Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 24[a]
The Glory of God in Procession to Zion
1 A psalm of David.
I
The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds,(A)
the world and those who dwell in it.
2 For he founded it on the seas,
established it over the rivers.(B)
II
3 Who may go up the mountain of the Lord?(C)
Who can stand in his holy place?
4 [b]“The clean of hand and pure of heart,
who has not given his soul to useless things,
what is vain.
5 He will receive blessings from the Lord,
and justice from his saving God.
6 Such is the generation that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.”
Selah
III
7 Lift up your heads, O gates;[c]
be lifted, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may enter.(D)
8 Who is this king of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in war.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates;
rise up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may enter.
10 Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory.
Selah
Psalm 29[a]
The Lord of Majesty Acclaimed as King of the World
1 A psalm of David.
I
Give to the Lord, you sons of God,[b]
give to the Lord glory and might;
2 Give to the Lord the glory due his name.
Bow down before the Lord’s holy splendor!(A)
II
3 The voice of the Lord[c] is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is power;
the voice of the Lord is splendor.(B)
5 The voice of the Lord cracks the cedars;
the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon,
6 Makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
and Sirion[d] like a young bull.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes with fiery flame;
8 the voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9 [e]The voice of the Lord makes the deer dance
and strips the forests bare.
All in his Temple say, “Glory!”
III
Psalm 8[a]
Divine Majesty and Human Dignity
1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.”[b] A psalm of David.
2 O Lord, our Lord,
how awesome is your name through all the earth!
I will sing of your majesty above the heavens
3 with the mouths of babes(A) and infants.[c]
You have established a bulwark against your foes,
to silence enemy and avenger.
4 When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place—
5 [d]What is man that you are mindful of him,(B)
and a son of man that you care for him?(C)
6 Yet you have made him little less than a god,[e]
crowned him with glory and honor.
7 You have given him rule over the works of your hands,(D)
put all things at his feet:
8 All sheep and oxen,
even the beasts of the field,
9 The birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
10 O Lord, our Lord,
how awesome is your name through all the earth!
Psalm 84[a]
Prayer of a Pilgrim to Jerusalem
1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.” A psalm of the Korahites.
I
2 How lovely your dwelling,
O Lord of hosts!(A)
3 My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the Lord.(B)
My heart and flesh cry out
for the living God.
4 [b]As the sparrow finds a home
and the swallow a nest to settle her young,
My home is by your altars,
Lord of hosts, my king and my God!(C)
5 Blessed are those who dwell in your house!
They never cease to praise you.
Selah
II
6 Blessed the man who finds refuge in you,
in their hearts are pilgrim roads.
7 As they pass through the Baca valley,[c]
they find spring water to drink.
The early rain covers it with blessings.
8 They will go from strength to strength[d]
and see the God of gods on Zion.
III
9 Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Jacob.
Selah
10 [e]O God, watch over our shield;
look upon the face of your anointed.(D)
IV
11 Better one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere.
Better the threshold of the house of my God
than a home in the tents of the wicked.
12 For a sun and shield is the Lord God,
bestowing all grace and glory.
The Lord withholds no good thing
from those who walk without reproach.
13 O Lord of hosts,
blessed the man who trusts in you!
Chapter 24
Covenant Ceremony. 1 (A)Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel. When they stood in ranks before God, 2 Joshua addressed all the people: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In times past your ancestors, down to Terah,(B) father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River[a] and served other gods. 3 But I brought your father Abraham from the region beyond the River and led him through the entire land of Canaan.(C) I made his descendants numerous, and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.(D) To Esau I assigned the mountain region of Seir to possess, while Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 “Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and struck Egypt with the plagues and wonders that I wrought in her midst.(E) Afterward I led you out. 6 And when I led your ancestors out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued your ancestors to the Red Sea with chariots and charioteers.(F) 7 When they cried out to the Lord,(G) he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, upon whom he brought the sea so that it covered them. Your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After you dwelt a long time in the wilderness, 8 (H)I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your power. You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them at your approach. 9 (I)Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, prepared to war against Israel. He summoned Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you, 10 (J)but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his power. 11 Once you crossed the Jordan(K) and came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you, but I delivered them also into your power. 12 And I sent the hornets[b] ahead of you which drove them—the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites—out of your way; it was not your sword or your bow.(L) 13 I gave you a land you did not till and cities you did not build, to dwell in; you ate of vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.(M)
14 (N)“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 (O)If it is displeasing to you to serve the Lord, choose today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
23 So they arranged a day with him and came to his lodgings in great numbers. From early morning until evening, he expounded his position to them, bearing witness to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. 24 Some were convinced by what he had said, while others did not believe. 25 [a]Without reaching any agreement among themselves they began to leave; then Paul made one final statement. “Well did the holy Spirit speak to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, saying:
26 ‘Go to this people and say:(A)
You shall indeed hear but not understand.
You shall indeed look but never see.
27 Gross is the heart of this people;
they will not hear with their ears;
they have closed their eyes,
so they may not see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and be converted,
and I heal them.’
28 (B)Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” [29 ][b]
30 [c]He remained for two full years in his lodgings. He received all who came to him, 31 and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.
23 As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.(A) 24 At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”(B) 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did[a] when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?”(C) 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man,[b] not man for the sabbath.(D) 28 [c]That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
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