Book of Common Prayer
Confidence in God’s Protection
For the music director, upon stringed instruments.[a] Of David.[b]
61 Hear, O God, my cry;
attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth[c] I call to you
when my heart grows faint.
You will lead me to a rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower from the enemy.
4 Let me reside in your tent forever.
Let me take refuge under the covering of your wings. Selah
5 For you, O God, you have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 You will add days to the days of the king,
his years like those of many generations.[d]
7 May he live[e] forever in the presence of God.
Appoint loyal love and faithfulness to preserve him.
8 So I will sing the praise of your name forever,
that I may fulfill[f] my vows daily.[g]
Confidence in God’s Salvation
For the music director, on Jeduthun.[h]
A psalm of David.[i]
62 Only for God my soul waits in silence.
From him is my salvation.
2 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you attack a man?
All of you will be shattered[j]
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence.
4 They only[k] plan to thrust him down from his high position;
they are pleased with deception.
With their mouths[l] they bless,
but inwardly[m] they curse. Selah
5 Only for God wait in silence, O my soul,
because my hope is from him.
6 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
God[n] is my strong rock, my refuge.
8 Trust him at all times, O people;
pour out before him your heart.
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Only a vapor[o] are men of low degree,
a deception are men of high degree.
Weighed[p] in a balance,
together they are lighter than a vapor.
10 Do not trust in extortion,
and do not put vain confidence in robbery.
If wealth increases,
do not set your heart on it.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that strength belongs to God.
12 And to you belongs loyal love, O Lord,
because you will render to each according to his work.
Praise to God for Providing Victory
For the music director. Of David. A psalm. A song.[a]
68 God will arise; his enemies will be scattered,
and those who hate him will flee from before him.
2 As smoke is driven off, you will drive them off.
As wax melts before fire,
the wicked will perish before God.
3 But the righteous will be glad; they will exalt before God,
and will rejoice with joy.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name.
Lift up a song to the rider on the clouds—his name is Yah—[b]
and rejoice before him.
5 A father to orphans and a judge for widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the lonely in a home;
he brings prisoners out into prosperity.
But the rebellious abide in a barren land.
7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the desert, Selah
8 the earth shook; the heavens also dripped rain
at the presence of God who was at Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You caused abundant rain to fall, O God.
When your inheritance was weary you revived it.
10 Your community dwelled in it.
You provided in your goodness for the poor, O God.
11 The Lord gives the word.
Great is the company of women who announce:
12 “The kings of armies flee, they flee,
and she who remains at home divides the spoil.
13 Though you men lie down between the sheepfolds,
you will be like the wings of a dove covered in silver
and its pinions in yellow gold.”
14 When Shaddai scattered kings on it,
on Zalmon it snowed.[c]
15 A mountain of God[d] is the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why do you look with hostility, O many-peaked mountains?
This[e] mountain God desires for his dwelling.
Yes, Yahweh will abide in it forever.
17 The chariots of God
are twice ten thousand, with thousands doubled.
The Lord is among them at Sinai, distinctive in victory.[f]
18 You have ascended on high; you have led away captives.
You have received gifts from among humankind,
and even from the rebellious, so that Yah[g] God may dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord. Daily he loads us with benefits,[h]
the God of our salvation.[i] Selah
20 Our God is a God of deliverances,
and to the Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of his enemies,
the hairy scalp of the one who continues on[j] in his guilt.
22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that your foot may shatter them bloody
for the tongues of your dogs to have their share from the enemies.”
24 They have seen your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my king, distinctive in victory.[k]
25 Singers went up front, those playing stringed instruments last,
between them young women playing tambourines.
26 Bless God in the assemblies,
Yahweh from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin ruling them,
with the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength.
Show yourself strong, O God, by what you perform[l] for us.
29 Because your temple is above Jerusalem,
kings will bring tribute to you.
30 Rebuke the beasts in[m] the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,
trampling the pieces of silver.[n]
Scatter the nations who delight in battles.
31 Ambassadors[o] will come from Egypt;
Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praise to the Lord, Selah
33 to the one who rides in the highest heavens of old.
See, he gives forth his voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God.
His majesty is over Israel,
and his strength is in the clouds.
35 Awesome are you, O God, from your sanctuary.[p]
The God of Israel, it is he who gives strength and might to the people.
Blessed be God.
Elijah Responds to Ahab
17 The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel who is in Samaria. Look in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 You shall say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Have you committed murder and also taken possession?”’ You shall also say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood.”’”
20 Then Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He said, “I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh. 21 ‘Look, I am bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab every male[a] in Israel, bond or free. 22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because you made me angry[b] and have caused Israel to sin.’ 23 Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.’ 24 The one who dies for Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; the one who dies in the open country, the birds of heaven will eat.”
25 Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on. 26 Also, he acted very abominably by going after idols like all the Amorites had done whom Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites.”[c]
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. 28 Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. 22 For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,[a] and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.[b]
Boast in the Lord
26 For consider your calling, brothers, that not many were wise according to human standards,[c] not many were powerful, not many were well born. 27 But the foolish things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the strong, 28 and the insignificant of the world, and the despised, God chose, the things that are not, in order that he might abolish the things that are, 29 so that all flesh may not boast before God. 30 But from him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “The one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”[d]
Public Ministry in Galilee
12 Now when he[a] heard that John had been arrested,[b] he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, he went and[c] lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 in order that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said,
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
toward the sea,[d] on the other side of the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles[e]—
16 the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
and the ones who sit in the land and shadow of death,
a light has dawned on them.”[f]
17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
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