Book of Common Prayer
The Lord’s Goodness to the Faithful
A Psalm of David.
138 I will praise You with my whole heart;
(A)Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
2 (B)I will worship (C)toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have (D)magnified Your word above all Your name.
3 In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
4 (E)All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord,
When they hear the words of Your mouth.
5 Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
For great is the glory of the Lord.
6 (F)Though the Lord is on high,
Yet (G)He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar.
7 (H)Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
8 (I)The Lord will [a]perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
(J)Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, (K)You have searched me and known me.
2 (L)You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You (M)understand my thought afar off.
3 (N)You [b]comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, (O)You know it altogether.
5 You have [c]hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 (P)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 (Q)Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 (R)If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
(S)If I make my bed in [d]hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall [e]fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, (T)the darkness [f]shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You [g]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [h]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 (U)My [i]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 (V)How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 Oh, that You would (W)slay the wicked, O God!
(X)Depart from me, therefore, you [j]bloodthirsty men.
20 For they (Y)speak against You wickedly;
[k]Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 (Z)Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with [l]perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 (AA)Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
Praise to God for His Word and Providence
147 Praise[a] the Lord!
For (A)it is good to sing praises to our God;
(B)For it is pleasant, and (C)praise is beautiful.
2 The Lord (D)builds up Jerusalem;
(E)He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 (F)He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their [b]wounds.
4 (G)He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
5 (H)Great is our Lord, and (I)mighty in power;
(J)His understanding is infinite.
6 (K)The Lord lifts up the humble;
He casts the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
8 (L)Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who prepares rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
9 (M)He gives to the beast its food,
And (N)to the young ravens that cry.
10 (O)He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
14 (P)He makes peace in your borders,
And (Q)fills you with [c]the finest wheat.
15 (R)He sends out His command to the earth;
His word runs very swiftly.
16 (S)He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes;
17 He casts out His hail like [d]morsels;
Who can stand before His cold?
18 (T)He sends out His word and melts them;
He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 (U)He declares His word to Jacob,
(V)His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
20 (W)He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His judgments, they have not known them.
[e]Praise the Lord!
The Branch of Righteousness
23 “Woe (A)to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. (B)Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. 3 “But (C)I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up (D)shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.
5 “Behold, (E)the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and [a]prosper,
(F)And execute [b]judgment and righteousness in the [c]earth.
6 (G)In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel (H)will dwell safely;
Now (I)this is His name by which He will be called:
[d]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 “Therefore, behold, (J)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country (K)and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own (L)land.”
8 Beware lest anyone [a]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to (A)the tradition of men, according to the (B)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For (C)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead [b]bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the (D)head of all [c]principality and power.
Not Legalism but Christ
11 In Him you were also (E)circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by (F)putting off the body [d]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 (G)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through (H)faith in the working of God, (I)who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 (J)having wiped out the [e]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 (K)Having disarmed (L)principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one (M)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [f]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 (N)which are a shadow of things to come, but the [g]substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has [h]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to (O)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, (P)grows with the increase that is from God.
20 [i]Therefore, if you (Q)died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, (R)why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 (S)“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—(T)according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 (U)These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and [j]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came [a]before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 (A)I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 (B)“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a [b]hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and (C)leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and (D)I know My sheep, and (E)am known by My own. 15 (F)As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; (G)and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And (H)other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; (I)and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 “Therefore My Father (J)loves Me, (K)because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.