Book of Common Prayer
The Eternal Reign of the Lord
93 The (A)Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed,
(B)He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be [a]moved.
2 (C)Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.
3 The floods have [b]lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
4 (D)The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Your testimonies are very sure;
Holiness adorns Your house,
O Lord, [c]forever.
A Song of Praise to God Coming in Judgment(A)
96 Oh, (B)sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the [a]nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
4 For (C)the Lord is great and (D)greatly to be praised;
(E)He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For (F)all the gods of the peoples are idols,
(G)But the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and (H)beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 (I)Give[b] to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
8 [c]Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
9 Oh, worship the Lord (J)in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
10 Say among the [d]nations, (K)“The Lord reigns;
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be [e]moved;
(L)He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
11 (M)Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
(N)Let the sea roar, and [f]all its fullness;
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice
13 before the Lord.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
(O)He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.
The Happiness of Those Who Trust in God
A Psalm of David (A)when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.
34 I will (B)bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
4 I (C)sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 (D)The [a]angel of the Lord (E)encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.
8 Oh, (F)taste and see that the Lord is good;
(G)Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no [b]want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
(H)But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
(I)I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 (J)Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking (K)deceit.
14 (L)Depart from evil and do good;
(M)Seek peace and pursue it.
15 (N)The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 (O)The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
(P)To [c]cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and (Q)the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 (R)The Lord is near (S)to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as [d]have a contrite spirit.
19 (T)Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
(U)But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones;
(V)Not one of them is broken.
21 (W)Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be [e]condemned.
22 The Lord (X)redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
The Sabbath of the Seventh Year(A)
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount (B)Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall (C)keep a sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4 but in the (D)seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn (E)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 (F)What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7 for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
The Year of Jubilee
8 ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; (G)on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and (H)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; (I)and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it (J)you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; (K)you shall eat its produce from the field.
13 (L)‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not (M)oppress one another. 15 (N)According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17 Therefore (O)you shall not [a]oppress one another, (P)but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
Profiting from Trials
2 My brethren, (A)count it all joy (B)when you fall into various trials, 3 (C)knowing that the testing of your faith produces [a]patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be [b]perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 (D)If any of you lacks wisdom, (E)let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and (F)it will be given to him. 6 (G)But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is (H)a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 (A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, (B)with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 (C)Of His own will He brought us forth by the (D)word of truth, (E)that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But He said to him, (A)“Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And He said to them, (B)“Take heed and beware of [a]covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, (C)“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; (D)eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night (E)your soul will be required of you; (F)then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, (G)and is not rich toward God.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.