Book of Common Prayer
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
50 (A)The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken,
And called the earth (B)from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, (C)the perfection of beauty,
God (D)has shone forth.
3 May our God (E)come and not be silent;
(F)Fire devours before Him,
And (G)a storm whirls around Him.
4 He (H)calls the heavens above,
And the earth, to render justice to His people:
5 “Gather My (I)holy ones to Me,
Those who have cut a (J)covenant with Me by (K)sacrifice.”
6 And the (L)heavens declare His righteousness,
For (M)God Himself is judge. [b]Selah.
7 “(N)Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify [c]against you;
I am God, (O)your God.
8 I do (P)not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 I shall take no (Q)young bull out of your house
Nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For (R)every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every (S)bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [d]Mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the (T)world is Mine, as well as its fullness.
13 Shall I eat the flesh of [e](U)bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14 Offer to God (V)a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And (W)pay your vows to the Most High;
15 (X)Call upon Me in the day of distress;
I shall (Y)rescue you, and you will (Z)glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recount My statutes
And to take (AA)My covenant in your mouth?
17 For you (AB)hate discipline,
And you (AC)cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you [f](AD)are pleased with him,
And [g]you (AE)associate with adulterers.
19 You [h](AF)let your mouth loose in evil
And you harness your (AG)tongue for deceit.
20 You sit and (AH)speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done and (AI)I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will (AJ)reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.
Deliver Me from My Enemies
For the choir director. [a]Al-tashheth. Of David. A [b]Mikhtam. [c]When Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to put him to death.
59 (A)Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
[d](B)Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from (C)workers of iniquity
And save me from (D)men of bloodshed.
3 For behold, they (E)have lain in wait for my soul;
[e]Fierce men [f](F)launch an attack against me,
(G)Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Yahweh,
4 [g](H)For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me.
(I)Arouse Yourself to meet me, and see!
5 You, (J)O Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to [h](K)punish all the nations;
(L)Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in [i]iniquity. [j]Selah.
6 They (M)return at evening, they howl like a (N)dog,
And go around the city.
7 Behold, they (O)pour forth speech with their mouth;
(P)Swords are in their lips,
For, they say, “(Q)Who hears?”
8 But You, O Yahweh, (R)laugh at them;
You (S)mock all the nations.
9 Because of [k]his (T)strength I will watch for You,
For God is my (U)stronghold.
10 [l]My God (V)in His lovingkindness will approach me;
God will let me (W)look triumphantly upon [m]my foes.
11 Do not slay them, (X)or my people will forget;
(Y)Make them wander about by Your power, and bring them down,
O Lord, (Z)our shield.
12 [n]On account of the (AA)sin of their mouth and the word of their lips,
Let them even be (AB)caught in their pride,
And on account of (AC)curses and [o]lies which they utter.
13 [p](AD)Destroy them in wrath, [q]destroy them that they may be no more;
That men may (AE)know that God [r]rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 They (AF)return at evening, they howl like a dog,
And go around the city.
15 They (AG)wander about [s]for food
And [t]growl if they are not satisfied.
16 But as for me, I shall (AH)sing of Your strength;
And I shall (AI)joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the (AJ)morning,
For You have been my (AK)stronghold
And a (AL)refuge in the day of my distress.
17 (AM)O my strength, I will sing praises to You;
For God is my (AN)stronghold, the [u]God who shows me lovingkindness.
Through God We Shall Do Valiantly
For the choir director. According to [v]Shushan Eduth. A [w]Mikhtam of David. For teaching. [x]When he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
60 O God, (AO)You have rejected us. You have [y](AP)broken us;
You have been (AQ)angry; Oh, (AR)restore us.
2 You have made the [z](AS)land quake, You have split it open;
(AT)Heal its breaches, for it shakes.
3 You have (AU)caused Your people to see hardship;
You have given us [aa]wine to (AV)drink that causes reeling.
4 You have given a (AW)banner to those who fear You,
[ab]In order to flee to it from the bow. [ac]Selah.
5 (AX)That Your (AY)beloved may be rescued,
(AZ)Save with Your right hand, and answer [ad]us!
6 God has spoken in His [ae](BA)holiness:
“I will exult, I will portion out (BB)Shechem and measure out the valley of (BC)Succoth.
7 (BD)Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
(BE)Ephraim also is the [af]helmet of My head;
Judah is My [ag](BF)scepter.
8 (BG)Moab is My washbowl;
Over (BH)Edom I shall throw My shoe;
Make a loud shout, O (BI)Philistia, because of Me!”
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who [ah]will lead me to Edom?
10 Have You Yourself, O God, not (BJ)rejected us?
And (BK)will You, O God, not go forth with our armies?
11 Oh give us help against the adversary,
For (BL)salvation [ai]by man is worthless.
12 [aj]Through God we shall (BM)do valiantly,
And it is He who will (BN)tread down our adversaries.
When Israel Went Out from Egypt
114 When Israel went out (A)from Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of (B)strange language,
2 Judah became (C)His sanctuary,
Israel, (D)His dominion.
3 The (E)sea looked and fled;
The (F)Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains (G)skipped like rams,
The hills, like lambs.
5 What (H)disturbs you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 (I)Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,
Before the God of Jacob,
8 Who (J)turned the rock into a (K)pool of water,
The (L)flint into a spring of water.
To Yahweh’s Name Give Glory
115 (M)Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us,
But (N)to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your [a]truth.
2 (O)Why should the nations say,
“(P)Where, now, is their God?”
3 But our (Q)God is in the heavens;
He (R)does whatever He pleases.
4 Their (S)idols are silver and gold,
The (T)work of man’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they (U)do not speak;
They have eyes, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
They have noses, but they do not smell;
7 As for their hands, they do not feel;
As for their feet, they do not walk;
They do not make a sound with their throat.
8 (V)Those who make them [b]will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.
9 O (W)Israel, (X)trust in Yahweh;
He is their (Y)help and their shield.
10 O house of (Z)Aaron, trust in Yahweh;
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who [c](AA)fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh;
He is their help and their shield.
12 Yahweh (AB)remembered us; He will bless!
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will (AC)bless those who [d]fear Yahweh,
(AD)The small together with the great.
14 May Yahweh (AE)give you increase,
You and your children.
15 May you be blessed of Yahweh,
(AF)Who made heaven and earth.
Stone Tablets like the Former Ones
34 Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Carve out for yourself (A)two stone tablets like the former ones, and (B)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. 2 So be prepared by morning, and come up in the morning to (C)Mount Sinai, and [a]present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. 3 (D)And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen [b]anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.” 4 So he carved out (E)two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. 5 (F)Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him, and [c]He called upon the name of Yahweh. 6 Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, (G)compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and [d]truth; 7 who (H)keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He (I)will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, (J)visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 And Moses made haste [e](K)to bow low toward the earth and worship. 9 And he said, “(L)If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though [f](M)they are a stiff-necked people, and (N)pardon our iniquity and our sin, and (O)take us as Your own inheritance.”
Yahweh Cuts a Covenant with Israel
10 Then [g]God said, “Behold, (P)I am going to cut a covenant. Before all your people (Q)I will do wondrous deeds which have not been created in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people [h]among whom you live will see the working of Yahweh, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to do with you.
11 “[i]Be sure to keep what I am commanding you this day: behold, (R)I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 (S)Beware lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 (T)But rather, you are to tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut down their [j](U)Asherim 14 —for (V)you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and (W)sacrifice to their gods, and one of them (X)invite you [k]to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and (Y)you take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. 17 (Z)You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
13 And for this reason we also (A)thank God without ceasing that when you received the (B)word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it (C)not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, (D)which also is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became (E)imitators of (F)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are (G)in Judea, for (H)you also suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen, (I)even as they did from the Jews, 15 (J)who both killed the Lord Jesus and (K)the prophets, and [a]drove us out, and do not please God, and are hostile to all men, 16 (L)hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles (M)so that they may be saved; with the result that they always (N)fill up the measure of their sins. But (O)wrath has come upon them [b]to the utmost.
17 But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a [c]short while—(P)in face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire (Q)to see your face. 18 [d]For (R)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, [e](S)more than once—and yet (T)Satan (U)hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or (V)joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His [f](W)coming? 20 For you are (X)our glory and joy.
Personal Relationships
21 “(A)You have heard that [a]the ancients were told, ‘(B)You shall not murder’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before (C)the court.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before (D)the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘[b]Raca,’ shall be guilty before the [c](E)Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the [d](F)fiery hell. 23 Therefore if you are (G)presenting your [e]offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your [f]offering there before the altar and go; first be (H)reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your [g]offering. 25 (I)Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I say to you, (J)you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last [h]quadrans.
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