Book of Common Prayer
A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors
A song. A psalm of Asaph.[a]
83 O God, do not rest silently.
Do not keep silent or be still, O God.
2 For look, your enemies roar,
and those who hate you have lifted their head.
3 They devise cunning schemes[b] against your people,
and consult together against your protected ones.[c]
4 They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,
so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
5 For they have consulted together with a unified purpose.[d]
They have made a covenant against you:
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Assyria also has joined with them.
They provide help[e] to the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did with Midian,
as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.
10 They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became dung for the ground.
11 Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take as our possession
the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like the tumbleweed,
like the chaff before wind.
14 As fire burns a forest,
and as a flame sets afire mountains,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,
and let them be humiliated and perish
18 that they may know that you,
whose name is Yahweh, you alone,
are the Most High over the whole earth.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Deliverance
Of David, when he pretended to be crazy[a] in front of Abimelech[b]
so that he drove him out, and so he departed.[c]
34 I will bless Yahweh at all times;
his praise shall be in my mouth continually.
2 My soul makes its boast in Yahweh;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Magnify Yahweh with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought Yahweh and he answered me,
and from all my terrors he delivered me.
5 They looked to him and were radiant,
and their faces shall not be ashamed.[d]
6 This poor man called and Yahweh heard,
and saved him from all his troubles.
7 The angel of Yahweh encamps
around those who fear him,
and he rescues them.
8 Taste and see that Yahweh is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear Yahweh, you his saints,[e]
for there is no lack for those who fear him.
10 The young lions are in want and suffer hunger,
but those who seek Yahweh will not lack for any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
who loves many days in order to see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous,
and his ears toward their cry for help.
16 The face of Yahweh is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 They[f] cry out and Yahweh hears
and delivers them from all of their troubles.
18 Yahweh is near to those who are heartbroken
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the distresses of the righteous,
but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
20 He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will incur guilt.
22 Yahweh redeems the life of his servants,
and none who take refuge in him will incur guilt.
Hope in God’s Future Help
For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]
85 O Yahweh, you favored your land.
You restored the fortunes[b] of Jacob.
2 You took away the guilt[c] of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your burning anger.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation,
and annul your vexation with us.
5 Will you be angry against us forever?
Will you prolong your anger generation after generation?
6 Will you not again revive us,
that your people might rejoice in you?
7 Show us, O Yahweh, your loyal love,
and grant us your salvation.
8 I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,
because he will speak peace
to his people, even his faithful ones,[d]
but let them not return to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
that glory may abide in our land.
10 Loyal love and faithfulness[e] will meet one another;
righteousness and peace will kiss.
11 Faithfulness[f] will sprout from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give what is good,
and our land will give its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and it will make his steps a pathway.
A Prayer for Help against Ruthless Men
A prayer of David.[g]
86 Incline, O Yahweh, your ear and answer me,
because I am poor and needy.
2 Watch over my life because I am faithful.
You are my God; save your servant.
I am the one who trusts you.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,
because I call to you all day long.[h]
4 Make glad the soul of your servant,
because I desire you,[i] O Lord.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
and abundant in loyal love[j] for all who call to you.
6 Heed, O Yahweh, my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I call to you,
because you answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
and there are no works like yours.
9 All the nations that you have made will come
and bow down[k] before you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
10 For you are great and doing wondrous things;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me, O Yahweh, your way,
that I may walk in your truth.
Unite my heart[l] to fear your name.
12 I will give you thanks, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and glorify your name forever,
13 because your loyal love is great toward me,
and you will have delivered my life from Sheol[m] below.
14 O God, arrogant men have risen up against me,
even a gang of ruthless men seek my life,
but they do not set you before them.[n]
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger[o] and abundant in loyal love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.
Give your strength to your servant,
and grant victory to the son[p] of your maidservant.
17 Do a sign that benefits me,
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame,
because you, O Yahweh, have helped me and comforted me.
Aaron and Miriam Murmur Against Moses
12 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he took (because he took a Cushite wife); 2 and they said, “Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Has not Yahweh also spoken through us?” And Yahweh heard it. 3 Now the man, Moses, was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth, 4 and Yahweh said suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Go out, you three, to the tent of assembly.” So the three of them when out. 5 And Yahweh went down in a column of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and he called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them went, 6 and he said,
“Please hear my words:
If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh,
will make myself known to him in a vision.
I will speak to him in a dream.[a]
7 Not so with my servant Moses;
in all my house he is faithful.
8 I will speak to him mouth to mouth,
in clearness, not in riddles;
and he will look at the form of Yahweh.
Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
9 And Yahweh became very angry[b] with them, and he went away. 10 And the cloud departed from on the tent, and behold, Miriam was infected with a skin disease[c] white like snow; when Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was afflicted with a skin disease. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, please do not put on us this sin in which we were foolish and in which we have sinned. 12 Please do not let her be like the dead, whose flesh is half consumed when coming out from the womb of its mother.” 13 And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “God, please heal her!”[d] 14 But Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had surely spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined for seven days to an outside place of the camp, and afterward she may be gathered.” 15 So Miriam was confined to the outside place of the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was gathered. 16 And afterward the people set out from Hazeroth, and they encamped in the desert of Paran.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.[a] 14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, although they[b] do not have the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts one after another accusing or even defending them 16 on the day when God judges the secret things of people, according to my gospel, through[c] Christ Jesus.
Jews also Condemned by the Law
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve the things that are superior, because you[d] are instructed by the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Therefore, the one who teaches someone else, do you not teach yourself? The one who preaches not to steal, do you steal? 22 The one who says not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? The one who abhors idols, do you rob temples? 23 Who boast in the law, by the transgression of the law you dishonor God![e] 24 For just as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[f]
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
10 “See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven constantly see the face of my Father who is in heaven.[a] 12 What do you think? If a certain man has[b] a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and[c] look for the one that wandered away? 13 And if he happens to find it, truly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not wander away. 14 In the same way it is not the will of[d] your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
Confronting a Brother Who Sins Against You
15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go correct him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two others, so that by the testimony[e] of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it[f] to the church. But if he refuses to listen to the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will be released in heaven. 19 Again, truly I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about any matter that they ask, it will be done for them from my Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”
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