Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
1 The truly happy person
doesn’t follow wicked advice,
doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked!
They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
neither will sinners
in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is destroyed.
Psalm 2
2 Why do the nations rant?
Why do the peoples rave uselessly?
2 The earth’s rulers take their stand;
the leaders scheme together
against the Lord and
against his anointed one.
3 “Come!” they say.
“We will tear off their ropes
and throw off their chains!”
4 The one who rules in heaven laughs;
my Lord makes fun of them.
5 But then God speaks to them angrily;
then he terrifies them with his fury:
6 “I hereby appoint my king on Zion,
my holy mountain!”
7 I will announce the Lord’s decision:
He said to me, “You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Just ask me,
and I will make the nations your possession;
the far corners of the earth will be your property.
9 You will smash them with an iron rod;
you will shatter them like a pottery jar.”
10 So kings, wise up!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord reverently—
trembling, 12 kiss his feet[a]
or else he will become angry,
and your way will be destroyed
because his anger ignites in an instant.
But all who take refuge in the Lord are truly happy!
Psalm 3
A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
3 Lord, I have so many enemies!
So many are standing against me.
2 So many are talking about me:
“Even God won’t help him.” Selah[b]
3 But you, Lord, are my shield!
You are my glory!
You are the one who restores me.
4 I cry out loud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I lie down, sleep, and wake up
because the Lord helps me.
6 I won’t be afraid of thousands of people
surrounding me on all sides.
7 Stand up, Lord!
Save me, my God!
In fact, hit all my enemies on the jaw;
shatter the teeth of the wicked!
8 Rescue comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people! Selah
Psalm 4
For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
4 Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God!
Set me free from my troubles!
Have mercy on me!
Listen to my prayer!
2 How long, you people,
will my reputation be insulted?
How long will you continue
to love what is worthless
and go after lies? Selah
3 Know this: the Lord takes
personal care of the faithful.
The Lord will hear me
when I cry out to him.
4 So be afraid, and don’t sin!
Think hard about it in your bed
and weep over it! Selah
5 Bring righteous offerings,
and trust the Lord!
6 Many people say,
“We can’t find goodness anywhere.
The light of your face has left us, Lord!”[c]
7 But you have filled my heart with more joy
than when their wheat and wine are everywhere!
8 I will lie down and fall asleep in peace
because you alone, Lord, let me live in safety.
Psalm 7
A shiggayon[a] of David, which he sang to the Lord about Cush, a Benjaminite.
7 I take refuge in you, Lord, my God.
Save me from all who chase me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me apart,
dragging me off with no chance of rescue.
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this—
if my hands have done anything wrong,
4 if I have repaid a friend with evil
or oppressed a foe for no reason—
5 then let my enemy
not only chase but catch me,
trampling my life into the ground,
laying my reputation in the dirt. Selah
6 Get up, Lord; get angry!
Stand up against the fury of my foes!
Wake up, my God;[b]
you command that justice be done!
7 Let the assembled peoples surround you.
Rule them from on high![c]
8 The Lord will judge the peoples.
Establish justice for me, Lord,
according to my righteousness
and according to my integrity.
9 Please let the evil of the wicked be over,
but set the righteous firmly in place
because you, the righteous God,
are the one who examines hearts and minds.
10 God is my shield;
he saves those whose heart is right.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry at evil[d] every single day.
12 If someone doesn’t change their ways,
God will sharpen his sword,
will bend his bow,
will string an arrow.
13 God has deadly weapons in store
for those who won’t change;
he gets his flaming arrows ready!
14 But look how the wicked hatch evil,
conceive trouble, give birth to lies!
15 They make a pit, dig it all out,
and then fall right into the hole that they’ve made!
16 The trouble they cause
will come back on their own heads;
the violence they commit
will come down on their own skulls.
17 But I will thank the Lord
for his righteousness;
I will sing praises
to the name of the Lord Most High.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord pushed the sea back by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. The waters were split into two. 22 The Israelites walked into the sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians chased them and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and cavalry. 24 As morning approached, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp from the column of lightning and cloud and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. 25 The Lord jammed their chariot wheels so that they wouldn’t turn easily. The Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites, because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water comes back and covers the Egyptians, their chariots, and their cavalry.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. At daybreak, the sea returned to its normal depth. The Egyptians were driving toward it, and the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the cavalry, Pharaoh’s entire army that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. 29 The Israelites, however, walked on dry ground through the sea. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.
30 The Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians that day. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the amazing power of the Lord against the Egyptians. The people were in awe of the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Greeting
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s chosen strangers in the world of the diaspora, who live in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
2 God the Father chose you because of what he knew beforehand. He chose you through the Holy Spirit’s work of making you holy and because of the faithful obedience and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
May God’s grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Thanksgiving
3 May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed! On account of his vast mercy, he has given us new birth. You have been born anew into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 You have a pure and enduring inheritance that cannot perish—an inheritance that is presently kept safe in heaven for you. 5 Through his faithfulness, you are guarded by God’s power so that you can receive the salvation he is ready to reveal in the last time.
6 You now rejoice in this hope, even if it’s necessary for you to be distressed for a short time by various trials. 7 This is necessary so that your faith may be found genuine. (Your faith is more valuable than gold, which will be destroyed even though it is itself tested by fire.) Your genuine faith will result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words. 9 You are receiving the goal of your faith: your salvation.
10 The prophets, who long ago foretold the grace that you’ve received, searched and explored, inquiring carefully about this salvation. 11 They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was saying when he bore witness beforehand about the suffering that would happen to Christ and the glory that would follow. They wondered what sort of person or what sort of time they were speaking about. 12 It was revealed to them that in their search they were not serving themselves but you. These things, which even angels long to examine, have now been proclaimed to you by those who brought you the good news. They did this in the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven.
The way, the truth, and the life
14 “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. 4 You know the way to the place I’m going.”
5 Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves. 12 I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father can be glorified in the Son. 14 When you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.
I won’t leave you as orphans
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion,[a] who will be with you forever. 17 This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible