Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 63[a]
A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.[b]
63 O God, you are my God. I long for you.[c]
My soul thirsts[d] for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched[e] land where there is no water.
2 Yes,[f] in the sanctuary I have seen you,[g]
and witnessed[h] your power and splendor.
3 Because[i] experiencing[j] your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
4 For this reason[k] I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.[l]
5 As with choice meat[m] you satisfy my soul.[n]
My mouth joyfully praises you,[o]
6 whenever[p] I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
7 For you are my deliverer;[q]
under your wings[r] I rejoice.
8 My soul[s] pursues you;[t]
your right hand upholds me.
9 Enemies seek to destroy my life,[u]
but they will descend into the depths of the earth.[v]
10 Each one will be handed over to the sword;[w]
their corpses will be eaten by jackals.[x]
11 But the king[y] will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name[z] will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.[aa]
Psalm 98[a]
A psalm.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song,[b]
for he performs[c] amazing deeds.
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance.[d]
2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver;[e]
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel.[f]
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us.[g]
4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth.
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
5 Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music.
6 With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord.
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
9 before the Lord.
For he comes to judge the earth.
He judges the world fairly,[h]
and the nations in a just manner.
Psalm 103[a]
By David.
103 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
With all that is within me, praise[b] his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Do not forget all his kind deeds.[c]
3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases,[d]
4 who delivers[e] your life from the Pit,[f]
who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life with good things,[g]
so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.[h]
6 The Lord does what is fair,
and executes justice for all the oppressed.[i]
7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts[j] to Moses,
his deeds to the Israelites.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient[k] and demonstrates great loyal love.[l]
9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry.[m]
10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve;[n]
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve.[o]
11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers[p] over his faithful followers.[q]
12 As far as the eastern horizon[r] is from the west,[s]
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions[t] from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,[u]
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.[v]
14 For he knows what we are made of;[w]
he realizes[x] we are made of clay.[y]
15 A person’s life is like grass.[z]
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
16 but when the hot wind[aa] blows, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,[ab]
and is faithful to their descendants,[ac]
18 to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands.[ad]
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;
his kingdom extends over everything.[ae]
20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees
and obey his orders.[af]
21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his,[ag]
you servants of his who carry out his desires.[ah]
22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made,[ai]
in all the regions[aj] of his kingdom.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment[a] is near;
it comes with all the destructive power of the Sovereign One.[b]
7 For this reason all hands hang limp,[c]
every human heart loses its courage.[d]
8 They panic—
cramps and pain seize hold of them
like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.
They look at one another in astonishment;
their faces are flushed red.[e]
9 Look, the Lord’s day of judgment[f] is coming;
it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger,[g]
destroying[h] the earth[i]
and annihilating its sinners.
10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations
no longer give out their light;[j]
the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,
and the moon does not shine.[k]
11 [l] I will punish the world for its evil,[m]
and wicked people for their sin.
I will put an end to the pride of the insolent,
I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.[n]
12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,
and people more scarce[o] than gold from Ophir.
13 So I will shake the heavens,[p]
and the earth will shake loose from its foundation,[q]
because of the fury of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
in the day he vents his raging anger.[r]
18 For you have not come to something that can be touched,[a] to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind 19 and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words[b] such that those who heard begged to hear no more.[c] 20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”[d] 21 In fact, the scene[e] was so terrifying that Moses said, “I shudder with fear.”[f] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, the city[g] of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly 23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator[h] of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does.[i]
25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven? 26 Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven too.”[j] 27 Now this phrase “once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, that is, of created things, so that what is unshaken may remain. 28 So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe. 29 For our God is indeed a devouring fire.[k]
Further Testimony About Jesus by John the Baptist
22 After this,[a] Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. 23 John[b] was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim,[c] because water was plentiful there, and people were coming[d] to him[e] and being baptized. 24 (For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)[f]
25 Now a dispute came about between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew[g] concerning ceremonial washing.[h] 26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River,[i] about whom you testified—see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”
27 John replied,[j] “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’[k] but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[l] when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete.[m] 30 He must become more important while I become less important.”[n]
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