Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18
Praise for Deliverance
For the choir director. Of the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.(A) He said:
1 I love You, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer,(B)
my God, my mountain where I seek refuge,
my shield(C) and the horn of my salvation,(D)
my stronghold.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,(E)
and I was saved from my enemies.(F)
4 The ropes of death were wrapped around me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.(G)
5 The ropes of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.(H)
6 I called to the Lord in my distress,
and I cried to my God for help.
From His temple He heard my voice,(I)
and my cry to Him reached His ears.(J)
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the mountains trembled;(K)
they shook because He burned with anger.
8 Smoke rose from His nostrils,
and consuming fire came from His mouth;
coals were set ablaze by it.[a](L)
9 He parted the heavens and came down,(M)
a dark cloud beneath His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.(N)
11 He made darkness His hiding place,
dark storm clouds His canopy around Him.(O)
12 From the radiance of His presence,(P)
His clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.
13 The Lord thundered from[b] heaven;
the Most High projected His voice.[c](Q)
14 He shot His arrows and scattered them;
He hurled[d] lightning bolts and routed them.(R)
15 The depths of the sea became visible,
the foundations of the world were exposed,
at Your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.(S)
16 He reached down from heaven
and took hold of me;
He pulled me out of deep waters.(T)
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.(U)
18 They confronted me in the day of my distress,
but the Lord was my support.(V)
19 He brought me out to a spacious place;(W)
He rescued me because He delighted in me.(X)
20 The Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness;(Y)
He repaid me
according to the cleanness of my hands.(Z)
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not turned from my God to wickedness.(AA)
22 Indeed, I have kept all His ordinances in mind[e]
and have not disregarded His statutes.(AB)
23 I was blameless toward Him(AC)
and kept myself from sinning.
24 So the Lord repaid me
according to my righteousness,(AD)
according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.(AE)
25 With the faithful
You prove Yourself faithful;
with the blameless man
You prove Yourself blameless;
26 with the pure
You prove Yourself pure,
but with the crooked
You prove Yourself shrewd.(AF)
27 For You rescue an afflicted people,(AG)
but You humble those with haughty eyes.(AH)
28 Lord, You light my lamp;
my God illuminates my darkness.(AI)
29 With You I can attack a barrier,[f]
and with my God I can leap over a wall.(AJ)
30 God—His way is perfect;(AK)
the word of the Lord is pure.(AL)
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.(AM)
31 For who is God besides Yahweh?(AN)
And who is a rock? Only our God.(AO)
32 God—He clothes me with strength(AP)
and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer(AQ)
and sets me securely on the heights.[g](AR)
34 He trains my hands for war;(AS)
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.(AT)
35 You have given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand upholds me,(AU)
and Your humility exalts me.
36 You widen a place beneath me for my steps,(AV)
and my ankles do not give way.(AW)
37 I pursue my enemies and overtake them;
I do not turn back until they are wiped out.(AX)
38 I crush them, and they cannot get up;
they fall beneath my feet.(AY)
39 You have clothed me with strength for battle;(AZ)
You subdue my adversaries beneath me.(BA)
40 You have made my enemies retreat before me;[h](BB)
I annihilate those who hate me.(BC)
41 They cry for help, but there is no one to save them(BD)—
they cry to the Lord, but He does not answer them.(BE)
42 I pulverize them like dust before the wind;(BF)
I trample them[i] like mud in the streets.(BG)
43 You have freed me from the feuds among the people;
You have appointed me the head of nations;(BH)
a people I had not known serve me.(BI)
44 Foreigners submit to me grudgingly;
as soon as they hear,[j] they obey me.(BJ)
45 Foreigners lose heart
and come trembling from their fortifications.(BK)
46 The Lord lives—may my rock be praised!
The God of my salvation is exalted.(BL)
47 God—He gives me vengeance(BM)
and subdues peoples under me.(BN)
48 He frees me from my enemies.
You exalt me above my adversaries;
You rescue me from violent men.(BO)
49 Therefore I will praise You, Yahweh, among the nations;
I will sing about Your name.(BP)
50 He gives great victories to His king;(BQ)
He shows loyalty to His anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.(BR)
The Dream’s Interpretation
31 “My king, as you were watching, a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, 33 its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay. 34 As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it,[a](A) struck the statue(B) on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them.(C) 35 Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff(D) from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled(E) the whole earth.
36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 Your Majesty, you are king of kings.(F) The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power,(G) strength, and glory. 38 Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the air—He has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all.(H) You are the head of gold.
39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.(I) 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.[b](J) 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another[c] but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
44 “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed,(K) and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms(L) and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. 45 You saw a stone(M) break off from the mountain without a hand touching it,[d](N) and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future.[e](O) The dream is true, and its interpretation certain.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s Response
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell down, paid homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present an offering and incense to him.(P) 47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings,(Q) and a revealer of mysteries,(R) since you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.(S) 49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego(T) to manage the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.(U)
The Last Hour
18 Children, it is the last hour.(A) And as you have heard, “Antichrist(B) is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
20 But you have an anointing(C) from the Holy One,(D) and all of you have knowledge.[a] 21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah?(E) This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son can have the Father;(F) he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.(G)
Remaining with God
24 What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son(H) and in the Father.(I) 25 And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.(J) 26 I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things(K) and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him.(L)
God’s Children
28 So now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears(M) we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.(N) 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right(O) has been born of Him.(P)
The Messiah’s Herald
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,[a] while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,(A) Herod was tetrarch[b] of Galilee,(B) his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea[c] and Trachonitis,[d] and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,[e] 2 during the high priesthood of Annas(C) and Caiaphas,(D) God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.(E) 3 He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan,(F) preaching a baptism of repentance[f] for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make His paths straight!
5 Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be made low;[g]
the crooked will become straight,
the rough ways smooth,
6 and everyone[h] will see the salvation of God.(G)[i]
7 He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers!(H) Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’(I) for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 9 Even now the ax is ready to strike[j] the root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”(J)
10 “What then should we do?”(K) the crowds were asking him.
11 He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts[k] must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”(L)
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”(M)
13 He told them, “Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.”
14 Some soldiers also questioned him: “What should we do?”
He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation; be satisfied with your wages.”
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