Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 138
May the Kings Praise You
Heading
By David.
Thanks From a Grateful Heart
1 I will thank you with all my heart.
Before the gods[a] I will make music for you.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple.
I will give thanks to your name
because of your mercy and because of your truth.
Yes, you made your word even greater than your name.[b]
3 By day I called, and you answered me.
You have made my soul strong.
4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Lord,
when they have heard the message from your mouth.
5 Then they will sing about the ways of the Lord,
because the glory of the Lord is great.
6 Indeed the Lord is exalted, but he sees the lowly,
and he recognizes the proud from a distance.
7 If I walk surrounded by danger, you keep me alive
in spite of the anger of my enemies.
You stretch out your hand.
You save me with your right hand.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose[c] for me.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Do not let go of the works[d] of your hands.
Psalm 139
God’s Attributes—Too Wonderful for Me!
Heading
For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
God Is All-Knowing
1 Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
3 You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,[e]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before there is a word on my tongue,
you, Lord, already know it completely.
5 You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.
God Is Present Everywhere
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?[f]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
9 I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
10 Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
11 And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
12 then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
God Is Powerful and Good
13 For you created my inner organs.[g]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
17 Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
God Is Holy
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
20 men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
22 I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
23 Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
Psalm 147
Praise Him for Providing for His People
The Creator Restores His People
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
How good it is to make music to our God.
Yes, praise is pleasant and fitting!
2 The one who builds Jerusalem is the Lord.
He assembles the outcasts of Israel.
3 He is the one who heals the brokenhearted
and who bandages their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars.
He calls them all by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power.
To his understanding there is no limit.
6 The one who sustains the humble is the Lord.
He pushes the wicked down to the ground.
The Creator Loves His People
7 Respond to the Lord with thanksgiving.
Make music to our God on the lyre.
8 He is the one who covers the sky with clouds.
He determines rain for the earth.
He makes grass sprout on the mountains.
9 He gives their food to the cattle
and to the young ravens when they call.
10 He is not impressed by the strength of the horse.
He is not pleased with the legs of a man.
11 The Lord is pleased with those who fear him,
those who wait for his mercy.
The Creator Reveals His Word
12 Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem.
Praise your God, O Zion,
13 because he strengthens the bars on your gates.
He blesses your children within you.
14 He brings peace to your borders.
He satisfies you with the best wheat.
15 He sends his message to the earth.
His word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool.
He scatters frost like ashes.
17 He sends his hail like pieces of bread.
Who can stand in the face of his cold winds?
18 He sends his word, and the ice melts.
He breathes on the snow.[b] The waters flow.[c]
19 He reveals his words to Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.
20 He has not done this for any other nation.
They do not know his judgments.
Praise the Lord.
The Lord’s Response
65
I was available to those who did not ask.
I let myself be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 I reached out my hands all day to a stubborn people,
who are walking in a way that is not good,
who follow their own ideas.
3 This people continually provokes me to anger, right to my face,
by sacrificing in the groves,
by burning incense on the bricks.
4 They sit in tombs
and keep their vigils all night.
They eat the flesh of pigs,
and broth made from unclean meat is in their pots.
5 They say, “Keep to yourself.
Do not touch me because I am too holy for you.”
These people are smoke in my nostrils,
like a fire burning all day.
6 Look, I have put it in writing.
I will not be silent until I repay them.
I will repay into their lap
7 both their[a] guilt and the guilt of their fathers,
says the Lord.
Because they burned incense upon the mountains,
and upon the hills they ridiculed me,
so I will measure out their full pay into their lap.
8 This is what the Lord says.
Just as sweet wine is found in the grape cluster,
so that someone says, “Do not destroy it
because there is a blessing in it,”
so I will act in the same way for the sake of my servants,
in order not to destroy the whole people.
9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
and from Judah those who will inherit my mountains,
so that my chosen ones will possess the land,
and my servants will dwell there.
Letter to the Church in Sardis
3 To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:
The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:
I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what is left, which is about to die, for I have found that your works are not complete in the sight of my God. 3 Therefore remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and repent! If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come upon you.
4 Yet you have a few names in Sardis, people who have not defiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothing, for they are worthy.
5 The one who is victorious in this way[a] will be clothed in white clothing. I certainly will not erase his name from the Book of Life, and I will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
6 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
6 After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. 3 Jesus went up on the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 But Jesus was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii[a] worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have just a little.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousand men.
11 Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to those who were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.