Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83[a]
Against a Hostile Alliance
1 A song. A psalm of Asaph.[b]
2 O God, do not remain silent;[c]
do not be quiet and inactive, O God.
3 [d]Note how your enemies rage about,
how your foes increase in arrogance.[e]
4 They formulate shrewd plans against your people,
conspiring against those you love.
5 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be totally forgotten.”
6 They conspire with a single mind,
forming an alliance[f] against you:
7 [g]the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
8 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 Assyria has also joined them as an ally,
offering aid to the descendants of Lot. Selah
10 [h]Deal with them as you did with Midian,[i]
and with Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,[j]
11 who were destroyed at Endor
and became manure for the ground.
12 [k]Make their chieftains like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13 who boasted, “Let us seize for ourselves
the pastures of God.”
14 [l]O my God, treat them like tumbleweed,
like chaff blown before the wind.
15 As a fire rages through a forest,
as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
16 so hound them with your tempests
and terrify them with your stormwinds.[m]
17 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name,[n] O Lord.
18 [o]Let them be humiliated and terrified forever;
let them be disgraced and perish.
19 Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.
The Concluding Hallel—Pss 146–150[a]
Psalm 146[b]
Trust in God, Creator and Redeemer
1 [c]Alleluia.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.[d]
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God throughout my life.[e]
3 Do not place your trust in princes,
in mortal men who have no power to save.
4 When the spirit departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day all their plans come to naught.[f]
5 [g]Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,[h]
whose hope is in the Lord, his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,[i]
the sea, and everything in them—
the one who keeps faith forever.
7 He grants justice to the oppressed[j]
and gives bread to the hungry.
The Lord releases prisoners
8 and opens the eyes of those who cannot see.[k]
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the stranger
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,[l]
but he blocks the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever,[m]
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Alleluia.
Psalm 147[n]
Hymn to the City of God
1 [o]Alleluia.
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
how pleasant it is to give him fitting praise.[p]
2 The Lord restores Jerusalem
and gathers together the dispersed people of Israel.[q]
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.[r]
4 He fixes the number of the stars
and assigns a name to each.[s]
5 Great is our Lord and awesome in power;
his wisdom is without limit.[t]
6 The Lord sustains the poor
but humbles the wicked in the dust.[u]
7 [v]Offer songs of thanksgiving to the Lord;
play the lyre in honor of our God.
8 He veils the heavens with clouds,
supplies the earth with rain,
and makes the hills sprout with grass.[w]
9 He provides food for the animals
and for the young ravens when they call.[x]
10 [y]He takes no pleasure in the strength of the horse,
or delight in the fleetness of a runner.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
those who place their hope in his kindness.
12 [z]Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Glorify your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your children within you.[aa]
14 He brings peace to your borders
and fills you with the finest of wheat.[ab]
15 He sends a command to the earth;
his word runs with utmost speed.
16 He gives the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.[ac]
17 He hurls down his hail like crumbs;
who can withstand his cold?[ad]
18 He sends his word, and the ice melts;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 [ae]He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his decrees and his judgments to Israel.
20 He has not done this for the other nations;
they are not aware of his judgments.
Alleluia.
Psalm 85[a]
Prayer for the People’s Salvation
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the good fortune of Jacob.[c]
3 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you canceled all their sins. Selah
4 You cast aside all your wrath;
you put an end to your great anger.
5 [d]Restore us once again, O God, our Savior,
and cease your displeasure toward us.
6 Will you remain angry with us forever?
Will you hold onto your wrath for all generations?
7 Will you not once again give us life
so that your people may exult in you?
8 Show us, O Lord, your kindness[e]
and grant us your salvation.
9 [f]I will listen for God’s response;
surely the Lord will proclaim peace to his people, his saints,[g]
to those who turn to him with their whole heart.
10 His salvation is indeed near for those who fear him;
his glory[h] will dwell in our land.
11 [i]Kindness and faithfulness[j] will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace.
12 Faithfulness will spring forth from the earth,
and righteousness[k] will look down from heaven.
13 [l]The Lord will grant us prosperity,[m]
and our land will yield its harvest.
14 Righteousness will go forth in front of him,
and he will set us on the way he treads.
Psalm 86[n]
Prayer in Suffering and Distress
1 A prayer of David.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.[o]
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who puts his trust in you.
3 You are my God;[p] have pity on me, O Lord,
for to you I cry out all day long.
4 Give joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.[q]
5 O Lord, you are kind and forgiving,
filled with kindness[r] for all who cry to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and listen to my voice in supplication.
7 In the time of trouble I call to you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is no one among the gods like you, O Lord,
nor can any deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations[s] you have made
will come and bow down before you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
10 For you are great and you do marvelous deeds;[t]
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your ways, O Lord,
so that I may walk in your truth;
let me worship your name
with an undivided heart.[u]
12 I will praise you with all my heart,[v]
O Lord, my God,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 Your kindness[w] toward me is great;
you have rescued me from the depths of the netherworld.
14 Arrogant men are rising up against me, O God;
a violent mob seeks my life;
they do not keep you before their eyes.[x]
15 But you, O Lord, are a merciful and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness and faithfulness.[y]
16 Turn to me and grant me your gracious favor;
endow your servant with strength
and rescue the child of your handmaid.[z]
17 Grant me a sign of your favor,[aa]
so that those who hate me
may see it and be put to shame,
because you, O Lord,
have helped and comforted me.
Chapter 7
1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. 2 And once again, on the second day as they were having wine, the king asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even if it is for half my kingdom, it will be granted you.”
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been handed over to destruction, slaughter, and extinction. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have not said anything, because such distress would not be reason enough to disturb the king.”[a]
5 Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is it and where is the one who has done such a thing?”
6 Esther replied, “Our enemy is this wicked man Haman.”
In terror, Haman faced the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, since he feared that the king had already decided his fate.
8 So Haman threw himself upon the couch on which Esther was reclining. At that very moment the king was just returning from the palace garden to the banquet hall. The king exclaimed: “Will he also violate the queen while she is with me in my own house?”
The words were scarcely out of the king’s mouth when Haman’s face was covered. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs who attended the king, said, “There is a gibbet fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. Haman prepared it for Mordecai, who warned your majesty about the plot.”
The king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gibbet he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger cooled down.
11 New Encounter of the Church with Magic.[a] So extraordinary were the wonders God worked through Paul 12 that when handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, they were cured of their diseases and the evil spirits came out of them.
13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists used the name of the Lord Jesus over those possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish leading priest named Sceva were among those who were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, overpowered them, and prevailed over them so violently that they fled out of the house battered and naked.
17 When this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in ever increasing honor. 18 Moreover, many of those who had become believers came forward and openly confessed their deeds, 19 while a great number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly. When the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver pieces.[b] 20 In such ways did the word of the Lord spread ever more widely and successfully.
The Ministry of Jesus in Galilee[a]
14 Jesus Is Accepted throughout Galilee. Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and reports about him began to spread throughout the surrounding region. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 Jesus at Nazareth.[b]When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the passage where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed intently on him.
21 Then he began by saying to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All present spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that flowed from his lips. They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
23 He said to them, “Undoubtedly you will quote to me the proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself,’ and say: ‘Do here in your hometown[c] the deeds we have heard that you performed in Capernaum.’ 24 Amen, I say to you,” he went on, “no prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 [d]“I tell you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the skies remained closed for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet it was to none of them that Elijah was sent, but to a widow at Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 There were also many people with leprosy in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but not one of these was cleansed except for Naaman the Syrian.”
28 When they heard these words, all the people in the synagogue were roused to fury.[e] 29 They leapt up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the top of the hill upon which their town was built, intending to hurl him off the cliff. 30 However, he passed through the midst of the crowd and went on his way.
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