Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving to God
138 Lord,[a] I thank[b] you with all of my heart;
because you heard the words that I spoke,[c]
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.[d]
2 I will bow down in worship toward your holy Temple
and give thanks to your name for your gracious love and truth,
for you have done great things
to carry out your word
consistent with your name.
3 When[e] I called out, you answered me;
you strengthened me.
4 Lord, all the kings of the earth will give you thanks,
for they have heard what you have spoken.[f]
5 They will sing about the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord!
6 Though the Lord is highly exalted,
yet he pays attention to those who are lowly regarded,
but he is aware of the arrogant from afar.
7 Though I walk straight into trouble,
you preserve my life,
stretching out your hand
to fight the vehemence of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will complete what his purpose is for me.
Lord, your gracious love is eternal;
do not abandon your personal work in me.[g]
To the Music Director: A Davidic Song
God’s Knowledge and Presence
139 Lord, you have examined me;
you have known me.
2 You know when I rest[h]
and when I am active.[i]
You understand what I am thinking
when I am distant from you.[j]
3 You scrutinize my life and my rest;[k]
you are familiar with all of my ways.
4 Even before I have formed a word with my tongue,
you, Lord, know it completely!
5 You encircle me from back to front,
placing your hand upon me.
6 Knowledge like this is too amazing for me.
It is beyond my reach,
and I cannot fathom it.
The Magnitude of God
7 Where can I flee from your spirit?
Or where will I run from your presence?
8 If I rise to heaven, there you are!
If I lay down with the dead,[l] there you are!
9 If I take wings with the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon[m]
10 your hand will guide me there, too,
while your right hand keeps a firm grip on me.
11 If I say, “Darkness will surely conceal me,
and the light around me will become night,”[n]
12 even darkness isn’t dark to you,
darkness and light are the same to you.[o]
13 It was you who formed my internal organs,[p]
fashioning me within my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you,
because you are fearful and wondrous![q]
Your work is wonderful,
and I am fully aware of it.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
while I was being crafted in a hidden place,
knit together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes looked upon my embryo,
and everything was recorded in your book.
The days scheduled[r] for my formation were inscribed,
even though not one of them had come yet.[s]
17 How deep[t] are your thoughts, God!
How great is their number!
18 Were I to count them,
they would number more than the sand.
When I awake, I will be with you.
19 God, if only you would execute the wicked,
so that[u] the men guilty of bloodshed would get away from me,
20 who speak against you with evil motives,
your enemies who are acting in vain.
21 I hate those who hate you, Lord, do I not?
I loathe those who rebel against you, do I not ?
22 With consummate hatred I hate them;
I consider them my enemies.
23 Examine me, God, and know my mind,
test me, and know my thoughts.
Praise for God’s Provision
147 Hallelujah!
It is good to sing praise to our God,
and it is fitting to sing glorious praise.
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;
he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted,
binding up their injuries.
4 He keeps track of the number of stars,
assigning names to all of them.
5 Our Lord is great,
and rich in power;
his understanding has no limitation.
6 The Lord supports the afflicted
while he casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving,
and compose music to our God with the lyre.
8 He shields the heavens with clouds,
preparing rain for the earth
and making grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives wild animals their food,
including the young ravens when they cry.
10 He takes no delight in the strength of a horse,
and gains no pleasure in the runner’s swiftness.[a]
11 But the Lord is pleased with those who fear him,
with those who depend on his gracious love.
12 Glorify the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates,
blessing your children within you.
14 He grants peace within your borders,
satisfying[b] you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth,
making[c] his word go forth quickly.
16 He supplies snow like wool,
scattering frost like ashes.
17 He casts down his ice crystals like bread[d] fragments.
Who can endure his freezing cold?
18 He sends out his word
and melts them.
He makes his wind blow
and the water flows.
19 He declares his words to Jacob,
his statutes and decrees to Israel.
20 He has not dealt with any other nation like this;
they never knew[e] his decrees.
Hallelujah!
A Righteous King for God’s People
23 “How terrible for the shepherds[a] who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, “You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t taken care of them, and now I’m about to take care of you[b] because of your evil deeds,” declares the Lord. 3 “I’ll gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I’ve driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they’ll be fruitful and increase in numbers. 4 I’ll raise up shepherds over them, and they’ll shepherd them. My flock[c] will no longer be afraid or terrified, and none will be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “The time is coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David.
He will be a king who rules wisely,
and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his time[d] Judah will be delivered
and Israel will dwell in safety.
This is the name by which he will be known:
‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’
7 “Therefore, the time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but they’ll say,[e] ‘As surely as the Lord lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.’[f] Then they’ll live in their own land.”
8 See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world,[a] and not according to the Messiah,[b] 9 because all the essence[c] of deity inhabits him in bodily form. 10 And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In union with him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without human[d] hands by stripping off the corrupt nature by the circumcision performed by the Messiah.[e] 12 When you were buried with the Messiah[f] in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God[g] made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses, 14 having erased the charges that were brought against us, along with their obligations that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross. 15 And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.[h]
16 Therefore, let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbath days.[i] 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality[j] belongs to the Messiah.[k] 18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by rejoicing about what he has seen.[l] Such a person is puffed up for no reason by his carnal mind. 19 He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it.
The New Life in the Messiah
20 If you have died with the Messiah[m] to the basic principles of the world,[n] why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world? 21 “Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!” 22 All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they have no value against self-indulgence.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
7 So again Jesus said, “Truly, I tell all of you[a] emphatically, I’m the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[b] are thieves and bandits, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I’m the gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. He’ll come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I’ve come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11 “I’m the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down[c] his life for the sheep. 12 The hired worker, who isn’t the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, deserts the sheep, and runs away. So the wolf snatches them and scatters them, 13 because he’s a hired worker, and the sheep don’t matter to him.
14 I’m the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down[d] my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. I must lead these also, and they’ll listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it back again.
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