Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: By the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
Gratitude for Victory
18 He said:
“I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God,
my stronghold[a] in whom I take refuge, my shield, the glory[b]
of my salvation, and my high tower.”
3 I cried out to the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I was delivered from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the rivers of Belial[c] made me afraid.
5 The cords of Sheol[d] surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I cried to the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his Temple he heard my voice;
my cry reached his ears.
7 The world shook and trembled;
the foundations of the mountains quaked,
they shook because he was angry.
8 In his anger smoke poured out of his nostrils,
and consuming fire from his mouth;
coals were lit from it.
9 He bent the sky and descended,
and darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
he soared upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his hiding place,
his canopy surrounding him was dark waters and thick clouds.
12 The brightness before him scattered the thick clouds,
with hail stones and flashes of fire.
13 Then the Lord thundered in[e] the heavens,
and the Most High sounded aloud,
calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.[f]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
with many lightning bolts he frightened them.
15 Then the channels of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were uncovered
because of your rebuke, Lord,
because of the blast from the breath of your nostrils.
16 He reached down and took me;
he drew me from many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemies,
from those who hated me because
they were stronger than I.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out to a spacious place;
he delivered me, for in me he takes delight.
God’s Reward to the Righteous
20 The Lord will reward me because I am righteous;
because my hands are clean he will restore me;
21 because I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and I have not wickedly departed from my God;
22 because all his judgments were always before me,
and I did not cast off his statutes.
23 I was upright[g] before him,
and I kept myself from iniquity.
24 So the Lord restored me according to my righteousness,
because my hands were clean in his sight.
25 To the holy, you show your gracious love,
to the upright, you show yourself upright;
26 to the pure, you show yourself pure,
and to the morally corrupt, you appear to be perverse.
27 Indeed, you deliver the oppressed,[h]
but you bring down those who exalt themselves
in their own eyes.
28 For you, Lord, make my lamp shine;
my God enlightens my darkness.
29 With your help[i] I will run through an army,
with help from[j] my God I leap over walls.
30 As for God, his way is upright;[k]
the word of God is pure;
he is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
The Acts of God for the Righteous
31 For who is God but the Lord,
and who is a Rock other than our God?—
32 the God who clothes me with strength,
and who makes my way upright;[l]
33 who makes my feet swift as the deer;
who makes me stand on high places;
34 who teaches my hands to make war,
and my arms to bend a bronze bow.
35 You have given to me the shield of your deliverance,
and your right hand holds me up;
your gentleness made me great.
36 You make a broad place for my steps,
so my feet[m] won’t slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn around until they were utterly defeated.
38 I struck them down,
so they are not able to rise up;
they fell under my feet.
39 You clothed me with strength for war;
you will subdue under me those who rise up against me.
40 You have made my enemies turn their back to me,
and I will destroy those who hate me.
41 They cried out for deliverance,
but there was no one to deliver;
they cried out[n] to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I ground them like wind-swept dust;
I emptied them out[o] like dirt in the street.
43 You rescued me from conflict with the people;
you made me head of the nations.
People who did not know me will serve me.
44 When they hear of me,[p] they will obey me;
foreigners will submit to me.
45 Foreigners will wilt away;
they will come trembling out of their stronghold.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
May the God of my deliverance be exalted!
47 He is the God who executes vengeance on my behalf;
who destroys peoples under me;
48 who delivers me from my enemies.
Truly you will exalt me above those who oppose me;
you will deliver me from the violent person.
49 Therefore, I will give thanks to you among the nations, Lord;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 He is the one who gives victories to his king;
who shows gracious love to his anointed,
to David and his seed forever.
31 “Your majesty, while you were watching, you observed an enormous statue. This magnificent statue stood before you with extraordinary brilliance. Its appearance was terrifying. 32 That statue had a head made[a] of pure gold, with its chest and arms made[b] of silver, its abdomen and thighs made[c] of bronze, 33 its legs made[d] of iron, and its feet made[e] partly of iron and partly of clay.
34 “As you were watching, a rock was quarried—but not with human hands—and it struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, breaking them to pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together and became like chaff from a summer threshing floor that the breeze carries away without leaving a trace.[f] Then the rock that struck the statue grew into[g] a huge mountain and filled the entire earth.
36 “This was the dream, and we’ll now relate its meaning to the king. 37 You, your majesty, king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, 38 so that wherever people,[h] wild animals, or birds of the sky live, he has placed them under your control, giving you dominion over them all—you’re that head of gold.
39 “After you, another kingdom will arise that is inferior to[i] yours, and then a third kingdom of bronze will arise to rule all the earth. 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, as strong as iron. Just as all things are broken to pieces and shattered by iron, so it will shatter and crush everything.
41 “The feet and toes that you saw, made partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, represent[j] a divided kingdom. It will still have the strength of iron, in that you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 Just as their toes and feet are part iron and part clay, so will the kingdom be both strong and brittle. 43 Just as you saw iron mixed with clay, so they will mix themselves with human offspring.[k] Furthermore,[l] they won’t remain together, just as iron doesn’t mix with clay.
44 “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor its sovereignty[m] left in the hands of another people. It will shatter and crush all of these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. 45 Now, just as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without human hands—and that it crushed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold to pieces—so also the great God has revealed to the king what will take place after this. Your dream will come true, and its meaning will prove trustworthy.”
Nebuchadnezzar Promotes Daniel and His Friends
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face before Daniel, paid honor to him, and commanded that an offering and incense be presented on his behalf. 47 The king told Daniel, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the Revealer of Secrets, because you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel to a high position and lavished many great gifts on him, including making him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over the advisors[n] of Babylon. 49 Moreover, Daniel requested that the king appoint Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained in the royal court.
Live in the Messiah
18 Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.
20 You have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things.[a] 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because lies don’t come from truth. 22 Who is a liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Messiah?[b] The person who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
24 What you have heard from the beginning must abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 The message that the Son[c] himself declared to us is eternal life. 26 I have written[d] to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 The anointing you received from God[e] abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you this.[f] Instead, because God’s[g] anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in him, as he taught you to do.[h]
Abide in Him
28 Even now, little children, abide in him. Then, when he appears, we will have confidence and will not turn away from him in shame when he comes. 29 Since you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God.[i]
John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus(A)
3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 and Annas and Caiaphas high priests, a message from God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3 John[a] went throughout the entire Jordan region, proclaiming a baptism about repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“He is a voice calling out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord![b] Make his paths straight!
5 Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled.
The crooked ways will be made straight,
and the rough roads will be made smooth.
6 Everyone[c] will see the salvation
that God has provided.’”[d]
7 John would say to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him, “You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit that is consistent with repentance! Don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have father Abraham!’ because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones! 9 The ax already lies against the roots of the trees. So every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”
10 The crowds kept asking him, “What, then, should we do?”
11 He answered them, “The person who has two coats must share with the one who doesn’t have any, and the person who has food must do the same.”
12 Even some tax collectors came to be baptized. They asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Stop collecting more money than the amount you are told to collect.”
14 Even some soldiers were asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Never extort money from anyone by threats or blackmail, and be satisfied with your pay.”
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