Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Goodness
Of David.[a]
138 I give you thanks with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have magnified your word[b] according to all your name.[c]
3 When[d] I called and you answered me,
you emboldened me in my soul with strength.
4 All the kings of the earth
will praise you, O Yahweh,
when they have heard the words[e] of your mouth,
5 and they will sing of the ways of Yahweh,
because Yahweh’s glory is great.
6 Though Yahweh is high, yet he sees the lowly,
but the proud he perceives[f] at a distance.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me alive.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies,
and you save me with your right hand.
8 Yahweh accomplishes things for my benefit.
O Yahweh, your loyal love endures forever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.
The Knowledge of God
For the music director. Of David. A psalm.[g]
139 O Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You search out[h] my wandering and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word yet on my tongue,
but behold, O Yahweh, you know it completely.
5 You barricade me behind and in front,
and set your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is set high; I cannot prevail against it.
7 Where I can go from your Spirit,
or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, there you are,
and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.
9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn,
and I alight on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
and your right hand would hold me fast.
11 And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,
and the light around me will be as night,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you,[i]
and the night shines as the day—
the darkness and the light are alike for you.
13 Indeed you created my inward parts;[j]
you wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.[k]
Wonderful are your works,
and my soul knows it well.
15 My frame[l] was not hidden from you,
when I was created secretly,[m]
and intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,[n]
and in your book they all were written—
days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
17 And to me, how precious[o] are your thoughts, O God;
how vast is their sum.
18 If I should count them,
they would outnumber the sand.
I awaken, and I am still with you.
19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God—
so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—[p]
20 who speak against you deceitfully.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with a complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Praise to Yahweh for His Providence
147 Praise Yah.[a]
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant; praise is fitting.
2 Yahweh is building Jerusalem;
he gathers the scattered ones of Israel.
3 He is the one who heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
he gives names to all of them.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is unlimited.
6 Yahweh helps the afflicted up;
he brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving;
sing praises to our God with lyre,
8 who covers the heavens with clouds,
who provides rain for the earth,
who causes grass to grow on the mountains.
9 He gives to the animal its food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
he takes no pleasure in the legs of the man.
11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him,
the ones who hope[b] for his loyal love.
12 Laud Yahweh, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion,
13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates.
He blesses your children within you;
14 he makes your border peaceful;
he satisfies you with the finest of wheat.[c]
15 He sends out his command[d] to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes;
17 he throws his hail like crumbs.
Who can stand before his cold?[e]
18 He sends out his word and melts them;
he blows his breath, the water flows.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not done so for any nation,
and they do not know his ordinances.
Praise Yah.[f]
Judgment and Salvation
65 “I let myself be sought by 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 spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people,
those who walk after their thoughts in the way that is not good,
3 the people who provoke[a] me to anger continually to my face,
slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden,
and making smoke offerings on bricks,
4 who sit[b] in graves
and spend the night in secret places,[c]
who eat[d] the flesh of swine
with[e] a fragment[f] of impurity in their vessels,
5 who say,[g] “Keep to yourself![h]
You must not come near me, for I am too holy for you!”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,[i]
a fire burning all day.
6 Look! It is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will repay;
and I will repay in[j] the fold of their garment
7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestors[k] together, says Yahweh,
because they made smoke offerings on the mountains
and they taunted me on the hills,
I will measure their punishment from the beginning into the fold of their garment.”
8 Thus says Yahweh: “Just as the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say ‘You must not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for the sake of my servants by[l] not destroying everyone.[m]
The Letter to the Church in Sardis
3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
“This is what the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: ‘I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. 2 Be on the alert and strengthen the remaining things that are about to die, for I have not found your works completed before my God. 3 Therefore remember how you have received and heard, and observe it, and repent. If therefore you are not on the alert, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come against you. 4 But you have a few people[a] in Sardis who have not defiled their clothing, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers in this way will be dressed in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will declare his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The Feeding of Five Thousand
6 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee (that is, Tiberias). 2 And a large crowd was following him because they were observing the signs that he was doing on those who were sick. 3 So Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 (Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.) 5 Then Jesus, when he looked up[a] [b] and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?” 6 (Now he said this to test him, because he knew what he was going to do.) 7 Philip replied to him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for them, in order that each one could receive a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people recline.” (Now there was a lot of grass in the place.) So the men reclined, approximately five thousand in number. 11 Then Jesus took the bread, and after he[c] had given thanks, he distributed it[d] to those who were reclining—likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather the remaining fragments so that nothing is lost.” 13 So they gathered them,[e] and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 Now when[f] the people saw the sign that he performed, they began to say,[g] “This one is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
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