Book of Common Prayer
Worship and Obedience
95 Come! Let us sing joyfully to the Lord!
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout with songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is an awesome God;
a great king above all divine beings.[a]
4 He holds in his hand the lowest parts of the earth
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea that he made belongs to him,
along with the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come! Let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel in the presence of the Lord, who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his care.[b]
If only you would listen to his voice today,
8 do not be stubborn like your ancestors were[c] at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me.
They tested me,
even though they had seen my awesome deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said,
“They are a people whose hearts continuously err,
and they have not understood my ways.”
11 So in my anger I declared an oath:
“They are not to enter my place of rest.”
A song. A psalm by the descendants of Korah. According to Machalath Leannoth. An instruction[a] by Heman the Ezrahite.
A Cry for Help
88 Lord, God of my salvation,
by day and by night I cry out before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
listen[b] to my cry.
3 For my life is filled with troubles
as I approach Sheol.[c]
4 I am considered as one of those descending into the Pit,[d]
like a mighty man without strength,
5 released to remain[e] with the dead,
lying in a grave like a corpse,
remembered no longer,
and cut off from your power.
6 You have assigned me to the lowest part of the Pit,[f]
to the darkest depths.
7 Your anger lies heavily upon me;
you pound[g] me with all your waves.
8 You caused my acquaintances to shun me;[h]
you make me extremely abhorrent to them.
Restrained, I am unable to go out.
9 My eyes languish on account of my affliction;
all day long I call out to you, Lord,
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Can you perform wonders for the dead?
Can departed spirits stand up to praise you?
11 Can your gracious love be declared in the grave
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?[i]
12 Can your awesome deeds be known in darkness
or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
13 As for me, I cry out to you Lord,
and in the morning my prayer greets you.
14 Why, Lord, have you rejected me?
Why have you hidden your face from me?
15 Since my youth I have been oppressed
and in danger of death.
I bear your dread
and am overwhelmed.
16 Your burning anger overwhelms me;
your terrors destroy me.
17 Like waters, they engulf me all day long;
they surround me on all sides.
18 You caused my friend and neighbor to shun me;[j]
and my acquaintances are confused.[k]
A Davidic Psalm[a]
God is My Refuge
91 The one who lives in the shelter of the Most High,
who rests in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord,
“You are my refuge, my fortress,
and my God in whom I trust!”
3 He will surely deliver you from the hunter’s snare
and from the destructive plague.
4 With his feathers he will cover you,
under his wings you will find safety.
His truth is your shield and armor.
5 You need not fear terror that stalks[b] in the night,
the arrow that flies in the day,
6 plague that strikes in the darkness,
or calamity that destroys at noon.
7 If a thousand fall at your side
or ten thousand at your right hand,
it will not overcome you.
8 Only observe[c] it with your eyes,
and you will see how the wicked are paid back.
9 “Lord, you are my refuge!”
Because you chose the Most High as your dwelling place,
10 no evil will fall upon you,
and no affliction will approach your tent,
11 for he will command his angels
to protect you in all your ways.
12 With their hands they will lift you up
so you will not trip over a stone.
13 You will stomp on lions and snakes;
you will trample young lions and serpents.
The Lord Speaks
14 Because he has focused his love on me,
I will deliver him.
I will protect him[d]
because he knows my name.
15 When he calls out to me,
I will answer him.
I will be with him in his[e] distress.
I will deliver him,
and I will honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with long life;
I will show him my deliverance.
A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath Day
Praise and Thanksgiving to God
92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord
and to sing praise to your name, Most High;
2 to proclaim your gracious love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
and the contemplative sound of a harp.
4 Because you made me glad
with your awesome deeds, Lord,
I will sing for joy at the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, Lord!
Your thoughts are unfathomable.[f]
6 A stupid man doesn’t know,
and a fool can’t comprehend this:
7 Though the wicked sprout like grass;
and all who practice iniquity flourish,
it is they who will be eternally destroyed.
8 But you are exalted forever, Lord.
9 Look at your enemies, Lord!
Look at your enemies, for they are destroyed;
everyone who practices iniquity will be scattered.[g]
10 You’ve grown my strength[h] like the horn of a wild ox;
I was anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eyes gloated over those who lie in wait for me;[i]
when those of evil intent attack me, my ears will hear.
12 The righteous will flourish like palm trees;
they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the Lord’s Temple,
they will flourish in the courtyard of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit even in old age;[j]
they will be luxuriant and green.
15 They will proclaim: “The Lord is upright;
my rock, in whom there is no injustice.”
The Broken Covenant
11 This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the words of this covenant, and convey them to the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 3 You are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “Cursed is the person who does not listen to the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace. I said, ‘Obey me and do everything[a] that I commanded you. Then you will be my people and I’ll be your God.’ 5 As a result, I’ll fulfill the oath that I made with your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as is the case today.”’”
Then I answered, “So be it,[b] Lord.”
6 The Lord told me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You are to say, ‘Listen to the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I’ve diligently warned your ancestors from the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt until now, regularly warning them,[c] saying, “Obey me!” 8 But they would not listen or turn their ear, and each of them stubbornly followed his own evil desires.[d] So I brought on them all the consequences[e] of this covenant that I commanded them to fulfill, but they did not.’”
14 “Jeremiah,[a] don’t pray for this people and don’t cry or pray for them. I won’t listen when they cry out to me because of their disaster.
15 “What right does my beloved have in my house,
when she has carried out many evil schemes?
Can sacrificial[b] flesh turn disaster away from you,
so you can rejoice?”
16 The Lord once called you a green olive tree,
with beautiful shape and fruit.
With a great roaring sound, he has set fire to it
and its branches will be destroyed.
17 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies who planted you has called for disaster on you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, has provoked me by burning incense to Baal.”
Jeremiah’s Life is Threatened
18 The Lord made it known to me,
and so I understood.
Then you showed me their malicious deeds.
19 I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I didn’t know that they had devised schemes
against me. They told themselves,[c]
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit.
Let’s eliminate him from the land of the living,
so his name won’t be remembered again.”
20 Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the righteous judge,
the one who tests feelings and the heart,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I’ve committed my case to you.
No Longer Sin’s Slaves, but God’s Slaves
6 What should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 Of course not! How can we who died as far as sin is concerned go on living in it?
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into union with the Messiah[a] Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah[b] was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too may live an entirely new life. 5 For if we have become united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the person who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with the Messiah,[c] we believe that we will also live with him, 9 for we know that the Messiah,[d] who was raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 For when he died, he died once and for all as far as sin is concerned. But now that he is alive, he lives for God. 11 In the same way, you too must continuously consider yourselves dead as far as sin is concerned, but living for God through the Messiah[e] Jesus.[f]
33 They replied to him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, I tell all of you[a] emphatically, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.[b] 35 The slave does not remain in the household forever, but the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”
The Real Children of Abraham
37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me because you’ve not received what I’ve told you. 38 I declare what I’ve seen in my[c] Father’s presence, and you’re doing what you’ve heard from your father.”
39 They replied to him, “Our father is Abraham!”
Jesus told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did.[d] 40 But now you’re trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham wouldn’t have done that. 41 You are doing your father’s actions.”
They told him, “We’re not illegitimate children. We have one Father, God himself.”
42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would’ve loved me, because I came from God and am here. I haven’t come on my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I’ve said? It’s because you can’t listen to my words. 44 You belong to your father the Devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has never stood for truth, since there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But it is because I speak the truth that you don’t believe me. 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who belongs to God listens to the words of God. The reason you don’t listen is because you don’t belong to God.”
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