Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 66
For the Music Director. A Song. A Psalm.
1 Shout joyfully to God, all you lands!
2 Sing out the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
Through the greatness of Your power
Your enemies cringe before You.
4 All the earth will worship You
and will sing to You;
they will sing to Your name.” Selah
5 Come and see the works of God;
He is awesome in His doings toward mankind.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
they crossed the river on foot;
there we rejoiced in Him.
7 He rules by His power forever;
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
8 Oh, bless our God, you people,
and make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 who keeps our soul among the living,
and does not allow our feet to slip.
10 For You, O God, have proved us;
You have refined us, as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net;
You placed distress on our backs.
12 You have allowed people to ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
but You brought us out into a well-watered place.
13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will fulfill my vows to You,
14 which my lips have uttered,
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
with the incense of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will declare what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
and He was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me;
19 but certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God,
who has not turned away my prayer,
nor His mercy from me.
Psalm 67
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
1 May God be gracious to us, and bless us,
and cause His face to shine on us; Selah
2 that Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
for You will judge the people uprightly,
and lead the nations on earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
6 Then will the earth yield its produce,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.
Psalm 19
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,
and night unto night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech and there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them has He set a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
it rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
6 Its going forth is from one end of the heavens,
and its circuit extends to the other end,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is Your servant warned,
and by keeping them comes great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be upright
and innocent from great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Psalm 46
For the Music Director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a well-proven help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved;
God will help her in the early dawn.
6 The nations roared; the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice; the earth melted.
7 The Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, see the works of the Lord,
who makes desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts off the spear;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished
2 Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not My wife,
and am I not her husband—
that she put away her harlotry from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts,
3 lest I strip her naked
and leave her as in the day that she was born,
and turn her into a wilderness,
and turn her into a dry land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 I will not have mercy upon her children,
for they are children of harlotry.
5 For their mother has played the whore.
She that conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will pursue my lovers,
who provide my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns,
and make a wall, so that she will not find her paths.
7 She will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them;
and she will seek them but will not find them.
Then she will say,
“I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.”
8 But she did not know that it was I who provided her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold
that they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back My grain in its time
and My wine in its season,
and I will recover My wool and My flax,
given to cover her nakedness.
10 Therefore I will uncover her shame
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will deliver her from My hand.
11 I will also bring to an end all her joy,
her annual feasts, her New Moons,
and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
12 I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
of which she has said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me.”
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field will eat them.
13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals,
when she burned incense to them
and adorned herself with her earrings and her jewelry,
and pursued her lovers,
but forgot Me,
declares the Lord.
God’s Mercy on Israel
14 Therefore, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
The Tongue
3 My brothers, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. 2 We all err in many ways. But if any man does not err in word, he is a perfect man and able also to control the whole body.
3 See how we put bits in the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and we control their whole bodies. 4 And observe ships. Though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are directed with a very small rudder wherever the captain pleases. 5 Even so, the tongue is a little part of the body and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. 6 The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. The tongue is among the parts of the body, defiling the whole body, and setting the course of nature on fire, and it is set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea are tamed or have been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring yield at the same opening sweet and bitter water? 12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a vine, figs? So no spring can yield both salt water and fresh water.
The Wisdom From Above
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works by his good life in the meekness of wisdom.
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And with joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and gathered all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, they drew it to shore, sat down, and gathered the good into baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Treasures New and Old
51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all of these things?”
They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who is discipled for the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is master of the household who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.