Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.
2 For I have said, Mercy and loving-kindness shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness will You establish in the very heavens [unchangeable and perpetual].
3 [You have said] I have made a [a]covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant,
4 Your Seed I will establish forever, and I will build up your throne for all generations. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
5 Let heaven (the angels) praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones (the holy angels).
6 For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the mighty [heavenly beings] can be likened to the Lord,
7 A God greatly feared and revered in the council of the holy (angelic) ones, and to be feared and worshipfully revered above all those who are round about Him?
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a mighty one like unto You, O Lord? And Your faithfulness is round about You [an essential part of You at all times].
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves arise, You still them.
10 You have broken Rahab (Egypt) in pieces; with Your mighty arm You have scattered Your enemies.
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them; Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon joyously praise Your name.
13 You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, Your right hand is soaring high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.
15 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment], and by Your favor our horn is exalted and we walk with uplifted faces!
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once You spoke in a vision to Your devoted ones and said, I have endowed one who is mighty [a hero, giving him the power to help—to be a champion for Israel]; I have exalted one chosen from among the people.
20 I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him,(B)
21 With whom My hand shall be established and ever abide; My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact from him or do him violence or outwit him, nor shall the wicked afflict and humble him.
23 I will beat down his foes before his face and smite those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy and loving-kindness shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].
25 I will set his hand in control also on the [Mediterranean] Sea, and his right hand on the rivers [Euphrates with its tributaries].
26 He shall cry to Me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!
27 Also I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.(C)
28 My mercy and loving-kindness will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast and be faithful with him.
29 His [b]Offspring also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.(D)
30 If his children forsake My law and walk not in My ordinances,
31 If they break or profane My statutes and keep not My commandments,
32 Then will I punish their transgression with the rod [of chastisement], and their iniquity with stripes.(E)
33 Nevertheless, My loving-kindness will I not break off from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail [to lie and be false to him].
34 My covenant will I not break or profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.
35 Once [for all] have I sworn by My holiness, which cannot be violated; I will not lie to David:
36 His Offspring shall endure forever, and his throne [shall continue] as the sun before Me.(F)
37 It shall be established forever as the moon, the faithful witness in the heavens. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(G)
38 But [in apparent contradiction to all this] You [even You the faithful Lord] have cast off and rejected; You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.
39 You have despised and loathed and renounced the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his hedges and his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass along the road spoil and rob him; he has become the scorn and reproach of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Moreover, You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not made him to stand in battle.
44 You have made his glory and splendor to cease and have hurled to the ground his throne.
45 The days of his youth have You shortened; You have covered him with shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
46 How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? How long shall Your wrath burn like fire?
47 O [earnestly] remember how short my time is and what a mere fleeting life mine is. For what emptiness, falsity, futility, and frailty You have created all men!
48 What man can live and shall not see death, or can deliver himself from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the place of the dead)? Selah [pause, and calmly consider that]!
49 Lord, where are Your former loving-kindnesses [shown in the reigns of David and Solomon], which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, and earnestly imprint [on Your heart] the reproach of Your servants, scorned and insulted, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many and mighty peoples,
51 With which Your enemies have taunted, O Lord, with which they have mocked the footsteps of Your anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.
14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.
15 There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation. And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.(A)
16 And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me Ishi [my Husband], and you shall no more call Me Baali [my Baal].
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim [the Baals] out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned or seriously remembered by their name.
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for Israel with the living creatures of the open country and with the birds of the heavens and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword and [abolish battle equipment and] conflict out of the land and will make you lie down safely.
19 And I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.
20 I will even betroth you to Me in stability and in faithfulness, and you shall know (recognize, be acquainted with, appreciate, give heed to, and cherish) the Lord.
21 And in that day I will respond, says the Lord; I will respond to the heavens [which ask for rain to pour on the earth], and they shall respond to the earth [which begs for the rain it needs],
22 And the earth shall respond to the grain and the wine and the oil [which beseech it to bring them forth], and these shall respond to Jezreel [restored Israel, who prays for a supply of them].
23 And I will sow her for Myself anew in the land, and I will have love, pity, and mercy for her who had not obtained love, pity, and mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people, You are My people, and they shall say, You are my God!(B)
17 However, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church [to come to him there].
18 And when they arrived he said to them: You yourselves are well acquainted with my manner of living among you from the first day that I set foot in [the province of] Asia, and how I continued afterward,
19 Serving the Lord with all humility in tears and in the midst of adversity (affliction and trials) which befell me, due to the plots of the Jews [against me];
20 How I did not shrink from telling you anything that was for your benefit and teaching you in public meetings and from house to house,
21 But constantly and earnestly I bore testimony both to Jews and Greeks, urging them to turn in repentance [[a]that is due] to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ [[b]that is due Him].
22 And now, you see, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the [Holy] Spirit and obligated and compelled by the [convictions of my own] spirit, not knowing what will befall me there—
23 Except that the Holy Spirit clearly and emphatically affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me.
24 But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).
25 And now, observe, I perceive that all of you, among whom I have gone in and out proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more.
26 Therefore I testify and protest to you on this [our parting] day that I am clean and innocent and not responsible for the blood of any of you.
27 For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.
28 Take care and be on guard for yourselves and the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops and guardians, to shepherd (tend and feed and guide) the church of the Lord or [c]of God which He obtained for Himself [buying it and saving it for Himself] with His own blood.
29 I know that after I am gone, ferocious wolves will get in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 Even from among your own selves men will come to the front who, by saying perverse (distorted and corrupt) things, will endeavor to draw away the disciples after them [to their own party].
31 Therefore be always alert and on your guard, being mindful that for three years I never stopped night or day seriously to admonish and advise and exhort you one by one with tears.
32 And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).
33 I coveted no man’s silver or gold or [costly] garments.
34 You yourselves know personally that these hands ministered to my own needs and those [of the persons] who were with me.
35 In everything I have pointed out to you [by example] that, by working diligently in this manner, we ought to assist the weak, being mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, It is more blessed (makes one happier and more [d]to be envied) to give than to receive.
36 Having spoken thus, he knelt down with them all and prayed.
37 And they all wept freely and threw their arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him fervently and repeatedly,
38 Being especially distressed and sorrowful because he had stated that they were about to see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.
5 Now it occurred that while the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the message of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee).
2 And He saw two boats drawn up by the lake, but the fishermen had gone down from them and were washing their nets.
3 And getting into one of the boats, [the one] that belonged to Simon (Peter), He requested him to draw away a little from the shore. Then He sat down and continued to teach the crowd [of people] from the boat.
4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul.
5 And Simon (Peter) answered, Master, we toiled all night [[a]exhaustingly] and caught nothing [in our nets]. But [b]on the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets [again].
6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish; and as their nets were [[c]at the point of] breaking,
7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
9 For he was gripped with bewildering amazement [allied to terror], and all who were with him, at the haul of fish which they had made;
10 And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon (Peter). And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from now on you will be catching men!
11 And after they had run their boats on shore, they left everything and [d] joined Him as His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.
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