Book of Common Prayer
Remembering the Covenant with David, and Sorrow for Lost Blessings
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.[a]
89 I will sing forever of Yahweh’s acts of loyal love.
From generation to generation[b]
I will make known your faithfulness with my mouth.
2 For I say, “Forever your loyal love is built up.
The heavens you have established with your faithfulness in them.”
3 “I made a covenant with my chosen one;
I swore an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever,
and I will build up your throne from generation to generation.’”[c] Selah
5 And so the heavens will praise your wonderful deed, O Yahweh,
even your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the sky[d] is equal to Yahweh?
Who is like Yahweh among the sons of God,
7 a God feared greatly in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all surrounding him?
8 O Yahweh God of hosts,
who is mighty like you, O Yah,
with[e] your faithfulness surrounding you?
9 You are ruling the surging of the sea.
When its waves rise, you yourself still[f] them.
10 You yourself crushed[g] Rahab like one who is slain;
you scattered your enemies with your strong arm.
11 The heavens are yours, the earth yours as well,
the world with its fullness, because you founded them.
12 North and south, you created them;
Tabor and Hermon shout joyfully over your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
Your hand is strong; your right hand reaches high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Loyal love and faithfulness[h] come before your face.[i]
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout;
O Yahweh, they walk about in the light of your countenance.
16 In your name they rejoice all the day,
and in your righteousness they rise up.
17 For you are the glory of their strength,
and by your favor our horn rises up,[j]
18 because our shield belongs to Yahweh,[k]
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.[l]
19 Formerly you spoke in a vision
to your faithful ones, and said,
“I have bestowed help on a mighty man;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him,
21 with whom my hand will be steadfast.
Surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not deceive him,
and no evil man[m] will afflict him.
23 But I will crush his adversaries before him,
and I will strike those who hate him.
24 And so my faithfulness
and my loyal love will be with him,
and in my name his horn will rise up.
25 And I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 I will also make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 Forever I will keep my loyal love for him,
and my covenant will be reliable for him.
29 I will also establish his offspring forever,
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his sons forsake my law
and do not walk in my judgments,
31 if they defile[n] my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with a rod,
and their guilt with wounds.
33 But I will not break off my loyal love from him,
and I will not be false against my faithfulness.
34 I will not defile[o] my covenant,
or alter what proceeded from my lips.
35 Once[p] I have sworn by my holiness,
‘I will surely not lie to David,
36 His offspring will endure[q] forever,
and his throne as the sun before me.
37 Like the moon it will be steadfast forever,
and like an enduring witness in the sky.’” Selah
38 But you have spurned and rejected;
you are very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have repudiated the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled[r] his crown in[s] the dirt.
40 You have broken down all his walls;
you have made his fortifications a ruin.
41 All passing along the road plunder him;
he has become a taunt to his neighbors.
42 You have raised the right hand[t] of his adversaries.
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword
and have not helped him stand his ground in the battle.
44 You have made his splendor to cease,
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, O Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire forever?
47 Remember what my lifespan is.
Remember for what vanity
you have created all the children of humankind.
48 What man can live on and not see death?
Can he deliver his life from the power[u] of Sheol? Selah
49 Where are your former acts of loyal love, O Lord,
that you swore to David by your faithfulness?
50 Remember, O Lord the taunting of your servants,
how I bear in my bosom the taunts of all the many peoples,
51 by which your enemies taunt, O Yahweh,
by which they taunt the steps of your anointed one.
52 Blessed be Yahweh forever.
Amen and Amen.
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
2 I will stand at my post,
and station myself on the rampart.
And I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then Yahweh answered me and said,
“Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet
so that it might be read quickly.[a]
3 For there is yet a vision for the appointed time;
it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie.
If it tarries, wait for it,
for it will surely come and not delay.
4 Look! His spirit within him is puffed up;
it is not upright.
But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.
9 Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be saved from the hand of misfortune!
10 You have plotted shame for your house,
cutting off many peoples
and sinning against your life.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the plaster from the wood will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt,
and who founds a city by wickedness!
13 Look! Is it not from Yahweh of hosts
that people labor for mere fire,
and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
like the waters covering the sea.
15 Woe to him who gives a drink to his neighbors,
pouring out your wrath and also making them drunk
in order to see their nakedness!
16 You will be sated with shame rather than glory.
Drink also yourself, and expose yourself!
The cup of the right hand of Yahweh
will come around upon you
and disgrace upon your glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon will cover you,
and the destruction of wild animals will shatter them
on account of the blood of humanity,
and the violence against the land,
against a city and all the inhabitants in it.
18 What value is an idol
when its carver has fashioned it,
a molten idol, a teacher of lies?
For he who fashioned his creation trusts in it,
though making mute idols!
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
And to a lifeless stone, ‘Arise!’
Can he teach?
Look, it is covered with gold and silver,
and there is no breath within it.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.”
Faith and Works
14 What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?[a] 15 If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, 16 and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well[b],” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? 17 Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.”[c] Show me your faith apart from your[d] works, and I will show you my[e] faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he[f] offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works the faith was perfected. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,”[g] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she[h] welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Now a certain man was rich, and dressed in purple cloth and fine linen, feasting sumptuously every day. 20 And a certain poor man named[a] Lazarus, covered with sores, lay at his gate, 21 and was longing to be filled with what fell from the table of the rich man. But even the dogs came and[b] licked his sores. 22 Now it happened that the poor man died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side.[c] And the rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in Hades he lifted up his eyes as he[d] was in torment and[e] saw Abraham from a distance, and Lazarus at his side.[f] 24 And he called out and[g] said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he could dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering pain in this flame!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you received your good things during your life, and Lazarus likewise bad things. But now he is comforted here, but you are suffering pain. 26 And in addition to all these things, a great chasm has been established between us and you, so that those who want to cross over from here to you are not able to do so,[h] nor can they cross over from there to us.’ 27 So he said, ‘Then I ask you, father, that you send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he could warn them, in order that they also should not come to this place of torment!’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must listen to them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.’”
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