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.
9 “To whom shall He teach knowledge,
and to whom shall He interpret the message?
Those just weaned from the milk
and drawn from the breasts?
10 For He says,
‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.’ ”
11 For with stammering lips and foreign tongue
He will speak to this people,
12 He who said to them,
“This is the rest. Give rest to the weary,”
and, “This is repose,”
yet they would not listen.
13 So the word of the Lord will be to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,”
that they might go and fall backward,
be broken, snared, and taken captive.
14 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers,
who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with hell we are in agreement.
The overflowing scourge shall not come to us
when it passes through,
for we have made lies our refuge
and under falsehood we have hid ourselves.”
A Cornerstone in Zion
16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
See, I lay in Zion a stone,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, firmly placed;
he who believes shall not act hastily.
Unity of the Body
4 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called. 2 With all humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 be eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
and gave gifts to men.”[a]
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also He who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.)
11 He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ, 13 until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so we may no longer be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, by craftiness with deceitful scheming. 15 But, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Christ Himself, 16 from whom the whole body is joined together and connected by every joint and ligament, as every part effectively does its work and grows, building itself up in love.
Psalm 116
1 I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice
and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,
therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death encircled me,
and the pains of Sheol took hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I plead with You, deliver my soul.”
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
indeed, our God is merciful.
6 The Lord protects the simple;
I was brought low, and He helped me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul;
for the Lord has vindicated you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, indeed I have spoken:
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 I said in my haste,
“All men are liars.”
12 What shall I render unto the Lord
for all His benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of His godly ones.
16 O Lord, I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your female servant;
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Exalt Him, all you peoples!
2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
The Promise of the Spirit
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, that He may be with you forever: 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, neither does it know Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you fatherless. I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more. But you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”
22 Then Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us, but not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words. The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
25 “I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and am returning to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you may believe. 30 After this I will not speak much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me. 31 But I do as the Father has commanded Me so that the world may know that I love the Father.
“Rise, let us go from here.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.