Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 87
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.
1 On the holy hills stands the city [of Jerusalem and the temple] God founded.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel).
3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!
4 I will make mention of Rahab [the poetic name for Egypt] and Babylon as among those who know [the city of God]—behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia (Cush)—[saying], This man was born there.
5 Yes, of Zion it shall be said, This man and that man were born in her, for the Most High Himself will establish her.
6 The Lord shall count, when He registers the peoples, that this man was born there. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
7 The singers as well as the players on instruments shall say, All my springs (my sources of life and joy) are in you [city of our God].
Book Four
Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place and our refuge in all generations [says Moses].
2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever You had formed and given birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
3 You turn man back to dust and corruption, and say, Return, O sons of the earthborn [to the earth]!
4 For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.(A)
5 You carry away [these disobedient people, doomed to die within forty years] as with a flood; they are as a sleep [vague and forgotten as soon as they are gone]. In the morning they are like grass which grows up—
6 In the morning it flourishes and springs up; in the evening it is mown down and withers.
7 For we [the Israelites in the wilderness] are consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath are we troubled, overwhelmed, and frightened away.
8 Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins [which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves], You have set in the [revealing] light of Your countenance.
9 For all our days [out here in this wilderness, says Moses] pass away in Your wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told [for we adults know we are doomed to die soon, without reaching Canaan].(B)
10 The days of our years are [a]threescore years and ten (seventy years)—or even, if by reason of strength, fourscore years (eighty years); yet is their pride [in additional years] only labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger? [Who worthily connects this brevity of life with Your recognition of sin?] And Your wrath, who connects it with the reverent and worshipful fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom.
13 Turn, O Lord [from Your fierce anger]! How long—? Revoke Your sentence and be compassionate and at ease toward Your servants.
14 O satisfy us with Your mercy and loving-kindness in the morning [now, before we are older], that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad in proportion to the days in which You have afflicted us and to the years in which we have suffered evil.
16 Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servants, and Your [glorious] majesty to their children.
17 And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands—yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.
Psalm 136
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
2 O give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever—
4 To Him Who alone does great wonders, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
5 To Him Who by wisdom and understanding made the heavens, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
6 To Him Who stretched out the earth upon the waters, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
7 To Him Who made the great lights, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever—
8 The sun to rule over the day, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
9 The moon and stars to rule by night, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
10 To Him Who smote Egypt in their firstborn, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(A)
11 And brought out Israel from among them, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(B)
12 With a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
13 To Him Who divided the Red Sea into parts, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(C)
14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
15 But shook off and overthrew Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
16 To Him Who led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
17 To Him Who smote great kings, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
18 And slew famous kings, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever—(D)
19 Sihon king of the Amorites, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(E)
20 And Og king of Bashan, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(F)
21 And gave their land as a heritage, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
22 Even a heritage to Israel His servant, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;(G)
23 To Him Who [earnestly] remembered us in our low estate and imprinted us [on His heart], for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
24 And rescued us from our enemies, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
25 To Him Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever;
26 O give thanks to the God of heaven, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
16 And the Lord said to Moses, Gather for Me [a]seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them stand there with you.
17 And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put It upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not have to bear it yourself alone.
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and set them round about the Tent.
25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him and put It upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will]. Then they did so no more.(A)
26 But there remained two men in the camp named Eldad and Medad. The Spirit rested upon them, and they were of those who were selected and listed, yet they did not go out to the Tent [as told to do], but they prophesied in the camp.
27 And a young man ran to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will] in the camp.
28 Joshua son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, My lord Moses, forbid them!
29 But Moses said to him, Are you [a]envious or jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!(B)
11 Therefore, remember that at one time you were Gentiles (heathens) in the flesh, called Uncircumcision by those who called themselves Circumcision, [itself a [a]mere mark] in the flesh made by human hands.
12 [Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God’s agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were [so] far away, through (by, in) the blood of Christ have been brought near.
14 For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony). He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall between us,
15 By abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity [caused by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances [which He annulled]; that He from the two might create in Himself one new man [one new quality of humanity out of the two], so making peace.
16 And [He designed] to reconcile to God both [Jew and Gentile, united] in a single body by means of His cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and bringing the feud to an end.
17 And He came and preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off and [peace] to those who were near.(A)
18 For it is through Him that we both [whether far off or near] now have an introduction (access) by one [Holy] Spirit to the Father [so that we are able to approach Him].
19 Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God’s own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God’s [own] household.
20 You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.
21 In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord].
22 In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in (by, through) the Spirit.
28 When Jesus had finished these sayings [the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching,
29 For He was teaching as One Who had [and was] authority, and not as [did] the scribes.
8 When Jesus came down from the mountain, great throngs followed Him.
2 And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to [a]cleanse me by curing me.
3 And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed [b]by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed.
4 And Jesus said to him, See that you tell nothing about this to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony [to your healing] and as an evidence to the people.(A)
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