Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97
1 The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness are all around Him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 A fire goes before Him
and burns up His enemies all around.
4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and shakes.
5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the Lord of the earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
and all the peoples see His glory.
7 All who serve graven images are ashamed,
who boast in worthless idols;
worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of Your judgments, O Lord.
9 For You, O Lord, are Most High above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of His devoted ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light goes out for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,
and give thanks at the memory of His holy name.
Psalm 99
1 The Lord reigns;
let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned between the cherubim;
let the earth shake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
He is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name—
He is holy!
4 The King’s strength loves justice;
You establish righteousness,
and You execute judgment
and fairness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His footstool—
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
even Samuel was among them who called upon His name;
they called upon the Lord,
and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept His statues and the ordinance that He gave them.
8 You answered them,
O Lord our God;
You were a God who forgave them,
though You took vengeance on their wrongdoing.
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!
Psalm 100
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise;
be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 94
1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs;
O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
render to the proud what they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They spew forth their arrogant words;
all those who do iniquity boast.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
and afflict Your inheritance.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
neither does the God of Jacob regard it.”
8 Understand, you brutish among the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who made the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who chastises the nations, shall He not correct?
He teaches people knowledge!
11 The Lord, He knows the thoughts of people,
that they are a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach from Your law,
13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake His people;
neither will He abandon His inheritance.
15 But justice shall return to those who are righteous,
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against those who do iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul would have lived in the land of silent death.
18 When I said, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, held me up.
19 When there is a multitude of worries within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall wicked rulers, who make oppressive laws,
align with You?
21 They conspire together against the life of the righteous
and condemn innocent blood to death.
22 But the Lord is my defense,
and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 He shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall cut them off for their own wickedness;
yes, the Lord our God shall destroy them.
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are also His.
5 The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture
and the sheep of His hand.
Today if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
and as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tested Me and tried Me,
though they had seen My deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter into My rest.”
Jacob Flees From Laban
31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and he has gotten all his wealth from what was our father’s.” 2 Jacob saw the look of Laban and saw he was not congenial toward him as before.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, to your family, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flock was, 5 and said to them, “I see your father’s demeanor, that it is not congenial toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that with all my strength I have served your father. 7 Your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock produced speckled. If he said, ‘The striped will be your pay,’ then all the flock produced striped. 9 In this way God has taken away your father’s flock and given them to me.
10 “When the livestock conceived, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the male goats mating with the flock were striped, speckled, and spotted. 11 The angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes and see all the male goats which mate with the flock are striped, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now arise, and get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”
14 Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not seen by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has completely spent our money also. 16 For all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 Then he carried away all his livestock and all his goods which he had obtained, his acquired livestock which he had gotten in Paddan Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
19 When Laban went to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s. 20 Jacob also deceived Laban the Syrian by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21 So Jacob fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 He took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him, “Take care that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
Christ Our Advocate
2 My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 Whoever says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word truly has the love of God perfected in him. By this we know we are in Him. 6 Whoever says he remains in Him ought to walk as He walked.
The New Commandment
7 Brothers, I am writing no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. 8 Yet a new commandment I am writing to you, which holds true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever says he is in the light but hates his brother is in darkness even until now. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of the one who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed that He was the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So again they called the man who was blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He said, “I do not know if He is a sinner. I know one thing: I was blind, but now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. As for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered, “Well, here is an amazing thing! You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were completely born in sin. Are you teaching us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.