Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
A Contemplative Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
Your faithfulness shall be established in the heavens.”
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘Your offspring I will establish forever,
and build up your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
5 Let the heavens praise Your wonders, O Lord;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly sons is like the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the holy ones
and awesome to all those who surround Him.
8 O Lord God of Hosts, who is a mighty Lord like You,
with Your faithfulness all around You?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when the waves arise, You still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like a corpse;
You scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm.
11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours;
the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them;
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name.
13 You have a mighty arm,
and strong is Your hand, and victorious is Your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
mercy and truth shall go before Your presence.
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout.
They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence.
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day,
and in Your righteousness they shall be exalted.
17 For You are the beauty of their strength;
by Your favor our horn is exalted.
18 For the Lord is our shield of defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 Long ago You spoke in a vision
to Your godly one and said:
“I have given help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found David, My servant;
with My holy oil I have anointed him:
21 By whom My hand shall be established;
My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not take tribute from him,
nor the wicked humiliate him.
23 I will beat down his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him,
and in My name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto Me, ‘You are my Father, my God,
and the Rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 In My mercy I will keep him forever,
and My covenant shall stand firm with him.
29 His offspring also I will establish forever
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 “If his children forsake My law
and do not walk in My judgments,
31 if they break My statutes
and do not keep My commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not remove from him
nor be false in My faithfulness.
34 My covenant I will not violate
nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips.
35 Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness
that I will not lie to David:
36 His offspring shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before Me;
37 it shall be established forever as the moon
and as a faithful witness in the heavens.” Selah
38 But now You have cast off and rejected him,
You have been wrathful with Your anointed king.
39 You have renounced the covenant with Your servant;
You have defiled his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his walls;
You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way plunder him;
he is a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have set high the right hand of his adversaries;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword
and have not made him stand in battle.
44 You have made his glory cease
and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth You have shortened;
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
How long shall Your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is!
Why have You made all people in such emptiness?
48 What man can live and not see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses,
which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants
and how I bear in my heart the insults of the many nations,
51 which Your enemies taunt, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of Your anointed king.
52 Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
30 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”
2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Have relations with her so that she may bear a child on my knees,[a] so that I may also have children through her.”
4 So she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her. 5 Bilhah conceived and gave Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and He has also heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
7 Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With great wrestling have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she called his name Gad.
12 Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I, for women will call me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 At the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 Leah said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”
So Rachel said, “All right, he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me, because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he slept with her that night.
17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and gave Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and gave Jacob a sixth son. 20 Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will dwell with me, because I have given him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.
21 Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “The Lord will add to me another son.”
The Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we declare to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.
God Is Light
5 This then is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
The Healing of a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But it happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away and washed, and returned seeing.
8 The neighbors and those who had previously seen that he was blind said, “Is this not he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.”
Others said, “He is like him.”
But he said, “I am he.”
10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received my sight.”
12 They said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath day.”
Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.
17 Then they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.