Book of Common Prayer
The Lord’s Power and Dominion.
97 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands and coastlands be glad.
2
Clouds and thick darkness surround Him [as at Sinai];
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.(A)
3
Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries on all sides.
4
His lightnings have illuminated the world;
The earth has seen and trembled.
5
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6
The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples see His glory and brilliance.
7
Let all those be [deeply] ashamed who serve carved images,
Who boast in idols.
Worship Him, all you gods!(B)
8
Zion heard this and was glad,
And the daughters (cities) of Judah rejoiced [in relief]
Because of Your judgments, O Lord.
9
For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10
You who love the Lord, hate evil;
He protects the souls of His godly ones (believers),
He rescues them from the hand of the wicked.(C)
11
Light is sown [like seed] for the righteous and illuminates their path,
And [irrepressible] joy [is spread] for the upright in heart [who delight in His favor and protection].
12
Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones [those whose moral and spiritual integrity places them in right standing with God],
And praise and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Praise to the Lord for His Fidelity to Israel.
99 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble [with submissive wonder]!
He sits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!
2
The Lord is great in Zion,
And He is exalted and magnified above all the peoples.
3
Let them [reverently] praise Your great and awesome name;
Holy is He.(A)
4
The strength of the King loves justice and righteous judgment;
You have established fairness;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob (Israel).
5
Exalt the Lord our God
And worship at His footstool;
Holy is He.
6
Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
And Samuel was among those who called on His name;
They called upon the Lord and He answered them.
7
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
They kept His testimonies
And the statutes that He gave them.(B)
8
You answered them, O Lord our God;
You were a forgiving God to them,
And yet an avenger of their evil practices.
9
Exalt the Lord our God
And worship at His holy hill [Zion, the temple mount],
For the Lord our God is holy.
All Men Exhorted to Praise God.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2
Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;
Come before His presence with joyful singing.
3
Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, [a]not we ourselves [and we are His].
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.(C)
4
Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.
5
For the Lord is good;
His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting,
His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.
The Lord Implored to Avenge His People.
94 O Lord God, You to whom vengeance belongs,
O God, You to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth [in judgment]!
2
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
Give to the proud a fitting compensation.
3
O Lord, how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked rejoice in triumph?
4
They pour out words, speaking arrogant things;
All who do evil boast proudly.(A)
5
They crush Your people, O Lord,
And afflict and abuse Your heritage.
6
[a]They kill the widow and the alien
And murder the fatherless.
7
Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob (Israel) notice it.”
8
Consider thoughtfully, you senseless (stupid ones) among the people;
And you [dull-minded] fools, when will you become wise and understand?
9
He who made the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
10
He who instructs the nations,
Does He not rebuke and punish,
He who teaches man knowledge?
11
The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are a mere breath (vain, empty, futile).(B)
12
Blessed [with wisdom and prosperity] is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord,
And whom You teach from Your law,
13
That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.
14
For the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He abandon His inheritance.
15
For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
16
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
Who will take a stand for me against those who do wickedness?
17
If the Lord had not been my help,
I would soon have dwelt in [the land of] silence.
18
If I say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your compassion and lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.
19
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your comforts delight me.
20
Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?
21
They band themselves together against the life of the righteous
And condemn the innocent to death.
22
But the Lord has become my high tower and defense,
And my God the rock of my refuge.
23
He has turned back their own wickedness upon them
And will destroy them by means of their own evil;
The Lord our God will wipe them out.
Praise to the Lord, and Warning against Unbelief.
95 O come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2
Let us come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.
3
For the Lord is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
4
In whose hand are the depths of the earth;
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
5
The sea is His, for He made it [by His command];
And His hands formed the dry land.(C)
6
O come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker [in reverent praise and prayer].
7
For He is our God
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice,(D)
8
Do not harden your hearts and become spiritually dull as at Meribah [the place of strife],
And as at Massah [the place of testing] in the wilderness,(E)
9
“When your fathers tested Me,
They tried Me, even though they had seen My work [of miracles].
10
“For forty years I was grieved and disgusted with that generation,
And I said, ‘They are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not acknowledge or regard My ways.’
11
“Therefore I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
‘They absolutely shall not enter My rest [the land of promise].’”(F)
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken away everything that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor.” 2 Jacob noticed [a change in] the [a]attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.” 4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and he said to them, “I see [a change in] your father’s attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7 Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young]. 9 Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me. 10 And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 And the [b]Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He said, ‘Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” 14 Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price. 16 Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it.”
17 Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels; 18 and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father’s [c]household gods. 20 And Jacob [d]deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly. 21 So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Christ Is Our Advocate
2 My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action]. 2 And He [that same Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins [the atoning sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful nature—our worldliness, our lifestyle]; and not for ours alone, but also for [the sins of all believers throughout] the whole world.
3 And this is how we know [daily, by experience] that we have come to know Him [to understand Him and be more deeply acquainted with Him]: if we habitually keep [focused on His precepts and obey] His commandments (teachings). 4 Whoever says, “I have come to know Him,” but does not habitually keep [focused on His precepts and obey] His commandments (teachings), is a liar, and the truth [of the divine word] is not in him. 5 But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him: 6 whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought [as a moral obligation] to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.
7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the message which you have heard [before from us].(A) 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true and realized in Christ and in you, because the darkness [of moral blindness] is clearing away and the true Light [the revelation of God in Christ] is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the Light [in consistent fellowship with Christ] and yet [a]habitually hates (works against) his brother [in Christ] is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who [b]loves and unselfishly seeks the best for his [believing] brother lives in the Light, and in him there is no occasion for stumbling or offense [he does not hurt the cause of Christ or lead others to sin]. 11 But the one who habitually hates (works against) his brother [in Christ] is in [spiritual] darkness and is walking in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
18 However, the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the man’s parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but as to how he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him [and stop asking us]; [a]he is of age, he will speak for himself and give his own account of it.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of [the leaders of] the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged Jesus to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue (excommunicated). 23 Because of this his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been [born] blind, and said to him, “Give God glory and praise [for your sight]! We know this Man [Jesus] is a sinner [separated from God].” 25 Then he answered, “I do not know whether He is a sinner [separated from God]; but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 So they said to him, “What did He [actually] do to you? How did He open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again and again? Do you want to become His disciples, too?” 28 And [at that remark] they stormed at him and jeered, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know [for certain] that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this Man, we do not know where He is from.” 30 The man replied, “Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes! 31 We know [according to your tradition] that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the [b]beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything [like this because God would not hear His prayer].” 34 They answered him, “You were [c]born entirely in sins [from head to foot], and you [presume to] teach us?” Then they threw him out [of the synagogue].
Jesus Affirms His Deity
35 Jesus heard that they had [d]put him out [of the synagogue], and finding him, He asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Sir? Tell me so that I may believe in Him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and [in fact] He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe [in You and Your word]!” And he worshiped Him [with reverence and awe]. 39 Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment [to separate those who believe in Me from those who reject Me—to declare judgment on those who choose to be separated from God], so that the sightless would see, and those who see would become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [to spiritual things], you would have no sin [and would not be blamed for your unbelief]; but since you claim to have [spiritual] sight, [you have no excuse so] your sin and guilt remain.(A)
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.