Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my cry, O God,
attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You;
when my heart faints,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For You have been a refuge for me,
and a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in Your tent forever;
I will seek refuge in the covering of Your wings. Selah
5 For You, O God, have heard my vows;
You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.
6 May You prolong the king’s life,
and may his years be as many generations.
7 May he sit enthroned before God forever;
oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
8 Thus will I sing praise to Your name forever,
that I may fulfill my vows day by day.
Psalm 62
For the Music Director. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 My soul waits in silence on God alone;
from Him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my refuge; I will not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you attack a man,
to batter him, all of you,
as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 They only conspire to cast him down
from his high position;
they delight in lies,
they bless with their mouth,
but they curse inwardly. Selah
5 My soul, wait silently for God,
for my hope is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my refuge; I will not be moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory;
the rock of my strength, and my shelter, is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times;
you people, pour out your heart before Him;
God is a shelter for us. Selah
9 Surely people of low degree are a breath,
and men of high degree are a lie;
if they are placed in the balance,
they are altogether lighter than vapor.
10 Do not trust in oppression,
and do not become vain in robbery;
if riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.
11 God has spoken once,
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God.
12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy;
for You render to each one
according to his work.
Psalm 68
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered;
let those who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away,
You drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
so may the wicked perish before God.
3 But let the righteous be glad;
let them rejoice before God;
let them rejoice exceedingly.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
raise a song to Him who rides through the deserts—
His name is the Lord;
exult before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, and a protector of the widows,
is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the deserted in families;
He brings out prisoners into prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
7 O God, when You went forth before Your people,
when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
8 the earth shook;
the heavens also poured down rain
at the presence of God; even Sinai shook
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You, O God, sent plentiful rain;
You established Your inheritance when it was weary.
10 Your congregation has lived in it;
You, O God, by Your goodness have prepared for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word;
great was the company of women who proclaimed it:
12 “Kings of armies flee; they flee!”
Even the women who were at home divided the spoil.
13 Though you sleep between the sheepfolds,
yet you will be like the wings of a dove overlaid with silver,
and its feathers with yellow gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it,
it was white as snow on Mount Zalmon.
15 The mountain of God is as the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks like the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why are you envious, you mountains of many peaks?
This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in;
yes, the Lord will dwell in it forever.
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, even thousands of thousands;
the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 You have ascended on high,
You have led captivity captive;
You have received gifts from people,
yes, even from the rebellious,
that the Lord God might dwell among them.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits,
even the God who is our salvation. Selah
20 That God is for us, the God of saving acts;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of His enemies,
and the scalp of one who walks in his trespasses.
22 The Lord said, “I will cause them to return from Bashan,
I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea,
23 that your foot may stomp in the blood of your enemies,
and the tongue of your dogs may have a portion in it.”
24 They have seen Your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25 The singers went before,
the players on instruments followed after;
among them were the young women playing tambourines.
26 Bless God in the congregations,
the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin leading them,
the princes of Judah and their throng of people,
the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength;
strengthen, O God, what You have done for us.
29 From Your temple above Jerusalem,
kings will bring gifts to You.
30 Rebuke the animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls, with the calves of the people,
until everyone submits himself with pieces of silver;
scatter peoples who delight in war.
31 Ambassadors will come out of Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
oh, sing praises to the Lord; Selah
33 to Him who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens;
He who sends out His voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God;
His majesty is over Israel,
and His strength is in the clouds.
35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuaries;
the God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to people.
Blessed be God!
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. All who hear will laugh with me.” 7 Also she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Depart
8 So the child grew and was weaned. Then Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 This matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset concerning the boy and your slave wife. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to what she says, for in Isaac your descendants will be called. 13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the slave woman, because he is your offspring.”
14 So Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and sent her away with the child. So she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she placed the child under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot, for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the child.” She sat across from him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the boy’s voice. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Arise, pick up the boy and hold him in your hands, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy; and he grew and lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
13 These all died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 Those who say such things declare plainly that they are looking for a homeland. 15 And certainly, if they had been thinking of the country out of which they came, they might have had the opportunity to return. 16 But they desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. 18 Of him God said, “Through Isaac shall your seed be named.”[a] 19 He reasoned that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he indeed received him in a figurative sense.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped while leaning on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, mentioned the exodus of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.
41 The Jews then murmured about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’? ”
43 Jesus therefore answered them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They shall all be taught by God.’[a] Therefore everyone who has heard and has learned of the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in Me has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.