Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 20
For the music leader. A psalm of David.
20 I pray that the Lord answers you
whenever you are in trouble.
Let the name of Jacob’s God protect you.
2 Let God send help to you from the sanctuary
and support you from Zion.
3 Let God recall your many grain offerings;
let him savor your entirely burned offerings. Selah
4 Let God grant what is in your heart
and fulfill all your plans.
5 Then we will rejoice that you’ve been helped.
We will fly our flags in the name of our God.
Let the Lord fulfill all your requests!
6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed one;
God answers his anointed one
from his heavenly sanctuary,
answering with mighty acts of salvation
achieved by his strong hand.
7 Some people trust in chariots, others in horses;
but we praise the Lord’s name.
8 They will collapse and fall,
but we will stand up straight and strong.
9 Lord, save the king!
Let him answer us when we cry out!
Psalm 21
For the music leader. A psalm of David.
21 The king celebrates your strength, Lord;
look how happy he is about your saving help!
2 You’ve given him what his heart desires;
you haven’t denied what his lips requested. Selah
3 You bring rich blessings right to him;
you put a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life,
and you gave it to him, all right—
long days, forever and always!
5 The king’s reputation is great
because of your saving help;
you’ve conferred on him glory and grandeur.
6 You grant him blessings forever;
you make him happy
with the joy of your presence.
7 Because the king trusts the Lord,
and because of the Most High’s faithful love,
he will not stumble.
8 Your hand will catch all your enemies;
your strong hand will catch all who hate you.
9 When you appear, Lord,
you will light them up like an oven on fire.
God will eat them whole in his anger;
fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the land;
destroy their descendants from the human race.
11 Because they sought to do you harm,
they devised a wicked plan—but they will fail!
12 Because you will make them turn and run
when you aim your bow straight at their faces!
13 Be exalted, Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power!
Psalm 110
Of David. A psalm.
110 What the Lord says to my master:
“Sit right beside me
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet!”
2 May the Lord make your mighty scepter
reach far from Zion!
Rule over your enemies!
3 Your people stand ready
on your day of battle.
“In holy grandeur, from the dawn’s womb, fight![a]
Your youthful strength is like the dew itself.”
4 The Lord has sworn a solemn pledge and won’t change his mind:
“You are a priest forever in line with Melchizedek.”[b]
5 My master, by your strong hand,
God has crushed kings on his day of wrath.[c]
6 God brings the nations to justice,
piling the dead bodies, crushing heads throughout the earth.
7 God drinks from a stream along the way,
then holds his head up high.[d]
Psalm 116
116 I love the Lord because he hears
my requests for mercy.
2 I’ll call out to him as long as I live,
because he listens closely to me.
3 Death’s ropes bound me;
the distress of the grave[a] found me—
I came face-to-face with trouble and grief.
4 So I called on the Lord’s name:
“Lord, please save me!”[b]
5 The Lord is merciful and righteous;
our God is compassionate.
6 The Lord protects simple folk;
he saves me whenever I am brought down.
7 I tell myself, You can be at peace again,
because the Lord has been good to you.
8 You, God, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my foot from stumbling,
9 so I’ll walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I have remained faithful, even when I said,
“I am suffering so badly!”
11 even when I said, out of fear,
“Everyone is a liar!”
12 What can I give back to the Lord
for all the good things he has done for me?
13 I’ll lift up the cup of salvation.
I’ll call on the Lord’s name.
14 I’ll keep the promises I made to the Lord
in the presence of all God’s people.
15 The death of the Lord’s faithful
is a costly loss in his eyes.
16 Oh yes, Lord, I am definitely your servant!
I am your servant and the son of your female servant—
you’ve freed me from my chains.
17 So I’ll offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to you,
and I’ll call on the Lord’s name.
18 I’ll keep the promises I made to the Lord
in the presence of all God’s people,
19 in the courtyards of the Lord’s house,
which is in the center of Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117
117 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Worship him, all you peoples!
2 Because God’s faithful love toward us is strong,
the Lord’s faithfulness lasts forever!
Praise the Lord!
Moses’ death
34 Then Moses hiked up from the Moabite plains to Mount Nebo, the peak of the Pisgah slope, which faces Jericho. The Lord showed him the whole land: the Gilead region as far as Dan’s territory; 2 all the parts belonging to Naphtali along with the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as the entirety of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea; 3 also the arid southern plain, and the plain—including the Jericho Valley, Palm City—as far as Zoar.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes; however, you will not cross over into it.”
5 Then Moses, the Lord’s servant, died—right there in the land of Moab, according to the Lord’s command. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley in Moabite country across from Beth-peor. Even now, no one knows where Moses’ grave is.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired, and his vigor hadn’t diminished a bit.
8 Back down in the Moabite plains, the Israelites mourned Moses’ death for thirty days. At that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over.
9 Joshua, Nun’s son, was filled with wisdom because Moses had placed his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to Joshua, and they did exactly what the Lord commanded Moses.
10 No prophet like Moses has yet emerged in Israel; Moses knew the Lord face-to-face! 11 That’s not even to mention all those signs and wonders that the Lord sent Moses to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land— 12 as well as all the extraordinary power that Moses displayed before Israel’s own eyes!
14 So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news.[a]
16 But everyone hasn’t obeyed the good news. As Isaiah says, Lord, who has had faith in our message?[b] 17 So, faith comes from listening, but it’s listening by means of Christ’s message. 18 But I ask you, didn’t they hear it? Definitely! Their voice has gone out into the entire earth, and their message has gone out to the corners of the inhabited world.[c] 19 But I ask you again, didn’t Israel understand? First, Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who aren’t a people, of a people without understanding.[d] 20 And Isaiah even dares to say, I was found by those who didn’t look for me; I revealed myself to those who didn’t ask for me.[e] 21 But he says about Israel, All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.[f]
A lesson from the fig tree
32 “Learn this parable from the fig tree. After its branch becomes tender and it sprouts new leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you know that the Human One[a] is near, at the door. 34 I assure you that this generation won’t pass away until all these things happen. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.
Day and hour
36 “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows. 37 As it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Human One.[b] 38 In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 They didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Human One[c] will be like that. 40 At that time there will be two men in the field. One will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. 42 Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know what day the Lord is coming. 43 But you understand that if the head of the house knew at what time the thief would come, he would keep alert and wouldn’t allow the thief to break into his house. 44 Therefore, you also should be prepared, because the Human One[d] will come at a time you don’t know.
Faithful and unfaithful servants
45 “Who then are the faithful and wise servants whom their master puts in charge of giving food at the right time to those who live in his house? 46 Happy are those servants whom the master finds fulfilling their responsibilities when he comes. 47 I assure you that he will put them in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose those bad servants should say to themselves, My master won’t come until later. 49 And suppose they began to beat their fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunks? 50 The master of those servants will come on a day when they are not expecting him, at a time they couldn’t predict. 51 He will cut them in pieces and put them in a place with the hypocrites. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible