Book of Common Prayer
Mem
Loving God’s Word
97 How I love your instruction![a]
Every day it is my meditation.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my adversaries,
since they are always with me.
99 I am more insightful than my teachers,
because your decrees are my meditations.
100 I have more common sense than the elders,
for I observe your precepts.
101 I keep away from every evil choice[b]
so that I may keep your word.[c]
102 I do not avoid your judgments,
for you pointed them out to me.
103 How pleasing is what you have to say to me—
tasting better than honey.
104 I obtain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every false way.
Nun
God’s Word a Light
105 Your word is[d] a lamp for my feet,
a light for my pathway.
106 I have given my word and affirmed it,
to keep your righteous judgments.
107 I am severely afflicted.
Revive me, Lord, according to your word.
108 Lord, please accept my voluntary offerings of praise,[e]
and teach me your judgments.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I do not forget your instruction.[f]
110 Though the wicked lay a trap for me,
I haven’t wandered away from your precepts.
111 I have inherited your decrees forever,
because they are the joy of my heart.
112 As a result, I am determined
to carry out your statutes forever.
Samek
Loving God’s Law
113 I despise the double-minded,
but I love your instruction.[g]
114 You are my fortress and shield;
I hope in your word.
115 Leave me, you who practice evil,
that I may observe the commands of my God.
116 Sustain me, God,[h] as you have promised,
and I will live.
Do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
117 Support me, that I may be saved,
and I will carry out your statutes consistently.
118 You reject all who wander from your statutes,
since their deceitfulness is vain.
119 You remove[i] all the wicked of the earth like[j] dross;
therefore I love your decrees.
120 My flesh trembles out of fear of you,
and I am in awe of[k] your judgments.
For the Director: On the Gittith. By Asaph.
Celebrating and Remembering God
81 Sing joyfully to God, our strength.
Raise a shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Sing a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Blow the ram’s horn when there is a New Moon,
when there is a full moon,
on our festival day,
4 because it is a statute in Israel,
an ordinance by the God of Jacob,
5 a decree that he prescribed for Joseph
when he went throughout the land of Egypt,
speaking a language I did not recognize.[a]
6 I removed the burden from your[b] shoulder;
your[c] hands were freed of the burdensome basket.[d]
7 In a time of need you called out and I delivered you;
I answered you from the dark thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, My people and I will warn you.
Israel, if only you would obey me!
9 You must neither have a foreign god over you
or worship a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
open your mouth that I may fill it.
11 Yet my people didn’t obey my voice;
Israel didn’t submit to me.
12 So I allowed them[e] to continue in their stubbornness,
living by their own advice.
13 If only my people would obey me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies.
I would turn against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord will cringe before him;
their punishment will be permanent.
16 But I will feed Israel[f] with the finest wheat,
satisfying you with honey from the rock.
A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice
2 “How long will you judge partially
by showing favor on the wicked?[i]
3 “Defend the poor and the fatherless.
Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the poor and the needy,
delivering them from the power of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand;
they walk about in the dark
while all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “Indeed I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 However, as all human beings do, you will die,
and like other rulers, you will fall.’
8 Arise, God, to judge the earth,
for all nations belong to you.
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
18 Incurable sorrow has overwhelmed me,
my heart is sick within me.
19 Listen! My people[a] cry
from a distant land:
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her king no longer there?”
The Lord Speaks
“Why did they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign gods?”
The People Speak
20 The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we haven’t been delivered.
The Prophet Mourns
21 Because my people[b] are crushed, I’m crushed.
I mourn, and dismay overwhelms me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why is there no healing for my people?[c]
The Lord’s Sorrow for His People
9 [d]“Oh, that my head were a spring of water,[e]
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
for then I would cry day and night for those
of my people[f] who have been killed.
2 Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert,
so that I could leave my people
and go away from them.
For all of them are adulterers,
a band of traitors.
3 They use their tongues like a bow.
Lies rather than truth fly throughout[g] the land.
They progress from one evil to another,
and they don’t know me,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Beware of your neighbors, and don’t trust
any of your relatives.
For all of your relatives act deceitfully,
and every friend goes around as a slanderer.
5 People deceive their friends,
and they don’t tell the truth.
They have taught their tongues to tell lies.
They exhaust themselves practicing evil.[h]
6 You yourself live in the midst of deception,
and because they are deceived they do not know me,”
declares the Lord.
We Enjoy Peace with God through Jesus
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.[b] 2 Through him we have also obtained[c] access by faith[d] into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast[e] because of our hope in God’s glory. 3 Not only that, but we also boast[f] in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5 Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 For at just the right time, while we were still powerless,[g] the Messiah[h] died for the ungodly. 7 For it is rare for anyone to die for a righteous person, though somebody might be brave enough to die for a good person. 8 But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that the Messiah[i] died for us while we were still sinners.
9 Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life! 11 Not only that, but we also continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah,[j] through whom we have now been reconciled.
Jesus the Light of the World
12 Later on, Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees told him, “You’re testifying about yourself. Your testimony isn’t valid.”[a]
14 Jesus answered them, “Even though I’m testifying about myself, my testimony is valid[b] because I know where I’ve come from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You’re judging by human standards,[c] but I’m not judging anyone. 16 Yet even if I should judge, my judgment would be valid,[d] because it is not I alone who judges, but I and the one who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two people is valid.[e] 18 I’m testifying about myself, and the Father who sent me is testifying about me.”
19 Then they asked him, “Where is this Father of yours?”
Jesus replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you had known me, you would’ve known my Father, too.” 20 He spoke these words in the treasury, while he was teaching in the Temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
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