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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
The Voice (VOICE)
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Psalm 50

Psalm 50

A song of Asaph.

The Mighty God, the Eternal—God of past, present, and future—
    has spoken over the world,
    calling together all things from sunrise to sunset.
From Zion, that perfectly beautiful holy place,
    shines the radiance of God.

Our God will come, and He will not enter on a whisper.
    A fire will devour the earth before Him;
    the wind will storm wildly about Him.
He calls heaven above and earth below
    to assist in bringing judgment on His people.
“Gather up those who are aligned with Me; bring them to Me;
    bring everyone who belongs to Me who have made covenant sacrifice.”
And the heavens shout of His justice,
    for He is the True God, an honest judge.

[pause][a]

“Listen, My people, I have something to say:
    O Israel, My testimony comes against you;
    I am God, your God.
I am not going to scold you because of your sacrifices;
    your burnt offerings are always before Me.
I will not accept the best bull from your fields
    or goats from your meadow,
10 For they are already Mine, just as the forest beast
    and the cattle grazing over a thousand hills are Mine.
11 Every bird flying over the mountains I know;
    every animal roaming over the fields belongs to Me.

12 I would not come to you if I were hungry,
    for the world and all it contains are Mine.
13 Do you really think I eat bull meat?
    Or drink goat’s blood?
14 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
    Be true to your word to the Most High.
15 When you are in trouble, call for Me.
    I will come and rescue you,
    and you will honor Me.”

16 But to those acting against Him, God says,
    “Who do you think you are?
    Listing off My laws,
    acting as if your life is in alignment with My ways?
17 For it’s clear that you despise My guidance;
    you throw My wise words over your shoulder.
18 You play with thieves,
    spend your time with adulterers.

19 Evil runs out of your mouth;
    your tongue is wrapped in deceit.
20 You sit back and gossip about your brother;
    you slander your mother’s son.
21 While you did these things, I kept silent;
    somehow you got the idea that I was like you.
But now My silence ends, and I am going to indict you.
    I’ll state the charge against you clearly, face-to-face.

22 All you who have forgotten Me, your God, should think about what I have said,
    or I will tear you apart and leave no one to save you.
23 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
    Do this, and you will honor Me.
    Those who straighten up their lives
    will know the saving grace of God.”

Psalm 59-60

Psalm 59

For the worship leader. A prayer[a] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”[b] when Saul sent assassins to David’s house.

Psalm 59 was inspired by the time there was a plan to kill David that was thwarted by David’s wife, Michal, who was Saul’s own daughter. She warned her husband, lowered him out of a window, and then deceived her father’s officers into believing David was bedridden with illness (1 Samuel 19:11–17).

Rescue me! Save me, O my God, from my enemies;
    set me in a safe place, far above any who come to attack me.
Rescue me from those malicious people,
    and save me from blood-thirsty murderers.

They have staked out my life; they are going to ambush me!
    Those brutes are aligned, ready to attack me
For no good cause, my Eternal One.
    I have not crossed them.
I’ve done nothing wrong, yet they rush ahead to start the assault.
    I beg You to help me; come and see for Yourself!
I plead with You, Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, True God of Israel,
    to get up and punish these people;
    do not let any betrayer off the hook; show no mercy to malicious evildoers!

[pause][c]

Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;
    they prowl about,
    howling like dogs.
Watch them! Snarling, dribbling their malicious insults.
    Their words cut loose from their lips like swords,
    and in their backstabbing they say, “Who’s listening anyway?”

But You, O Eternal One, laugh at them;
    You make fun of all the nations.
I will watch for You, for You keep me strong.
    God, You are my security!
10 My God is one step ahead of me with His mercy;
    He will show me the victory I desire over my enemies.
11 Don’t wipe them out, or my people may one day forget.
    Instead, use Your power to scatter and bring them to ruin.
    O Lord, You are our protection.
12 Sin pours from their mouths, cruel words from their lips.
    May they be caught in their pride.
For their foul curses and lies,
13     devour them with Your wrath,
    eat them up, leave no one alive.
Then people will surely know that the one True God rules over Jacob,
    even to the far ends of the earth.

[pause]

14 Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;
    they prowl about,
    howling like dogs.
15 They search through the city, scavenging for meat
    as they growl and grumble in dissatisfaction.

16 But me? I will sing of Your strength.
    I will awake with the sun to sing of Your loving mercy
Because in my most troubled hour,
    You defended me. You were my shelter.
17 I will lift my voice to sing Your praise, O my Strength—
    for You came to my defense.
    O God, You have shown me Your loving mercy.

Psalm 60

For the worship leader. A prayer[d] of David after his victory over the Arameans, Joab’s return, and the striking down of 12,000 Edomites in the valley of Salt. A song for instruction to the tune “A Lily Reminds Us.[e]

This is a communal lament recalling David’s battles with Zobah and Naharaim from Aram (Syria) and Joab’s victory over the Edomites (2 Samuel 8).

God, You have turned away from us;
    You have shattered us into a million tiny pieces;
    You have boiled with anger.
    Now put us back together, and refresh us with Your mercy.
You have made the earth shake; You have cracked it open effortlessly.
    Heal the fissures in the earth, for it is unsteady.
You have caused Your people to suffer;
    You have provided us with wine that makes us stagger.

You have unfurled a banner for those who revere You,
    a signal to gather in safety out of the enemy’s reach.

[pause][f]

So that Your treasured ones may be saved,
    rescue us with Your right hand, and answer our pleas!

God’s voice has been heard in His holy sanctuary:
    “I will celebrate; I will allocate Shechem
    and the Succoth Valley to My people.
Gilead belongs to Me, and so does Manasseh;
    Ephraim is the helmet that protects My head;
    Judah is the scepter through which I rule;
Moab is the washpot in which I rinse My feet.
    I will throw My shoe over Edom in conquest;
    prepare for My victory, Philistia. Cry out because of Me!”

But who will take me into the fortified city?
    Who will lead me into Edom?
10 Have You not turned Your back on us, O God?
    Will You stay away and not accompany our armies, O God?
11 Help us against our enemy; we need Your help!
    It’s useless to trust in the hand of man for liberation.
12 Only through God can we be successful.
    It is God alone who will defeat our enemies and bring us victory!

Psalm 33

Psalm 33

Release your heart’s joy in sweet music to the Eternal.
    When the upright passionately sing glory-filled songs to Him, everything is in its right place.
Worship the Eternal with your instruments, strings offering their praise;
    write awe-filled songs to Him on the 10-stringed harp.
Sing to Him a new song;
    play each the best way you can,
    and don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.

For the word of the Eternal is perfect and true;
    His actions are always faithful and right.
He loves virtue and equity;
    the Eternal’s love fills the whole earth.

The unfathomable cosmos came into being at the word of the Eternal’s imagination, a solitary voice in endless darkness.
    The breath of His mouth whispered the sea of stars into existence.
He gathers every drop of every ocean as in a jar,
    securing the ocean depths as His watery treasure.

Let all people stand in awe of the Eternal;
    let every man, woman, and child live in wonder of Him.
For He spoke, and all things came into being.
    A single command from His lips, and all creation obeyed and stood its ground.

10 The Eternal cripples the schemes of the other nations;
    He impedes the plans of rival peoples.
11 The Eternal’s purposes will last to the end of time;
    the thoughts of His heart will awaken and stir all generations.
12 The nation whose True God is the Eternal is truly blessed;
    fortunate are all whom He chooses to inherit His legacy.

13 The Eternal peers down from heaven
    and watches all of humanity;
14 He observes every soul
    from His divine residence.
15 He has formed every human heart, breathing life into every human spirit;
    He knows the deeds of each person, inside and out.
16 A king is not delivered by the might of his army.
    Even the strongest warrior is not saved by his own strength.
17 A horse is not the way to victory;
    its great strength cannot rescue.

18 Listen, the eye of the Eternal is upon those who live in awe of Him,
    those who hope in His steadfast love,
19 That He may save them from the darkness of the grave
    and be kept alive during the lean seasons.

20 We live with hope in the Eternal. We wait for Him,
    for He is our Divine Help and Impenetrable Shield.
21 Our hearts erupt with joy in Him
    because we trust His holy name.
22 O Eternal, drench us with Your endless love,
    even now as we wait for You.

Isaiah 9:18-10:4

17-18 Even now the Lord takes no joy in a single one, not even the young.
    Mercy has run out for even those without power—the widows and orphans.
For every single person is at fault and behaves badly.
    No one thinks or acts as God would have them do.
Every mouth utters foolishness like a wildfire, out of control;
    wickedness rages, leveling and clearing briars and thorns;
Forests and thickets burn, leaving the whole a smoking heap.
    Still, God’s anger smolders. His hand is raised; there’s more to come.
19 The Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies,
    sets our world on fire in His fury.
The rotten people become kindling for the fire,
    turning against one another until no one is spared.
20 They slice off what’s on the right and are still hungry;
    they eat what’s on the left and still aren’t satisfied.
And in their voracity, they consume their own.

Ravenous in their greed, no one is spared—not brothers or sisters, not allies or kin.

21 Manasseh and Ephraim devour each other
    and turn their covetous eye south, toward Judah.
Still, God’s anger smolders. His hand is raised; there’s more to come.

Manasseh and Ephraim are family; they have a common language and common culture, and they come from common stock. In every way that matters they are brothers, but they are at war with each other. And they don’t stop there. They turn against Judah, their southern relative. Amazingly, God has chosen them all to be His people, a nation of promise and destiny. How sad that it’s come to this! What is God to do with His children? God will not abandon them, yet neither will God put up with their destructive consumption, their greed and injustices. Indeed, their wrongdoing takes its own course of self-destruction, and God will not stop it. Sometimes God’s judgment consists of Him stepping back and leaving people to their devices—letting their will be done.

10 1-2 How awful it will be for those who mandate wickedness
    and legalize oppression, denying justice to the needy,
Taking away the rights of the poor among My people.
    Such leaders intend to make helpless widows and orphans their prey.
How will you opportunists handle the day of reckoning?
    What will you do when trouble comes from far away?
Will you run away from the disaster you caused?
    Who will help you? Where will you leave all your wealth?
You, too, must cower among the captives
    or fall among the dead.
Still, God’s anger smolders. His hand is raised; there’s more to come.

2 Peter 2:10-16

Is God different in the New Testament from what He is in the First Testament? In the First Testament, God seems prone to judgment; but some feel God is more concerned about love in the New Testament. However, the central and most repeated affirmation about God’s character in the First Testament is that He is gracious and compassionate (Exodus 34:6–7). And the New Testament clearly does not ignore the idea of God’s judgment, as this text shows. His judgment will come, but it is delayed by God’s patient mercy.

10 And above all, it shows He will punish those who let the desires of their bodies rule them and who have no respect for authority. People like this are so bold and willful that they aren’t even afraid of offending heavenly beings, 11 although the heavenly messengers—in spite of the fact that they have greater strength and power—make no such accusations against these people before the Lord. 12 These people who speak ill of what they do not understand are no different from animals—without sense, operating only on their instincts, born to be captured and killed—and they will be destroyed just like those animals, 13 receiving the penalty for their evil acts. They waste their days in parties and carousing. As they feast with you, these stains and blemishes on your community are feasting on their deceptions.[a] 14 Their eyes are always looking for their next adulterous conquests; their appetites for sin cannot be satisfied. They seduce the unwary soul, and greed is the only lesson they have learned by heart. God’s curse lies upon them. 15 They have veered off the right road and gotten lost, following in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, the false prophet. Balaam loved the reward he could get by doing evil, 16 but he was rebuked for crossing the line into sin; his own speechless donkey scolded him in a human voice, an amazing miracle that reined in the prophet’s insanity.[b]

Matthew 3:1-12

Nazarene means, “tender, green, or living branch.” Jesus is the living Branch, the branch of David that extends the reach of the tree of Israel eventually to foreigners and outsiders.

Around the same time, a man called John[a] began to travel, preach, and ritually wash people through baptism in the wilderness of Judea. John preached a stern but exciting message.

John: Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near.

John’s proclamation fulfilled a promise made by the ancient prophet Isaiah, who had said, “There will be a voice calling from the desert, saying,

Prepare the road for the Eternal One’s journey;
    repair and straighten out every mile of our God’s highway.”[b]

John wore wild clothes made from camel hair with a leather belt around his waist—the clothes of an outcast, a rebel. He ate locusts and wild honey.

Sometimes when people see John they are reminded of the last time God’s people had wandered in a wilderness—after the exodus from Egypt. John is all about wilderness. He preaches in the wilderness, and he wears clothes just like the prophet Elijah had worn. They think perhaps John is inaugurating a new exodus. Actually, that is a pretty good way to think of it. The Anointed One, whose way John comes to prepare, will call humanity away from comfort and status; He will call His followers to challenge their assumptions and the things they take for granted.

People from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and indeed from all around the river Jordan came to John. They confessed their sins, and they were baptized[c] by him in the Jordan.

But John is not exactly warm to all those who come to him seeking cleansing.

He told some Pharisees and Sadducees who came for the ritual baptism,

John: You children of serpents! You brood of vipers! Did someone suggest you flee from the wrath that is upon us? 8-9 If you think that simply hopping in the Jordan will cleanse you, then you are sorely mistaken. Your life must bear the fruits of turning toward righteousness. Nor are you correct if you think that being descended from Abraham is enough to make you holy and right with God. Yes, the children of Abraham are God’s chosen children, but God can adopt as daughters and sons anyone He likesHe can turn these stones into sons if He likes.

To be made right with God, one must truly repent. It means to turn completely away from sin and completely toward God.

10 Even now there is an ax poised at the root of every tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and tossed into the fire. 11 I ritually cleanse you through baptism[d] as a mark of turning your life around. But someone is coming after me, someone whose sandals I am not fit to carry, someone who is more powerful than I. He will wash[e] you not in water but in fire and with the Holy Spirit. 12 He carries a winnowing fork in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor; He will gather up the good wheat in His barn, and He will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.