Book of Common Prayer
A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice
2 “How long will you judge partially
by showing favor on the wicked?[c]
3 “Defend the poor and the fatherless.
Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the poor and the needy,
delivering them from the power of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand;
they walk about in the dark
while all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “Indeed I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 However, as all human beings do, you will die,
and like other rulers, you will fall.’
8 Arise, God, to judge the earth,
for all nations belong to you.
A psalm by the descendants of Korah. A song.
The Holy City for All People
87 God’s[a] foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken about you,
city of God.
4 I will mention Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
including Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia[b]—
“This one was born there,” they say.[c]
5 Indeed, about Zion it will be said:
“More than one person[d] was born in it,” and
“The Most High himself did[e] it.”
6 The Lord will record,
as he registers the peoples,[f]
“This one was born there.”
7 “How beautiful[a] on the mountains
are the feet of the one who brings news of peace,[b]
who announces good things,
who announces salvation,[c]
who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,[d]
together they sing for joy;
for they will see in plain sight
the return of the Lord to Zion with compassion.[e]
9 “Break forth together into singing,[f]
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
and[g] he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm[h]
in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 “Depart! Depart! Go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her;
purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you won’t go out in haste,
nor will you go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you;
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
He is called the God of all the earth.”[i]
Jesus is the Source of Our Salvation
5 For he did not put the coming world we are talking about under the control of angels. 6 Instead, someone has declared somewhere,
“What is man that you should remember him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
yet you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”[a]
Now when God[b] put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. 9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of[c] God he might experience[d] death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering as part of his plan to glorify many children,
A Davidic psalm
A Priestly Ruler
110 A declaration from the Lord[a] to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 When the Lord extends your mighty scepter from Zion,
rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your soldiers[b] are willing volunteers on your day of battle;
in majestic holiness, from the womb,
from the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.
4 The Lord took an oath and will never recant:
“You are a priest forever,
after the manner of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will utterly destroy kings in the time of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment against the nations,
filling graves[c] with corpses.
He will utterly destroy leaders far and wide.
7 He will drink from a stream on the way,
then hold his head high.
A Song of Ascents
The Lord Lives in Zion
132 Lord, remember in David’s favor
all of his troubles;
2 how he swore an oath to the Lord,
vowing to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter[a] my house,
or lie down on[b] my bed,
4 or let myself go to sleep[c]
or even take a nap,[d]
5 until I locate a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard about it[e] in Ephrata;[f]
we found it in the fields of Jaar.[g]
7 Let’s go to his dwelling place
and worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, Lord,
and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness
and may your godly ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord made an oath to David
from which he will not retreat:
“One of your sons
I will set in place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my statutes that I will teach them,
then their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion,
desiring it as his dwelling place.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live,
because I desire to do so.
15 I will bless its provisions abundantly;
I will satiate its poor with food.[h]
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation
and its godly ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will create a power base[i] for David—
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with disgrace,
but on him his crown will shine.”
9 This[a] was the true light that enlightens every person by his coming into the world.[b] 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not recognize him.
Responses to the Word
11 He came to his own creation,[c] yet his own people did not receive him. 12 However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God’s children, 13 who were born, not merely in a genetic sense,[d] nor from lust,[e] nor from man’s desire, but from the will of[f] God.
The Word Becomes Human
14 The Word became flesh and lived[g] among us. We gazed on his glory, the kind of glory that belongs to the Father’s uniquely existing Son,[h] who is full of grace and truth.
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