Book of Common Prayer
61 O God, listen to me! Hear my prayer! 2 For wherever I am, though far away at the ends of the earth, I will cry to you for help. When my heart is faint and overwhelmed, lead me to the mighty, towering Rock of safety. 3 For you are my refuge, a high tower where my enemies can never reach me. 4 I shall live forever in your tabernacle; oh, to be safe beneath the shelter of your wings! 5 For you have heard my vows, O God, to praise[a] you every day, and you have given me the blessings you reserve for those who reverence your name.
6 You will give me[b] added years of life, as rich and full as those of many generations, all packed into one. 7 And I shall live before the Lord forever. Oh, send your loving-kindness and truth to guard and watch over me, 8 and I will praise your name continually, fulfilling my vow of praising you each day.
62 I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for him to rescue me. For salvation comes from him alone. 2 Yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense and fortress. Why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come?
3-4 But what is this? They pick on me at a time when my throne[c] is tottering; they plot my death and use lies and deceit to try to force me from the throne. They are so friendly to my face while cursing in their hearts!
5 But I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for him to rescue me. For salvation comes from him alone. 6 Yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense, and fortress—why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come?
7 My protection and success[d] come from God alone. He is my refuge, a Rock where no enemy can reach me. 8 O my people, trust him all the time. Pour out your longings before him, for he can help! 9 The greatest of men or the lowest—both alike are nothing in his sight. They weigh less than air on scales.
10 Don’t become rich by extortion and robbery; if your riches increase, don’t be proud. 11-12 God has said it many times, that power belongs to him (and also, O Lord, steadfast love belongs to you). He rewards each one of us according to what our works deserve.
68 Arise, O God, and scatter all your enemies! Chase them away! 2 Drive them off like smoke before the wind; melt them like wax in fire! So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3 But may the godly man exult. May he rejoice and be merry. 4 Sing praises to the Lord! Raise your voice in song to him who rides upon the clouds![a] Jehovah is his name—oh, rejoice in his presence. 5 He is a father to the fatherless; he gives justice to the widows, for he is holy.[b] 6 He gives families to the lonely, and releases prisoners from jail, singing with joy! But for rebels there is famine and distress.
7 O God, when you led your people through the wilderness, 8 the earth trembled and the heavens shook. Mount Sinai quailed before you—the God of Israel. 9-10 You sent abundant rain upon your land, O God, to refresh it in its weariness! There your people lived, for you gave them this home when they were destitute.
11-13 The Lord speaks. The enemy flees. The women at home[c] cry out the happy news: “The armies that came to destroy us have fled!” Now all the women of Israel are dividing the booty. See them sparkle with jewels of silver and gold, covered all over as wings cover doves! 14 God scattered their enemies like snowflakes melting in the forests of Zalmon.
15-16 O mighty mountains in Bashan! O splendid many-peaked ranges! Well may you look with envy at Mount Zion, the mount where God has chosen to live forever. 17 Surrounded by unnumbered chariots, the Lord moves on from Mount Sinai and comes to his holy Temple high upon Mount Zion. 18 He ascends the heights, leading many captives in his train. He receives gifts for men,[d] even those who once were rebels. God will live among us here.
19 What a glorious Lord! He who daily bears our burdens also gives us our salvation.
20 He frees us! He rescues us from death. 21 But he will crush his enemies, for they refuse to leave their guilty, stubborn ways. 22 The Lord says, “Come,” to all his people’s enemies;[e] they are hiding on Mount Hermon’s highest slopes and deep within the sea! 23 His people must destroy them. Cover your feet with their blood; dogs will eat them.
24 The procession of God my King moves onward to the sanctuary— 25 singers in front, musicians behind, girls playing the timbrels in between. 26 Let all the people of Israel praise the Lord, who is Israel’s fountain. 27 The little tribe of Benjamin leads the way. The princes and elders of Judah, and the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali are right behind.[f] 28 Summon your might; display your strength, O God, for you have done such mighty things for us.
29 The kings of the earth are bringing their gifts to your Temple in Jerusalem. 30 Rebuke our enemies, O Lord. Bring them—submissive, tax in hand.[g] Scatter all who delight in war. 31 Egypt will send gifts of precious metals. Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God in adoration. 32 Sing to the Lord, O kingdoms of the earth—sing praises to the Lord, 33 to him who rides upon the ancient heavens, whose mighty voice thunders from the sky.
34 Power belongs to God! His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens. 35 What awe we feel, kneeling here before him in the sanctuary. The God of Israel gives strength and mighty power to his people. Blessed be God!
42 When Jacob heard that there was grain available in Egypt he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another? 2 I have heard that there is grain available in Egypt. Go down and buy some for us before we all starve to death.”
3 So Joseph’s ten older[a] brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4 However, Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin go with them, for fear some harm might happen to him as it had to his brother Joseph.[b] 5 So it was that Israel’s sons arrived in Egypt along with many others from many lands to buy food, for the famine was as severe in Canaan as it was everywhere else.
6 Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt, and in charge of the sale of the grain, it was to him that his brothers came, and bowed low before him, with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph recognized them instantly, but pretended he didn’t.
“Where are you from?” he demanded roughly.
“From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We have come to buy grain.”
8-9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams of long ago! But he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see how destitute the famine has made our land.”
10 “No, no,” they exclaimed. “We have come to buy food. 11 We are all brothers and honest men, sir! We are not spies!”
12 “Yes, you are,” he insisted. “You have come to see how weak we are.”
13 “Sir,” they said, “there are twelve of us brothers, and our father is in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father, and one of our brothers is dead.”
14 “So?” Joseph asked. “What does that prove?[c] You are spies. 15 This is the way I will test your story: I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you are not going to leave Egypt until this youngest brother comes here. 16 One of you go and get your brother! I’ll keep the rest of you here, bound in prison. Then we’ll find out whether your story is true or not. If it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.”
17 So he threw them all into jail for three days.
5 Everyone is talking about the terrible thing that has happened there among you, something so evil that even the heathen don’t do it: you have a man in your church who is living in sin with his father’s wife.[a] 2 And are you still so conceited, so “spiritual”? Why aren’t you mourning in sorrow and shame and seeing to it that this man is removed from your membership?
3-4 Although I am not there with you, I have been thinking a lot about this, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I have already decided what to do, just as though I were there. You are to call a meeting of the church—and the power of the Lord Jesus will be with you as you meet, and I will be there in spirit— 5 and cast out this man from the fellowship of the church and into Satan’s hands, to punish him, in the hope that his soul will be saved when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
6 What a terrible thing it is that you are boasting about your purity and yet you let this sort of thing go on. Don’t you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected? 7 Remove this evil cancer—this wicked person—from among you, so that you can stay pure. Christ, God’s Lamb, has been slain for us. 8 So let us feast upon him and grow strong in the Christian life, leaving entirely behind us the cancerous old life with all its hatreds and wickedness. Let us feast instead upon the pure bread of honor and sincerity and truth.
16-19 These are the names of the twelve he chose: Simon (he renamed him “Peter”), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of a political party advocating violent overthrow of the Roman government), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
20 When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. 21 When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them.
“He’s out of his mind,” they said.
22 But the Jewish teachers of religion who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “His trouble is that he’s possessed by Satan, king of demons. That’s why demons obey him.”
23 Jesus summoned these men and asked them (using proverbs they all understood), “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 A kingdom divided against itself will collapse. 25 A home filled with strife and division destroys itself. 26 And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive. 27 Satan must be bound before his demons are cast out,[a] just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.
28 “I solemnly declare that any sin of man can be forgiven, even blasphemy against me; 29 but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin.”
30 He told them this because they were saying he did his miracles by Satan’s power instead of acknowledging it was by the Holy Spirit’s power.[b]
31-32 Now his mother and brothers arrived at the crowded house where he was teaching, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with them. “Your mother and brothers are outside and want to see you,” he was told.
33 He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Looking at those around him he said, “These are my mother and brothers! 35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.