Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The Mighty One, God, is the Lord;
He has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shined.
3 Our God will come, and will not keep silent;
a fire consumes before Him,
and a strong tempest is around Him.
4 He calls to the heavens above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 “Gather My faithful ones together to Me,
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens will declare His righteousness,
for God Himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings that are continually before Me.
9 I will take no young bull out of your house,
nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is Mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and the creatures that move in the field are Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
or take My covenant in your mouth?
17 You hate instruction,
and cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you are pleased,
and have a share in those who commit adultery.
19 You let loose your mouth to evil,
and your tongue is bound to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you accuse your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silent;
you thought that I was indeed like you;
but I will reprove you
and make a case before your eyes.
22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
23 Whoever sacrifices a thank offering
glorifies Me and makes a way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
Psalm 59
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
give me refuge from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
and save me from bloodthirsty people.
3 For they lie in wait for my life;
the mighty are gathered against me,
not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.
4 For no guilt of mine, they run and prepare themselves.
Arise to help me, and take notice.
5 You, O Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel,
awake to punish all the nations;
do not be gracious to any wicked transgressors. Selah
6 They return at evening,
they growl like a dog,
and go around the city.
7 Indeed, they burst out with their mouth;
swords are in their lips;
for who listens?
8 But You, O Lord, will laugh at them;
You will have all the nations in derision.
9 O my strength, I will wait on You;
for God is my refuge.
10 The God of lovingkindness will go before me;
God will cause me to look in triumph on my enemies.
11 Do not slay them,
lest my people forget;
scatter them by Your power,
and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth
and the words of their lips,
may they be snared by their pride,
and because of curses and lies that they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath,
consume them so they no longer exist;
and let them know that God rules in Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 At evening they return,
and growl like a dog,
and go around the city.
15 They roam about to eat,
and if they are not satisfied, they complain.
16 But I will sing of Your power;
I will sing aloud of Your lovingkindness in the morning,
for You have been my refuge
and escape in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, O my strength, I will sing,
for God is my refuge, and the God of my lovingkindness.
Psalm 60(A)
For the Music Director. A Miktam of David to teach. To the melody of “Lily of the Testimony,” when he struggled with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah and when Joab returned from striking down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, You have rejected us, You have scattered us;
You have been displeased; take us back.
2 You have made the earth tremble; You have split it open;
heal its breaches, for it shook.
3 You have shown Your people hard times;
You have made us drink wine, causing us to stagger.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear You,
that they may flee to it from the bow.[a] Selah
5 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
save with Your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
and measure out the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is My helmet;
Judah is My scepter;
8 Moab is My wash basin;
over Edom I will cast My shoe;
shout the alarm, O Philistia, because of Me.”
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
10 You, O God, have You not cast us off?
And You, O God, did not go out with our armies.
11 Give us help from trouble,
for the help of man is worthless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,
for He will tread down our enemies.
Psalm 118
1 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
because His mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
5 I called upon the Lord from my distress;
the Lord answered me and set me in an open place.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can people do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph upon those who hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations encircled me,
but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
11 They circled me; indeed, they surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
12 They circled me like bees;
they went forth as a fire over thorns,
but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
13 You have pushed against me, that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and song;
He has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation
is in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord is valiant.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord is valiant.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live
and declare the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord has severely chastened me,
but He has not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through.
21 I will thank You that You have heard me
and have become my deliverance.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This is what the Lord has done;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we ask You, O Lord;
O Lord, we ask You, send now success.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord:
we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God,
and He has shown us His light;
bind the sacrifice with cords,
even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the son she bore Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
The Covenant of Circumcision
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you.”
3 Abram fell on his face and God said to him, 4 “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 All the land of Canaan, where you now live as strangers, I will give to you and to your descendants for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 Every male throughout every generation that is eight days old shall be circumcised, whether born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people. He has broken My covenant.”
10 For the law is a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of those things. It could never by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year after year, perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers, once purified, would no longer be conscious of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is an annual reminder of sins. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifices and offerings You did not desire,
but a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You have had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do Your will, O God,’ as it is written of Me
in the volume of the book.”[a]
8 Previously when He said, “You did not desire sacrifices and offerings. You have had no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin,”[b] which are offered in accordance with the law, 9 then He said, “See, I have come to do Your will, O God.”[c] He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
30 I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge. My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Witnesses to Jesus
31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.
33 “You sent to John, and he bore witness of the truth. 34 I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 “I have greater testimony than that of John. The works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the One He has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life. These are they who bear witness of Me. 40 Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
41 “I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, but you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.