Book of Common Prayer
A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.
With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
You established the heavens.
Your faithfulness is in them.”
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.
5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh,
your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
to be feared above all those who are around him?
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
Yah, your faithfulness is around you.
9 You rule the pride of the sea.
When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours.
The earth also is yours,
the world and its fullness.
You have founded them.
12 You have created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
16 In your name they rejoice all day.
In your righteousness, they are exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength.
In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.
I have exalted a young man from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21 with whom my hand shall be established.
My arm will also strengthen him.
22 No enemy will tax him.
No wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him,
and strike those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
29 I will also make his offspring endure forever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
and don’t walk in my ordinances;
31 if they break my statutes,
and don’t keep my commandments;
32 then I will punish their sin with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I will not break my covenant,
nor alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once I have sworn by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring will endure forever,
his throne like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
38 But you have rejected and spurned.
You have been angry with your anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant of your servant.
You have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken down all his hedges.
You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way rob him.
He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.
You have made all of his enemies rejoice.
43 Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,
and haven’t supported him in battle.
44 You have ended his splendor,
and thrown his throne down to the ground.
45 You have shortened the days of his youth.
You have covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, Yahweh?
Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is,
for what vanity you have created all the children of men!
48 What man is he who shall live and not see death,
who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?[a] Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses,
which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants,
how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
51 With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh,
with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
52 Blessed be Yahweh forever more.
Amen, and Amen.
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh,[a] Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. 5 No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.
6 “Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. 9 Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God[b] is with you wherever you go.”
3 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, 2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you, 3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words, 4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, 6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News, 7 of which I was made a servant according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all men see what is the administration[a] of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, 10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. 13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, 12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him.[a] 16 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”(A)
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