Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97[a]
Divine King and Universal Judge
1 The Lord is King;[b] let the earth exult;
let the distant isles rejoice.
2 [c]Clouds and darkness[d] surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire[e] precedes him,
consuming his enemies on every side.
4 His flashes of lightnwing illumine the world;
the earth sees this and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,[f]
and all the nations behold his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast of their worthless idols;
bow down before him, all you gods.[g]
8 Zion hears and rejoices,
and the cities[h] of Judah exult
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9 For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 [i]Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he protects the souls of his faithful ones
and rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 [j]Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name.
Psalm 99[a]
God, King of Justice and Holiness
1 The Lord is King;[b]
let the nations tremble.
He sits enthroned on the cherubim;
let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name:[c]
holy is he!
4 Mighty King, you love justice,
and you have established fairness;
in Jacob[d] you have brought about
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he![e]
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel was among those who invoked his name;
they cried out to the Lord,
and he answered them.[f]
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;[g]
they obeyed his decrees and the law he gave them.
8 O Lord, our God,
you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but you punished their wrongdoings.[h]
9 Exalt the Lord, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord, our God, is holy.[i]
Psalm 100[j]
Processional Entrance Hymn
1 A psalm of thanksgiving.[k]
Acclaim the Lord[l] with joy, all the earth;
2 serve the Lord[m] with gladness;
enter his presence with songs of joy.
3 Proclaim that the Lord is God.[n]
He made us and we are his possession;
we are his people, the flock he shepherds.
4 Offer thanksgiving as you enter his gates,[o]
sing hymns of praise as you approach his courts;
give thanks to him and bless his name,
5 for the Lord is good.
His kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness is constant to all generations.[p]
Psalm 94[a]
God, Judge, and Avenger
1 O Lord, you are an avenging God;[b]
shine forth, O God of vengeance.
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay[c] the arrogant as they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked be triumphant?[d]
4 [e]Their mouths pour forth their arrogant words
as these evildoers never cease to boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord,
and they oppress your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the foreigner
and put the orphan to death.
7 They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob[f] pays no attention.”
8 [g]Try to comprehend, you senseless people.
You fools, when will you gain some wisdom?[h]
9 Does the one who made the ear not hear?
Does the one who fashioned the eye not see?[i]
10 Does the one who guides the nations[j] not punish?
Does the one who instructs people lack knowledge?
11 The Lord is well aware of our thoughts[k]
and how foolish they are.
12 [l]Blessed[m] is the man you admonish, O Lord,
the man you teach by means of your law,
13 giving him respite in times of misfortune
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not abandon his people
or forsake his heritage.[n]
15 Judgment will again be based on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart[o] will uphold it.
16 [p]Who will stand up for me against the wicked?
Who will defend me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not come to my aid,
I would long ago have been consigned to the kingdom of silence.[q]
18 When I realized that my foot was slipping,
your kindness,[r] O Lord, raised me up.
19 When my anxious thoughts multiplied,
your comfort filled my soul with joy.[s]
20 [t]Can evil rulers have you as an ally,
those who make use of the law to oppress the helpless?[u]
21 They conspire against the righteous[v]
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has been my stronghold,[w]
my God, the rock in whom I find refuge.
23 He will repay the wicked for their iniquity
and destroy them for their evil deeds;
the Lord, our God, will destroy them.
Psalm 95[x]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [y]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [z]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[aa]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[ab] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[ac]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[ad]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[ae]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[af]
10 “For forty years[ag] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[ah]
19 The Sabbath Observed.[a] Thus said the Lord to me: Go forth and stand at the Gate of Benjamin[b] through which the kings of Judah enter and depart, and stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 There you are to say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah as well, and all you inhabitants of Jerusalem who pass through these gates.
21 Thus says the Lord: If you value your lives, take care that you do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Bring no burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do no work. You are to keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23 However, they did not listen or pay attention; rather, they stiffened their necks and would not heed my warnings or accept instruction.
24 But if you listen carefully to me, says the Lord, and carry no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, keeping the Sabbath holy and doing no work on that day, 25 then kings will come through the gates of this city, kings who will sit on the throne of David. They will come riding in chariots or on horseback, escorted by their officials, the people of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.
26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the foothills, from the hill country and the Negeb, to bring holocausts and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense and thank offerings, to the house of the Lord. 27 However, if you do not listen to my commands to keep the Sabbath day holy and to carry no burden through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to the gates, an unquenchable fire that will consume the palaces of Jerusalem.
13 Did what is good, then, cause my death? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as such, it brought about my death through what is good, and therefore through the commandment sin became completely sinful.
14 Sin and Death. We clearly understand that the Law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want; rather, I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, then I agree that the Law is good.[a] 17 This indicates that it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot do what is good. 19 For I do not do the good I desire; rather, it is the evil I do not desire that I end up doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not desire, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I have thus discovered this principle: when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 In my innermost self, I delight in the Law of God, 23 but I perceive in the members of my body another law at war with the Law that I cherish in my mind. Thus, I am made captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body destined for death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with my mind I am a slave to the Law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.
16 Jesus Walks on the Water.[a] When evening came, the disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and set out across the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 The sea then became rough because a strong wind had started to blow.
19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I.[b] Do not be afraid!” 21 They were ready to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately reached the shore toward which they were heading.
Jesus, the Bread of Life for Believers[c]
Earthly Food and Heavenly Bread.[d] The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea realized that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples; rather, the disciples had left by themselves. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.25 When the people found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
you came looking for me
not because you have seen signs
but because you ate the loaves
and your hunger was satisfied.
27 Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For it is on him
that God the Father has set his seal.”
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