Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 26
By David.
1 Judge me favorably, O Yahweh,
because I have walked with integrity
and I have trusted you without wavering.
2 Examine me, O Yahweh, and test me.
Look closely into my heart and mind.
3 I see your mercy in front of me.
I walk in the light of your truth.
4 I did not sit with liars,
and I will not be found among hypocrites.
5 I have hated the mob of evildoers
and will not sit with wicked people.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence.
I will walk around your altar, O Yahweh,
7 so that I may loudly sing a hymn of thanksgiving
and tell about all your miracles.
8 O Yahweh, I love the house where you live,
the place where your glory dwells.
9 Do not sweep away my soul along with hardened sinners
or my life along with bloodthirsty people.
10 Evil schemes are in their hands.
Their right hands are full of bribes.
11 But I walk with integrity.
Rescue me, and have pity on me.
12 My feet stand on level ground.
I will praise Yahweh with the choirs in worship.
Psalm 28
By David.
1 O Yahweh, I call to you.
O my rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.
If you remain silent,
I will be like those who go into the pit.
2 Hear my prayer for mercy when I call to you for help,
when I lift my hands toward your most holy place.
3 Do not drag me away with wicked people,
with troublemakers who speak of peace with their neighbors
but have evil in their hearts.
4 Pay them back for what they have done,
for their evil deeds.
Pay them back for what their hands have done,
and give them what they deserve.
5 Yahweh will tear them down and never build them up again,
because they never consider what he has done
or what his hands have made.
6 Thank Yahweh!
He has heard my prayer for mercy!
7 Yahweh is my strength and my Magen.
My heart trusted him, so I received help.
My heart is triumphant; I give thanks to him with my song.
8 Yahweh is the strength of his people
and a fortress for the victory of his Messiah.[a]
9 Save your people, and bless those who belong to you.
Be their Roeh, and carry them forever.
Psalm 36
For the choir director; by David, Yahweh’s servant.
1 There is an inspired truth about the wicked person
who has rebellion in the depths of his heart:
He is not terrified of Elohim.
2 He flatters himself and does not hate or even recognize his guilt.
3 The words from his mouth are nothing but trouble and deception.
He has stopped doing what is wise and good.
4 He invents trouble while lying on his bed
and chooses to go the wrong direction.
He does not reject evil.
5 O Yahweh, your mercy reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of Elohim,
your judgments like the deep ocean.
You save people and animals, O Yahweh.
7 Your mercy is so precious, O Elohim,
that Adam’s descendants take refuge
in the shadow of your wings.
8 They are refreshed with the rich foods in your house,
and you make them drink from the river of your pleasure.
9 Indeed, the fountain of life is with you.
In your light we see light.
10 Continue to show your mercy to those who know you
and your righteousness to those whose motives are decent.
11 Do not let the feet of arrogant people step on me
or the hands of wicked people push me away.
12 Look at the troublemakers who have fallen.
They have been pushed down and are unable to stand up again.
Psalm 39
For the choir director; for Jeduthun; a psalm by David.
1 I said,
“I will watch my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue.
I will bridle my mouth while wicked people are in my presence.”
2 I remained totally speechless.
I kept silent, although it did me no good.
While I was deep in thought, my pain grew worse.
3 My heart burned like a fire flaring up within me.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Teach me, O Yahweh, about the end of my life.
Teach me about the number of days I have left
so that I may know how temporary my life is.
5 Indeed, you have made the length of my days only a few inches.
My life span is nothing compared to yours.
Certainly, everyone alive is like a whisper in the wind. Selah
6 Each person who walks around is like a shadow.
They are busy for no reason.
They accumulate riches without knowing who will get them.”
7 And now, Adonay, what am I waiting for?
My hope is in you!
8 Rescue me from all my rebellious acts.
Do not disgrace me in front of godless fools.
9 I remained speechless.
I did not open my mouth
because you are the one who has done this.
10 Remove the sickness you laid upon me.
My life is over because you struck me with your hand.
11 With stern warnings you discipline people for their crimes.
Like a moth you eat away at what is dear to them.
Certainly, everyone is like a whisper in the wind. Selah
12 Listen to my prayer, O Yahweh.
Open your ear to my cry for help.
Do not be deaf to my tears,
for I am a foreign resident with you,
a stranger like all my ancestors.
13 Look away from me so that I may smile again
before I go away and am no more.
Israel at Mount Sinai
19 Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sinai. 2 Israel had moved from Rephidim and had come into the desert of Sinai. They had set up camp there in front of the mountain.
3 Then Moses went up the mountain to Elohim, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, “This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites, 4 ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to my mountain. 5 If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise,[a] then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine. 6 You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words you must speak to the Israelites.”
7 So Moses went down and called for the leaders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that Yahweh had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together, “We will do everything Yahweh has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to Yahweh.
9 Yahweh said to Moses, “I am coming to you in a storm cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always believe you.” Moses told Yahweh what the people had said.
10 So Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people, and tell them they have two days to get ready. They must set themselves apart as holy. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the day after tomorrow. On that day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. 12 Mark off a boundary around the mountain for the people, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even touch it. Those who touch the mountain must be put to death. 13 No one should touch them. They must be stoned or shot with arrows. No matter whether it’s an animal or a person, it must not live. The people may go up the mountain only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast.”
14 After Moses went down the mountain to the people, he had them get ready, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then Moses said to the people, “Be ready two days from now. Don’t disqualify yourselves by having sexual intercourse.”
16 On the morning of the second day, there was thunder and lightning with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn was heard. All the people in the camp shook with fear.
Greeting
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Yeshua by God’s will, and from our brother Timothy.
2 To God’s holy and faithful people, our brothers and sisters who are united with Christ in the city of Colossae.
Good will[a] and peace from God our Father are yours!
Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua Christ, in our prayers for you. 4 We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Yeshua and your love for all of God’s people. 5 You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth. 6 This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God’s kindness[b] truly means. 7 You learned about this Good News from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is taking your place here as a trustworthy deacon[c] for Christ 8 and has told us about the love that the Spirit has given you.
9 For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight. 10 We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God. 11 We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy. 12 You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God’s people inherit.
What God Has Done Through Christ
13 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. 14 His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God’s coming anger? 8 Do those things that prove you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. 9 Don’t think you can say, ‘Abraham is our ancestor.’ I can guarantee that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones. 10 The ax is now ready to cut the roots of the trees. Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire. 11 I baptize you with water so that you will change the way you think and act. But the one who comes after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing[a] shovel is in his hand, and he will clean up his threshing floor.[b] He will gather his wheat into a barn, but he will burn the husks in a fire that can never be put out.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.