Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97
1 The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness are all around Him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 A fire goes before Him
and burns up His enemies all around.
4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and shakes.
5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the Lord of the earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
and all the peoples see His glory.
7 All who serve graven images are ashamed,
who boast in worthless idols;
worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of Your judgments, O Lord.
9 For You, O Lord, are Most High above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of His devoted ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light goes out for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,
and give thanks at the memory of His holy name.
Psalm 99
1 The Lord reigns;
let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned between the cherubim;
let the earth shake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
He is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name—
He is holy!
4 The King’s strength loves justice;
You establish righteousness,
and You execute judgment
and fairness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His footstool—
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
even Samuel was among them who called upon His name;
they called upon the Lord,
and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept His statues and the ordinance that He gave them.
8 You answered them,
O Lord our God;
You were a God who forgave them,
though You took vengeance on their wrongdoing.
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!
Psalm 100
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise;
be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 94
1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs;
O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
render to the proud what they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They spew forth their arrogant words;
all those who do iniquity boast.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
and afflict Your inheritance.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
neither does the God of Jacob regard it.”
8 Understand, you brutish among the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who made the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who chastises the nations, shall He not correct?
He teaches people knowledge!
11 The Lord, He knows the thoughts of people,
that they are a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach from Your law,
13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake His people;
neither will He abandon His inheritance.
15 But justice shall return to those who are righteous,
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against those who do iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul would have lived in the land of silent death.
18 When I said, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, held me up.
19 When there is a multitude of worries within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall wicked rulers, who make oppressive laws,
align with You?
21 They conspire together against the life of the righteous
and condemn innocent blood to death.
22 But the Lord is my defense,
and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 He shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall cut them off for their own wickedness;
yes, the Lord our God shall destroy them.
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are also His.
5 The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture
and the sheep of His hand.
Today if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
and as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tested Me and tried Me,
though they had seen My deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter into My rest.”
God Accuses Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for the Lord has a dispute
with the inhabitants of the land:
There is no truth or mercy,
and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, and killing,
and stealing and adultery
break out,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land dries up,
and everyone who lives in it withers
with the beasts of the field
and the birds of the sky;
even the fish of the sea disappear.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none reprove another,
for your people are like those
that contend with a priest.[a]
5 You will stumble in the day,
and the prophet also will stumble with you in the night,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I will reject you from being My priest.
And because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children.
7 As they increased, so they sinned against Me.
I will change[b] their glory[c] into shame.
8 They feed upon the sin of My people,
and they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 It will be like people, like priest.
I will punish them for their ways
and reward them for their deeds.
10 They will eat, but not be satisfied;
they will play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
by devoting themselves to
Paul’s Journey to Jerusalem
21 When we had withdrawn from them and set sail, we went on a straight course to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went aboard, and set sail. 3 Having come in sight of Cyprus, we passed to the south of it and sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship’s cargo was to be unloaded. 4 When we found the disciples, we remained there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. 5 But when our days were over, we parted and traveled on. Everyone, with wives and children, escorted us until we were outside the city. And we knelt on the shore and prayed. 6 After bidding farewell to one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.
7 We finished the voyage from Tyre when we landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 8 The next day we who were Paul’s companions departed, and arrived at Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
10 While we stayed there many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 When he had arrived, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own hands and feet, saying, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this manner the Jews at Jerusalem shall bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
12 When we heard these things, both we and the residents implored him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be persuaded, we kept silent and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
The Cleansing of a Leper(A)
12 When He was in a certain city, a man full of leprosy, upon seeing Jesus, fell on his face and begged Him, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.”
13 He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will. Be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
14 Then He commanded him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
15 Yet even more so His fame went everywhere. And great crowds came together to hear and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 But He withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.
The Healing of a Paralytic(B)
17 On a certain day, as He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal the sick. 18 Now some men brought in a bed a man who was paralyzed. They searched for ways to bring him in and lay him before Him. 19 When they could not find a way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his bed into their midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is He who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered them, “Why question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, rise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 They were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen wonderful things today.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.