Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83
Surrounded by Enemies
Heading
A song. A psalm by Asaph.
Opening Plea
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.
A Catalog of Enemies
2 Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
3 Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
5 Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal[a] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot.[b]
Prayer for Destruction of the Enemies
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
10 They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
17 May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Book II
Psalms 42–72
Psalms 42 & 43
An Exile’s Prayer: Why Are You Cast Down?[a]
Heading
For the choir director. A maskil[b] by the Sons of Korah.[c]
Longing for the Temple
1 As a doe pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and appear before God?[d]
3 My tears have been food for me day and night,
while people are saying to me all day,
“Where is your God?”
4 I am overcome by my emotions
whenever I remember these things:
how I used to arrive with the crowd,
as I led the procession to the house of God,
with loud shouts of thanksgiving,
with the crowd celebrating the festival.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed,[e] O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for salvation from his presence.[f]
Remembrance of the Lord
6 My God, my soul is depressed within me.
Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,
from the heights of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your rapids.
All your breakers and your waves have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his mercy,
and at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go around mourning because of oppression by the enemy?”
10 It is like breaking my bones when my foes taunt me.
All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
Refrain
11 Why are you so depressed, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for my salvation from the face of my God.[g]
Psalm 43
A Plea for Vindication
1 Judge me justly, O God,
and plead my case against an ungodly nation.
Rescue me from the deceitful, wicked man.
2 I know you are God, my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go around mourning
because of oppression by the enemy?
3 Send out your light and your truth.
Let them guide me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and gladness.
Then I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for my salvation from the face of my God.[h]
Psalm 85
You Showed Favor to Your Land
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
Past Goodness
1 You showed favor to your land, O Lord.
You restored Jacob.
2 You removed the guilt of your people. Interlude
You covered all their sin.
3 You put away all your wrath.
You turned from your burning anger.
Present Distress
4 Restore us, O God who saves us.
Put an end to your indignation with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you extend your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not turn and revive us,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
Hope for the Future
7 Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and give us your salvation.
8 I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say.
He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones,
but do not let them turn to foolish ways.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give good things,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness walks in front of him.
It prepares the way for his footsteps.
Psalm 86
Guard My Life
Heading
A prayer by David.
David’s Need and David’s Faith
1 Turn your ear, O Lord.
Answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am favored by you.[a]
You are my God.
Save your servant, who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
God’s Grace
5 Indeed, you, Lord, are good and forgiving
and abounding in mercy to all who call to you.
6 Give ear to my prayer, O Lord.
Pay attention to the sound of my cries for mercy.
God’s Ruling Power
7 In the day of my distress I will call to you,
because you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord.
There are no deeds like your deeds.
9 All the nations you have made will come.
They will bow before you, O Lord,
and they will give glory to your name,
10 because you are great and do marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.
God’s Praise
11 Teach me your way, O Lord.
I will walk in your truth.
Give me wholehearted commitment to fear your name.
12 I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your mercy toward me,
and you have delivered my soul from “the lowest hell.”[b]
The Plea Repeated
14 God, the arrogant rise against me.
A mob of ruthless men seeks my life.
They pay no attention to you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give a sign of your goodness for me.
Then those who hate me will see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Jacob Goes to Egypt
46 Israel traveled with all that he had until he came to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 God called to Israel in a vision at night, “Jacob, Jacob!”
Jacob said, “I am here.”
3 He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will certainly bring you back again. And Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”
5 Jacob set out from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel transported Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 They took their livestock and their property that they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him, 7 his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters. So he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
28 Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to lead the way to Goshen. And so they arrived in the land of Goshen. 29 Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He approached him, hugged him, and wept on his shoulder for a long time. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen you face-to-face and you are still alive.”
31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s family, “I will go up and speak with Pharaoh. I will tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 These men are shepherds. They make their living taking care of livestock, and they have brought with them their flocks and their herds, and all that they have.’ 33 This is what you should say when Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 You shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers.’ Ask for the right to live in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is repulsive to the Egyptians.”
What Paul Does With His Rights and Freedom
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who examine me. 4 Do we not have a right to eat and to drink? 5 Do we not have a right to take along a wife who is a believer, as the rest of the apostles do, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?[a] 6 Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have no right to be spared from manual labor? 7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat some of its fruit? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this just from a human point of view? Doesn’t the law also say this? 9 Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.”[b] Is God really concerned about oxen, 10 or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of getting a share. 11 If we sowed spiritual seed for your good, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have some right to make this claim on you, don’t we even more? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so as not to cause any hindrance for the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who do the work in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who attend to the altar receive a portion from what is on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel are to receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have used none of these things.
I am not writing this to have it done this way in my case, because it is better for me to die than to let anyone deprive me of my boast.
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” For there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. 32 They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 But many people saw them leave and knew where they were going. They ran there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 When Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. His heart went out to them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He began to teach them many things. 35 It was already late in the day when his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. 36 Send them away so they can go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”
They asked him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii[a] worth of bread and give them something to eat?”
38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
39 He directed everyone to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the loaves and broke them. Then he kept giving pieces to his disciples to set in front of them. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied. 43 Then they picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
Jesus Walks on Water
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he himself dismissed the crowd. 46 After he had sent them off, he went up the mountain to pray.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.