Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 25
Dependence on the Lord
Davidic.
1 Lord,[a] I turn to You.[b](A)
2 My God, I trust in You.
Do not let me be disgraced;(B)
do not let my enemies gloat over me.(C)
3 No one who waits for You
will be disgraced;(D)
those who act treacherously without cause
will be disgraced.(E)
4 Make Your ways known to me, Lord;
teach me Your paths.(F)
5 Guide me in Your truth and teach me,(G)
for You are the God of my salvation;(H)
I wait for You all day long.(I)
6 Remember, Lord, Your compassion
and Your faithful love,
for they have existed from antiquity.[c](J)
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth(K)
or my acts of rebellion;(L)
in keeping with Your faithful love, remember me
because of Your goodness, Lord.(M)
8 The Lord is good and upright;(N)
therefore He shows sinners the way.(O)
9 He leads the humble in what is right(P)
and teaches them His way.(Q)
10 All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth
to those who keep His covenant and decrees.(R)
11 Because of Your name, Yahweh,
forgive my sin, for it is great.(S)
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?(T)
He will show him the way he should choose.(U)
13 He will live a good life,
and his descendants will inherit the land.[d](V)
14 The secret counsel of the Lord
is for those who fear Him,
and He reveals His covenant to them.(W)
15 My eyes are always on the Lord,
for He will pull my feet out of the net.(X)
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am alone and afflicted.(Y)
17 The distresses of my heart increase;[e](Z)
bring me out of my sufferings.(AA)
18 Consider my affliction and trouble,(AB)
and take away all my sins.(AC)
19 Consider my enemies; they are numerous,(AD)
and they hate me violently.(AE)
20 Guard me and deliver me;(AF)
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in You.(AG)
21 May integrity and what is right
watch over me,
for I wait for You.(AH)
22 God, redeem Israel, from all its distresses.(AI)
Psalm 9
Celebration of God’s Justice
For the choir director: according to Muth-labben.[a] A Davidic psalm.
1 I will thank Yahweh with all my heart;
I will declare all Your wonderful works.(A)
2 I will rejoice and boast about You;(B)
I will sing about Your name, Most High.(C)
3 When my enemies retreat,
they stumble and perish before You.(D)
4 For You have upheld my just cause;[b](E)
You are seated on Your throne as a righteous judge.(F)
5 You have rebuked the nations:(G)
You have destroyed the wicked;(H)
You have erased their name forever and ever.(I)
6 The enemy has come to eternal ruin;
You have uprooted the cities,
and the very memory of them has perished.(J)
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;(K)
He has established His throne for judgment.(L)
8 He judges the world with righteousness;
He executes judgment on the nations with fairness.(M)
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.(N)
10 Those who know Your name trust in You
because You have not abandoned
those who seek You, Yahweh.(O)
11 Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;(P)
proclaim His deeds among the nations.(Q)
12 For the One who seeks an accounting
for bloodshed remembers them;(R)
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.(S)
13 Be gracious to me, Lord;
consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.(T)
Lift me up from the gates of death,(U)
14 so that I may declare all Your praises.
I will rejoice in Your salvation(V)
within the gates of Daughter Zion.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they made;
their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.(W)
16 The Lord has revealed Himself;
He has executed justice,(X)
striking down[c] the wicked[d]
by the work of their hands.(Y)
Psalm 15
A Description of the Godly
A Davidic psalm.
2 The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness,
and acknowledges the truth in his heart(C)—
3 who does not slander with his tongue,(D)
who does not harm his friend
or discredit his neighbor,(E)
4 who despises the one rejected by the Lord[a]
but honors those who fear the Lord,(F)
who keeps his word whatever the cost,(G)
5 who does not lend his money at interest(H)
or take a bribe against the innocent(I)—
the one who does these things will never be moved.(J)
The Dream Interpreted
19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was stunned for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.”
Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!(A) 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth, 21 whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant—and on it was food for all, under it the wild animals lived, and in its branches the birds of the air lived— 22 that tree is you, the king. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.(B)
23 “The king saw an observer, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky, and share food with the wild animals for seven periods of time.’ 24 This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the sentence of the Most High that has been passed against my lord the king:(C) 25 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle(D) and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.(E) 26 As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored[a] to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven[b] rules.(F) 27 Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right,(G) and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy.(H) Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”(I)
19 This is how we will know we belong to the truth(A) and will convince our conscience in His presence, 20 even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things.(B)
21 Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands(C) and do what is pleasing in His sight. 23 Now this is His command: that we believe in the name(D) of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commands remains in Him,(E) and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us(F) is from the Spirit(G) He has given us.
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits(H) to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has[a] come in the flesh(I) is from God.(J) 3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus[b] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist;(K) you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you(L) is greater than the one who is in the world.(M) 5 They are from the world.(N) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;(O) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.(P)
Ministry in Galilee
14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,(A) and news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity.(B) 15 He was teaching in their synagogues,(C) being acclaimed[a] by everyone.
Rejection at Nazareth
16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.(D) As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day(E) and stood up to read.(F) 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me[b]
to proclaim freedom[c] to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.[d](G)[e]
20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.(H) And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”
22 They were all speaking well of Him[f] and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”(I)
23 Then He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb[g] to Me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. So all we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum,(J) do here in Your hometown also.’”
24 He also said, “I assure you: No prophet is accepted in his hometown.(K) 25 But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days,(L) when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them—but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had serious skin diseases, yet not one of them was healed[h] —only Naaman the Syrian.”(M)
28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. 29 They got up, drove Him out of town,(N) and brought Him to the edge[i] of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff. 30 But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way.(O)
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