Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50
God as Judge
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 Yahweh, the God of gods[a] speaks;
He summons the earth from east to west.[b](B)
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God appears in radiance.[c](C)
3 Our God is coming; He will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes Him,
and a storm rages around Him.(D)
4 On high, He summons heaven and earth
in order to judge His people.(E)
5 “Gather My faithful ones to Me,
those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”(F)
6 The heavens proclaim His righteousness,(G)
for God is the Judge.(H)
7 “Listen, My people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.(I)
8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings,
which are continually before Me.(J)
9 I will not accept a bull from your household
or male goats from your pens,(K)
10 for every animal of the forest is Mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,[d]
and the creatures of the field are Mine.(L)
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and everything in it is Mine.(M)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?(N)
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,(O)
and pay your vows to the Most High.(P)
15 Call on Me in a day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you will honor Me.”(Q)
16 But God says to the wicked:
“What right do you have to recite My statutes
and to take My covenant on your lips?(R)
17 You hate instruction
and turn your back on My words.[e](S)
18 When you see a thief,
you make friends with him,
and you associate with adulterers.(T)
19 You unleash your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue for deceit.(U)
20 You sit, maligning your brother,
slandering your mother’s son.(V)
21 You have done these things, and I kept silent;
you thought I was just like you.(W)
But I will rebuke you
and lay out the case before you.[f](X)
Psalm 59
God Our Stronghold
For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.”[a] A Davidic Miktam. When Saul sent agents to watch the house and kill him.(A)
1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God;(B)
protect me from those who rise up against me.(C)
2 Deliver me from those who practice sin,
and save me from men of bloodshed.(D)
3 Lord, look! They set an ambush for me.(E)
Powerful men attack me,
but not because of any sin or rebellion of mine.(F)
4 For no fault of mine,
they run and take up a position.
Awake to help me, and take notice.(G)
5 Lord God of Hosts, You are the God of Israel,
rise up to punish all the nations;
do not show grace to any wicked traitors.(H)
6 They return at evening, snarling like dogs
and prowling around the city.(I)
7 Look, they spew from their mouths—
sharp words from[b] their lips.(J)
“For who,” they say, “will hear?”(K)
8 But You laugh at them, Lord;
You ridicule all the nations.(L)
9 I will keep watch for You, my[c] strength,
because God is my stronghold.(M)
10 My faithful God[d] will come to meet me;
God will let me look down on my adversaries.(N)
11 Do not kill them; otherwise, my people will forget.
By Your power, make them homeless wanderers(O)
and bring them down,
Lord, our shield.(P)
12 For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride.
They utter curses and lies.(Q)
13 Consume them in rage;
consume them until they are gone.(R)
Then people will know throughout[e] the earth
that God rules over Jacob.(S)
14 And they return at evening, snarling like dogs
and prowling around the city.(T)
15 They scavenge for food;
they growl if they are not satisfied.(U)
16 But I will sing of Your strength
and will joyfully proclaim
Your faithful love in the morning.(V)
For You have been a stronghold for me,
a refuge in my day of trouble.(W)
17 To You, my strength, I sing praises,
because God is my stronghold—
my faithful God.(X)
Psalm 60
Prayer in Difficult Times
For the choir director: according to “The Lily of Testimony.”[f] A Davidic Miktam for teaching. When he fought with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, killing 12,000.(Y)
1 God, You have rejected us;
You have broken out[g] against us;
You have been angry. Restore us
2 You have shaken the land and split it open.
Heal its fissures, for it shudders.(AA)
3 You have made Your people suffer hardship;
You have given us wine to drink
that made us stagger.(AB)
4 You have given a signal flag to those who fear You,
so that they can flee before the archers.[i](AC)
5 Save with Your right hand, and answer me,
so that those You love may be rescued.(AD)
6 God has spoken in His sanctuary:[j]
“I will triumph! I will divide up Shechem.(AE)
I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.(AF)
7 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine,
and Ephraim is My helmet;(AG)
Judah is My scepter.(AH)
8 Moab is My washbasin.(AI)
I throw My sandal on Edom;(AJ)
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”(AK)
Psalm 114
God’s Deliverance of Israel
1 When Israel came out of Egypt—
the house of Jacob from a people
who spoke a foreign language(A)—
2 Judah became His sanctuary,
Israel, His dominion.(B)
3 The sea looked and fled;(C)
the Jordan turned back.(D)
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills, like lambs.(E)
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Jordan, that you turned back?(F)
6 Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
Hills, like lambs?(G)
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,(H)
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.(I)
Psalm 115
Glory to God Alone
1 Not to us, Yahweh, not to us,
but to Your name give glory
because of Your faithful love, because of Your truth.(J)
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”(K)
3 Our God is in heaven
and does whatever He pleases.(L)
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.(M)
5 They have mouths but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.(N)
7 They have hands but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk.(O)
They cannot make a sound with their throats.(P)
8 Those who make them are[a] just like them,
as are all who trust in them.(Q)
9 Israel,[b] trust in the Lord!(R)
He is their help and shield.(S)
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord!(T)
He is their help and shield.(U)
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!(V)
He is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron;(W)
13 He will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.(X)
14 May the Lord add to your numbers,
both yours and your children’s.(Y)
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.(Z)
16 The heavens are the Lord’s,[c]
but the earth He has given to the human race.(AA)
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
nor any of those descending into the silence of death.(AB)
18 But we will praise the Lord,
both now and forever.(AC)
Hallelujah!
New Stone Tablets
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.(A) 2 Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before Me on the mountaintop. 3 No one may go up with you; in fact, no one must be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”(B)
4 Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.
5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name Yahweh. 6 Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth,(C) 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin.(D) But He will not leave the guilty(E) unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
8 Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. 9 Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Even though this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wrongdoing and sin, and accept us as Your own possession.”(F)
Covenant Obligations
10 And the Lord responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people[a] that have never been done[b] in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.(G) 11 Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites,[c] and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.(H) 13 Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.(I) 14 You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous(J) by nature,[d] is a jealous God.
15 “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.(K) 16 Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.(L)
17 “Do not make cast images(M) of gods for yourselves.
Reception and Opposition to the Message
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is,(A) the message of God,(B) which also works effectively in you believers. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea,(C) since you have also suffered(D) the same things from people of your own country,(E) just as they did from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus(F) and the prophets and persecuted us;(G) they displease God and are hostile to everyone, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are always completing the number of their sins,(H) and wrath has overtaken them at last.[a]
Paul’s Desire to See Them
17 But as for us, brothers, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart(I)), we greatly desired and made every effort to return(J) and see you face to face. 18 So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan(K) hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy(L) or crown(M) of boasting(N) in the presence of our Lord(O) Jesus at His coming?(P) Is it not you?(Q) 20 For you are our glory(R) and joy!
Murder Begins in the Heart
21 “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors,[a] Do not murder,(A)[b] and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.(B) 22 But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother[c] will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’[d] will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire.[e](C) 23 So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, the judge to[f] the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.(D) 26 I assure you: You will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny![g]
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