 But now thou hast cast off and rejected,
thou art full of wrath against thy anointed.
39 Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant;
thou hast defiled his crown in the dust.
40 Thou hast breached all his walls;
thou hast laid his strongholds in ruins.
41 All that pass by despoil him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes;
thou hast made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword,
and thou hast not made him stand in battle.
44 Thou hast removed the scepter from his hand,[g]
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 Thou hast cut short the days of his youth;
thou hast covered him with shame.Selah
46 How long, O Lord? Wilt thou hide thyself for ever?
How long will thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember, O Lord,[h] what the measure of life is,
for what vanity thou hast created all the sons of men!
48 What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?Selah
49 Lord, where is thy steadfast love of old,
which by thy faithfulness thou didst swear to David?
50 Remember, O Lord, how thy servant is scorned;
how I bear in my bosom the insults[i] of the peoples,
51 with which thy enemies taunt, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of thy anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord for ever!
Amen and Amen.
30 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son”; therefore she called his name Dan.[a] 7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled[b] with my sister, and have prevailed”; so she called his name Naph′tali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune!” so she called his name Gad.[c] 12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For the women will call me happy”; so she called his name Asher.[d]
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me, I pray, some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my hire[e] because I gave my maid to my husband”; so she called his name Is′sachar. 19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor[f] me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she called his name Zeb′ulun. 21 Afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach”; 24 and she called his name Joseph,[g] saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
The Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing this that our[a] joy may be complete.
God Is Light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
A Man Born Blind Receives Sight
9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo′am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” 10 They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo′am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. 17 So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.