Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.
A Psalm of David.
138 (A)I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the (B)gods.
2 I will bow down (C)toward Your holy temple
And (D)give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your [a]truth;
For You have (E)magnified Your [b]word [c]according to all Your name.
3 On the day I (F)called, You answered me;
You made me bold with (G)strength in my soul.
4 (H)All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O Lord,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
5 And they will (I)sing of the ways of the Lord,
For (J)great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For (K)though the Lord is exalted,
Yet He (L)regards the lowly,
But the (M)haughty He knows from afar.
7 Though I (N)walk in the midst of trouble, You will [d](O)revive me;
You will (P)stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will (Q)save me.
8 The Lord will (R)accomplish what concerns me;
Your (S)lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
(T)Do not forsake the (U)works of Your hands.
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, You have (V)searched me and known me.
2 You (W)know [e]when I sit down and [f]when I rise up;
You (X)understand my thought from afar.
3 You [g](Y)scrutinize my [h]path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 [i]Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You (Z)know it all.
5 You have (AA)enclosed me behind and before,
And (AB)laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such (AC)knowledge is (AD)too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 (AE)Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 (AF)If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in [j]Sheol, behold, (AG)You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will (AH)lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the (AI)darkness will [k]overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the (AJ)darkness is not dark [l]to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
(AK)Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You (AL)formed my [m]inward parts;
You (AM)wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for [n]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
(AN)Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My [o](AO)frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the (AP)depths of the earth;
16 Your (AQ)eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in (AR)Your book were all written
The (AS)days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your (AT)thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would (AU)outnumber the sand.
When (AV)I awake, I am still with You.
19 O that You would (AW)slay the wicked, O God;
(AX)Depart from me, therefore, (AY)men of bloodshed.
20 For they (AZ)speak [p]against You wickedly,
And Your enemies [q](BA)take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not (BB)hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not (BC)loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
Praise for Jerusalem’s Restoration and Prosperity.
147 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!
For (A)it is good to sing praises to our God;
For [c]it is pleasant and praise is (B)becoming.
2 The Lord (C)builds up Jerusalem;
He (D)gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the (E)brokenhearted
And (F)binds up their [d]wounds.
4 He (G)counts the number of the stars;
He [e](H)gives names to all of them.
5 (I)Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
His (J)understanding is [f]infinite.
6 The Lord [g](K)supports the afflicted;
He brings down the wicked to the ground.
7 (L)Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises to our God on the lyre,
8 Who (M)covers the heavens with clouds,
Who (N)provides rain for the earth,
Who (O)makes grass to [h]grow on the mountains.
9 He (P)gives to the beast its food,
And to the (Q)young ravens which cry.
10 He does not delight in the strength of the (R)horse;
He (S)does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord (T)favors those who fear Him,
(U)Those who wait for His lovingkindness.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He has strengthened the (V)bars of your gates;
He has (W)blessed your sons within you.
14 He (X)makes [i]peace in your borders;
He (Y)satisfies you with (Z)the [j]finest of the wheat.
15 He sends forth His (AA)command to the earth;
His (AB)word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives (AC)snow like wool;
He scatters the (AD)frost like ashes.
17 He casts forth His (AE)ice as fragments;
Who can stand before His (AF)cold?
18 He (AG)sends forth His word and melts them;
He (AH)causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.
19 He (AI)declares His words to Jacob,
His (AJ)statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
20 He (AK)has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His ordinances, they have (AL)not known them.
[k]Praise [l]the Lord!
The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch
23 “(A)Woe to the shepherds who are (B)destroying and scattering the (C)sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are [a]tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to (D)attend to you for the (E)evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord. 3 “Then I Myself will (F)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will also raise up (G)shepherds over them and they will [b]tend them; and they will (H)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, (I)nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “Behold, the (J)days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous [c](K)Branch;
And He will (L)reign as king and [d]act wisely
And (M)do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved,
And (N)Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His (O)name by which He will be called,
‘The (P)Lord our righteousness.’
7 “(Q)Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 (R)but, ‘As the Lord lives, who (S)brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
8 (A)See to it that no one takes you captive through (B)philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the (C)elementary principles of the world, [a]rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the (D)fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been (E)made [b]complete, and (F)He is the head [c]over all (G)rule and authority; 11 and in Him (H)you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of (I)the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been (J)buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also (K)raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who (L)raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were (M)dead [d]in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He (N)made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out (O)the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and (P)He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had [e](Q)disarmed the (R)rulers and authorities, He (S)made a public display of them, having (T)triumphed over them through [f]Him.
16 Therefore no one is to [g](U)act as your judge in regard to (V)food or (W)drink or in respect to a (X)festival or a (Y)new moon or a (Z)Sabbath [h]day— 17 things which are (AA)a mere shadow of what is to come; but the [i]substance [j]belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep [k](AB)defrauding you of your prize by (AC)delighting in [l]self-abasement and the worship of the angels, [m]taking his stand on visions he has seen, [n](AD)inflated without cause by his (AE)fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to (AF)the head, from whom (AG)the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and [o]ligaments, grows with a growth [p]which is from God.
20 (AH)If you have died with Christ [q]to the (AI)elementary principles of the world, (AJ)why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to (AK)decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer (AL)to things destined to perish [r]with use)—in accordance with the (AM)commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the [s]appearance of wisdom in [t](AN)self-made religion and self-abasement and (AO)severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against (AP)fleshly indulgence.
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am (A)the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are (B)thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 (C)I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they (D)may have life, and [a]have it abundantly.
11 “(E)I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd (F)lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a (G)shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 (H)I am the good shepherd, and (I)I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as (J)the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and (K)I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have (L)other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become (M)one flock with (N)one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I (O)lay down My life so that I may take it again.
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