Book of Common Prayer
The Lord is King
97 The Lord reigns!
Let the earth rejoice!
May many islands be glad!
2 Thick clouds are all around him;
righteousness and justice are his throne’s foundation.
3 Fire goes out from his presence
to consume his enemies on every side.
4 His lightning bolts light the world;
the earth sees and shakes.
5 Mountains melt like wax in the Lord’s presence—
In the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness
so that all the nations see his glory.
7 All who serve carved images—
and those who praise idols—will be humiliated.
Worship him, all you “gods”!
The Lord is Holy
99 The Lord reigns—
let people tremble;
he is seated above the cherubim—
let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion
and is exalted above all peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
He is holy!
4 A mighty king who loves justice,
you have established fairness.
You have exercised justice
and righteousness over Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God;
worship and bow down at his footstool;
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel also was among those who invoked his name.
When they called on the Lord,
he answered them.
7 In a pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they obeyed his decrees
and the Law that he gave them.
8 Lord our God, you answered them;
you were their God who forgave[a] them,
but also avenged their evil deeds.
9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy!
A psalm of thanksgiving
Give Thanks to the Lord
100 Shout to the Lord all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with joy.
Come before him with a joyful shout!
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him;
we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Thank him and bless his name,
5 for the Lord is good
and his gracious love stands forever.
His faithfulness remains from generation to generation.
God Avenges His Own
94 God of vengeance,
Lord God of vengeance,
display your splendor![a]
2 Stand up, judge of the earth,
and repay the proud.
3 How long will the wicked, Lord,
how long will the wicked continue to triumph?
4 When they speak, they spew arrogance.
Everyone who practices iniquity brags about it.[b]
5 Lord, they have crushed your people,
afflicting your heritage.
6 The wicked[c] kill widows and foreigners;
they murder orphans.
7 They say, “The Lord cannot see,
and the God of Jacob will not notice.”
8 Pay attention, you dull ones among the crowds!
You fools! Will you ever become wise?
9 The one who formed[d] the ear can hear, can he not?
The one who made the eyes can see, can he not?
10 The one who disciplines nations can rebuke them, can he not?
The one who teaches mankind can discern, can he not?
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of human beings—
that they are futile.
12 How blessed is the man whom you instruct, Lord,
whom you teach from your Law,
13 keeping him calm when times are troubled
until a pit has been dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage.
15 Righteousness will be restored with justice,
and all the pure of heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand for me against those who practice iniquity?
17 If the Lord had not been my helper,
I would have quickly become silent.
18 When I say that my foot is shaking,
your gracious love, Lord, will sustain me.
19 When my anxious inner thoughts become overwhelming,
your comfort encourages me.
20 Will destructive national leaders,[e]
who plan wicked things through misuse of the Law,
be allied with you?
21 They gather together against the righteous,
condemning the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord is my stronghold,
and my God, the rock, is my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their sin;
he will annihilate them because of their evil.
The Lord our God will annihilate them.
Worship and Obedience
95 Come! Let us sing joyfully to the Lord!
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout with songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is an awesome God;
a great king above all divine beings.[f]
4 He holds in his hand the lowest parts of the earth
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea that he made belongs to him,
along with the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come! Let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel in the presence of the Lord, who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his care.[g]
If only you would listen to his voice today,
8 do not be stubborn like your ancestors were[h] at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me.
They tested me,
even though they had seen my awesome deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said,
“They are a people whose hearts continuously err,
and they have not understood my ways.”
11 So in my anger I declared an oath:
“They are not to enter my place of rest.”
29 In his last words, Jacob[a] issued this set of instructions to them all: “I’m about to join[b] our ancestors. Bury me alongside my ancestors in the cave in the field that used to belong to Ephron the Hittite. 30 It’s the cave in the field near Mamre at Machpelah in the land of Canaan that Abraham bought to serve as a cemetery. 31 It’s where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, where Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and where I buried Leah. 32 Both the field and the cave that’s in it were purchased from the Hittites.”
33 After concluding this set of instructions to his sons, Jacob[c] tucked his feet up into bed, quit breathing, and was gathered to his ancestors.
Joseph Mourns for His Father
50 Then Joseph embraced his father,[d] cried over him, and kissed him. 2 After this, he issued orders to his physician servants to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. 3 It took 40 days to complete the process, the normal period required for embalming. Meanwhile, the Egyptians mourned for him for 70 days. 4 At the conclusion of the mourning period, Joseph addressed Pharaoh’s household. “If you’re satisfied with me, would you please take this message to Pharaoh for me? Tell him, 5 ‘My father told me, “Look! I’m about to die. Bury me in my grave that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” So please let me travel to bury my father. I’ll be right back.’”
6 “Please go,” Pharaoh replied. “Bury your father, as he asked you to do.”
Joseph Mourns in Canaan
7 So Joseph got up and went to bury his father, accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s servants, all of the elders of Egypt, 8 all of Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. They left behind in the territory of Goshen only their youngest children, their flocks, and their herds. 9 Chariots and horsemen also accompanied Joseph,[e] so there were a lot of people. 10 When they arrived at Atad’s threshing floor, which is located beyond the Jordan River,[f] they held a great and mournful memorial service, during which Joseph[g] spent seven days mourning for his father. 11 As soon as the Canaanites who lived in the land observed the mourning going on at Atad’s threshing floor, they commented “This is a significant time of mourning for the Egyptians.” That’s why the place, which is located beyond the Jordan River,[h] became known as Abel-mizraim.[i]
The Burial at Machpelah
12 And so Israel’s[j] sons did what he had instructed them to do: 13 they carried him to the territory of Canaan and buried him in the cave in Machpelah field near Mamre that Abraham had purchased[k] as a cemetery from Ephron the Hittite. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt, along with everyone who had gone with him to attend the burial.
Concerning the Lord’s Supper(A)
17 Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For in the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. 19 Of course, there must be factions among you to show which of you are genuine!
20 When you gather in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For as you eat, each of you rushes to eat his own supper, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 You have homes in which to eat and drink, don’t you? Or do you despise God’s church and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—how the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, 24 gave thanks for it, and broke it in pieces, saying, “This is my body that is[a] for you. Keep doing this in memory of me.” 25 He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. 28 A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup, 29 because whoever eats and drinks[b] without recognizing the body,[c] eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying.[d] 31 But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. 32 Now, while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so we won’t[e] be condemned along with the world.
33 Therefore, my brothers, when you gather to eat, wait for each other. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather it may not bring judgment on you. And when I come I will give instructions concerning the other matters.
Jesus Feeds More than Four Thousand People(A)
8 At that time, after a large crowd again had gathered together with nothing to eat, Jesus[a] called his disciples and told them, 2 “I have compassion for the crowd, because they’ve already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away to their homes hungry, they’ll faint on the road. Some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered him, “Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?”
5 He asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
“Seven,” they said.
6 So he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He broke them in pieces and kept giving them to his disciples to distribute. So they served them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and said that the fish[b] should also be distributed. 8 The people[c] ate and were filled. Then the disciples[d] picked up the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 9 Now about 4,000 men were there. Then he sent them on their way. 10 Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.[e]
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