Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 101
A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of mercy and justice;
to You, O Lord, I will sing.
2 I will consider the path that is blameless.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house
with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing
before my eyes.
I hate the work of those who turn aside;
it shall not have part of me.
4 A perverted heart shall be far from me;
I will not know anything wicked.
5 Whoever privately slanders his neighbor,
him I will destroy;
whoever has a haughty look and a proud heart
I will not endure.
6 My eyes shall be favorable to the faithful in the land,
that they may live with me;
he who walks in a blameless manner,
he shall serve me.
7 He who practices deceit
shall not dwell within my house;
he who tells lies
shall not remain in my sight.
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
that I may cut off all wicked doers
from the city of the Lord.
Psalm 109
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 Do not remain silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and deceitful
are opened against me;
they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They encircled me with words of hatred
and fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my adversaries,
but I give myself to prayer.
5 They have rewarded me evil for good
and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man against him,
and let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned,
and let his prayer be reckoned as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be wandering beggars;
let them seek their bread far from their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has;
let the strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,
neither let there be any to pity his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
and in the generation following let his name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
that the Lord may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy and broken-hearted
to their death.
17 As he loved cursing,
so let it come over him;
as he did not delight in blessing,
so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like a garment,
so let it soak into him like water,
and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment that covers him,
and a belt that he continually wears.
20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord,
and of those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But You, O God my Lord,
work on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow in the evening;
I am tossed as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting,
and my body is thin with no fat.
25 I am a reproach to my accusers;
when they look upon me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to Your mercy,
27 that they may know that this is by Your hand,
that You, O Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but You will bless;
when they arise, let them be ashamed,
but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame,
and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace like a cloak.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
indeed, I will praise Him among the multitude.
ע Ayin
121 I have done what is right and just;
do not abandon me to my oppressors.
122 Be true to Your servant for good;
let not the proud ones oppress me.
123 My eyes long for Your deliverance
and for the promise of Your righteousness.
124 Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy,
and teach me Your statutes.
125 I am Your servant; grant me understanding,
that I may know Your testimonies.
126 It is time for You, O Lord, to act,
for they have broken Your law.
127 Therefore I love Your commandments
above gold, even fine gold.
128 For I follow all Your precepts to be right,
and I hate every false way.
פ Pe
129 Your testimonies are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The giving of Your words gives light;
it grants understanding to the simple.
131 I opened my mouth and panted,
for I long for Your commandments.
132 Look upon me, and be merciful to me,
as You are for those who love Your name.
133 Order my steps according to Your word,
and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
134 Deliver me from the oppression of man,
so I will keep Your precepts.
135 Make Your face to shine upon Your servant,
and teach me Your statutes.
136 Rivers of waters run down my eyes,
because people do not keep Your law.
צ Tsadhe
137 You are righteous, O Lord,
and upright are Your judgments.
138 You have set Your testimonies in righteousness
and faithfulness.
139 My zeal has consumed me,
because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 Your word is pure and true;
therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised,
yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and Your law is true.
143 Trouble and anguish have discovered me,
but Your commandments are my delight.
144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting;
grant me understanding, and I shall live.
11 harlotry;
wine and new wine
take away understanding.
The Idolatry of Israel
12 My people seek counsel from their wood,
and their staff informs them.
For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray,
and they have played the whore in defiance of their God.
13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense upon the hills
under oak, poplar, and elm
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters
when they play the whore,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery.
For the men separate themselves with whores,
and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes.
A people without understanding will come to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel,
do not let Judah offend.
Do not come to Gilgal,
or go up to Beth Aven,
and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn.
Now will the Lord feed them
like a lamb in a wide pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
let him alone.
18 Their drink has soured,
they have played the whore continually.
Her rulers dearly love shame.
19 A wind has wrapped her in its wings,
and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
15 After those days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.
Paul Visits James
17 When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. 18 On the next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 He greeted them and recounted one by one what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they glorified the Lord. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed concerning you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to observe the customs. 22 What then shall be done? The assembly will certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 Take these men and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may have their heads shaved. Then all will know that what they were told concerning you is nothing, but that you yourself live in observance of the law. 25 As for the Gentiles who believe, we have written and concluded that they should observe no such thing, except that they abstain from food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from strangled animals, and from blood.”
26 Then on the next day, Paul took the men and purified himself with them. And he went into the temple, announcing when the days of purification would be complete and an offering would be given for each one of them.
The Calling of Levi(A)
27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax collector’s station. He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything, rose up, and followed Him.
29 Then Levi made Him a great feast in his house. And there was a group of many tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The Question About Fasting(B)
33 They said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
34 He said to them, “Can you make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then in those days they will fast.”
36 He told them a parable also: “No one sews a piece of a new material on an old one. Otherwise the new would tear, for the new piece does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled, and the wineskins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new. For he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.