Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 24
A Psalm of David.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.(A)
2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers.
3 Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully.(B)
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation [description] of those who seek Him [who inquire of and for Him and of necessity require Him], who seek Your face, [O God of] Jacob. Selah [pause, and think of that]!(C)
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you age-abiding doors, that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; yes, lift them up, you age-abiding doors, that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is [He then] this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah [pause, and think of that]!
Psalm 29[a]
A Psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon many (great) waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion (Mount Hermon) like a young, wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord splits and flashes forth forked lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the wilderness tremble; the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the hinds bring forth their young, and His voice strips bare the forests, while in His temple everyone is saying, Glory!
10 The Lord sat as King over the deluge; the Lord [still] sits as King [and] forever!
11 The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Psalm 8
To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.(A)
3 When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:(B)
7 All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 84
To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] a particular Gittite tune. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God.
3 Yes, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young—even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 Behold our shield [the king as Your agent], O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed!
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know it all.
19 Where is the [a]way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its abode,
20 That you may conduct it to its home, and may know the paths to its house?
21 You must know, since you were born then! Or because you are so extremely old!
22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasuries of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?(A)
24 By what way is the light distributed, or the east wind spread over the earth?
25 Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain, or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on the uninhabited land [and] on the desert where no man lives,
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground and to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who has given it birth?
30 The waters are congealed like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the signs of the zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts [or in the dark clouds]? Or who has given understanding to the mind [or to the meteor]?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the [water] bottles of the heavens
38 When [heat has caused] the dust to run into a mass and the clods to cleave fast together?
39 Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions
40 When they couch in their dens or lie in wait in their hiding place?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food?
18 Then I saw another angel descending from heaven, possessing great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his radiance and splendor.
2 And he shouted with a mighty voice, She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen! She has become a resort and dwelling place for demons, a dungeon haunted by every loathsome spirit, an abode for every filthy and detestable bird.
3 For all nations have drunk the wine of her passionate unchastity, and the rulers and leaders of the earth have joined with her in committing fornication (idolatry), and the businessmen of the earth have become rich with the wealth of her excessive luxury and wantonness.(A)
4 I then heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues.(B)
5 For her iniquities (her crimes and transgressions) are piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and [her] crimes [and calls them up for settlement].(C)
6 Repay to her what she herself has paid [to others] and double [her doom] in accordance with what she has done. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed [for others].(D)
7 To the degree that she glorified herself and reveled in her wantonness [living deliciously and luxuriously], to that measure impose on her torment and anguish and tears and mourning. Since in her heart she boasts, I am not a widow; as a queen [on a throne] I sit, and I shall never see suffering or experience sorrow—(E)
8 So shall her plagues (afflictions, calamities) come thick upon her in a single day, pestilence and anguish and sorrow and famine; and she shall be utterly consumed (burned up with fire), for mighty is the Lord God Who judges her.
21 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be [a]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court.(A)
22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be [b]angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be [c]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be [d]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You [e]cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be [f]liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
23 So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24 Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
26 Truly I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last fraction of a penny.
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