Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
Perplexity about God’s Promises
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.(A)
1 I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;(B)
I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations
with my mouth.(C)
2 For I will declare,
“Faithful love is built up forever;
You establish Your faithfulness in the heavens.”(D)
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David My servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.’”(E)
5 Lord, the heavens praise Your wonders(F)—
Your faithfulness also—
in the assembly of the holy ones.(G)
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[a] is like the Lord?(H)
7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than[b] all who surround Him.(I)
8 Lord God of Hosts,
who is strong like You, Lord?(J)
Your faithfulness surrounds You.
9 You rule the raging sea;
when its waves surge, You still them.(K)
10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;(L)
You scattered Your enemies with Your powerful arm.(M)
11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours.
The world and everything in it—You founded them.(N)
12 North and south—You created them.(O)
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.(P)
13 You have a mighty arm;
Your hand is powerful;
Your right hand is lifted high.(Q)
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation
of Your throne;(R)
faithful love and truth go before You.(S)
15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;(T)
Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.(U)
16 They rejoice in Your name all day long,
and they are exalted by Your righteousness.(V)
17 For You are their magnificent strength;(W)
by Your favor our horn is exalted.(X)
18 Surely our shield[c] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.(Y)
19 You once spoke in a vision to Your loyal ones
and said: “I have granted help to a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen[d] from the people.(Z)
20 I have found David My servant;
I have anointed him with My sacred oil.(AA)
21 My hand will always be with him,
and My arm will strengthen him.(AB)
22 The enemy will not afflict[e] him;
no wicked man will oppress him.(AC)
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike those who hate him.(AD)
24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,
and through My name
his horn will be exalted.(AE)
25 I will extend his power to the sea
and his right hand to the rivers.(AF)
26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,(AG)
my God, the rock of my salvation.’(AH)
27 I will also make him My firstborn,
greatest of the kings of the earth.(AI)
28 I will always preserve My faithful love for him,
and My covenant with him will endure.(AJ)
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as heaven lasts.[f](AK)
30 If his sons forsake My instruction
and do not live by My ordinances,(AL)
31 if they dishonor My statutes
and do not keep My commands,(AM)
32 then I will call their rebellion
to account with the rod,
their sin with blows.(AN)
33 But I will not withdraw
My faithful love from him
or betray My faithfulness.(AO)
34 I will not violate My covenant
or change what My lips have said.(AP)
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.(AQ)
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before Me,(AR)
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”(AS)
38 But You have spurned and rejected him;
You have become enraged with Your anointed.(AT)
39 You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;
You have completely dishonored his crown.[g](AU)
40 You have broken down all his walls;
You have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.(AV)
41 All who pass by plunder him;(AW)
he has become an object of ridicule
to his neighbors.(AX)
42 You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.(AY)
43 You have also turned back his sharp sword
and have not let him stand in battle.(AZ)
44 You have made his splendor[h] cease
and have overturned his throne.(BA)
45 You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.(BB)
46 How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your anger keep burning like fire?(BC)
47 Remember how short my life is.
Have You created everyone for nothing?(BD)
48 What man can live and never see death?
Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?(BE)
49 Lord, where are the former acts of Your faithful love
that You swore to David in Your faithfulness?(BF)
50 Remember, Lord, the ridicule against Your servants—
in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples—
51 how Your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.(BG)
52 May the Lord be praised forever.
Amen and amen.(BH)
Abandoning the Lord and His Law
10 “When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us?(A) What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me”(B)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them.(C) Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction. 12 You did more evil than your fathers.(D) Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me. 13 So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with.(E) There you will worship other gods(F) both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.[a]
14 “However, take note! The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’(G) 15 but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north(H) and from all the other lands where He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.(I)
Punishment of Exile
16 “I am about to send for many fishermen”(J)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, 17 for My gaze takes in all their ways.(K) They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight. 18 I will first repay them double for their guilt(L) and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.”
19 Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress,(M)
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our fathers inherited only lies,
worthless idols(N) of no benefit at all.”
20 Can one make gods for himself?
But they are not gods.(O)
21 “Therefore, I am about to inform them,
and this time I will make them know
My power and My might;
then they will know that My name is Yahweh.”(P)
An Illustration from Marriage
7 Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers,(A) are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives.(B) But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death(C) in relation to the law(D) through the crucified body of the Messiah,(E) so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh,[a](F) the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us[b](G) and bore fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way[c] of the Spirit(H) and not in the old letter of the law.
Sin’s Use of the Law
7 What should we say then?(I) Is the law sin? Absolutely not!(J) On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.(K) For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.(L)[d] 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,(M) produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.(N) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life(O) resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me,(P) and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy,(Q) and the commandment is holy and just and good.
The Fourth Sign: Feeding 5,000
6 After(A) this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee(B) (or Tiberias(C)). 2 And a huge crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was performing by healing the sick. 3 So Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. 5 Therefore, when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward Him,(D) He asked Philip,(E) “Where will we buy bread so these people can eat?” 6 He asked this to test him,(F) for He Himself knew what He was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii(G) worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew,(H) Simon(I) Peter’s(J) brother, said to Him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. The men numbered about 5,000.(K) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.(L)
12 When they were full, He told His disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”(M) 13 So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign[a] He had done, they said, “This really is the Prophet(N) who was to come(O) into the world!”(P) 15 Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king,(Q) He withdrew again[b] to the mountain by Himself.
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