Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78[a]
A New Beginning in Zion and David
1 A maskil of Asaph.
I
Attend, my people, to my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable,[b]
unfold the puzzling events of the past.(A)
3 What we have heard and know;
things our ancestors have recounted to us.(B)
4 We do not keep them from our children;
we recount them to the next generation,
The praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and his strength,
the wonders that he performed.(C)
5 God made a decree in Jacob,
established a law in Israel:(D)
Which he commanded our ancestors,
they were to teach their children;
6 That the next generation might come to know,
children yet to be born.(E)
In turn they were to recount them to their children,
7 that they too might put their confidence in God,
And not forget God’s deeds,
but keep his commandments.
8 They were not to be like their ancestors,
a rebellious and defiant generation,(F)
A generation whose heart was not constant,(G)
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The ranks of Ephraimite archers,[c]
retreated on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant;
they refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his deeds,
the wonders that he had shown them.
II
A
12 In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders,
in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.[d](H)
13 He split the sea and led them across,(I)
making the waters stand like walls.(J)
14 He led them with a cloud by day,
all night with the light of fire.(K)
15 He split rocks in the desert,
gave water to drink, abundant as the deeps of the sea.(L)
16 He made streams flow from crags,
caused rivers of water to flow down.
B
17 But they went on sinning against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.(M)
18 They tested God in their hearts,
demanding the food they craved.(N)
19 They spoke against God, and said,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?(O)
20 True, when he struck the rock,
water gushed forth,
the wadies flooded.
But can he also give bread,
or provide meat to his people?”
C
21 The Lord heard and grew angry;(P)
fire blazed up against Jacob;
anger flared up against Israel.
22 For they did not believe in God,
did not trust in his saving power.
23 [e]So he commanded the clouds above;
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 God rained manna upon them for food;
grain from heaven he gave them.(Q)
25 Man ate the bread of the angels;[f]
food he sent in abundance.
26 He stirred up the east wind in the skies;
by his might God brought on the south wind.
27 He rained meat upon them like dust,
winged fowl like the sands of the sea,
28 They fell down in the midst of their camp,
all round their dwellings.
29 They ate and were well filled;
he gave them what they had craved.
30 But while they still wanted more,
and the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and he made a slaughter of their strongest,
laying low the youth of Israel.(R)
32 In spite of all this they went on sinning,
they did not believe in his wonders.
D
33 God ended their days abruptly,
their years in sudden death.
34 When he slew them, they began to seek him;
they again looked for God.(S)
35 They remembered[g] that God was their rock,
God Most High, their redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths,
lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not constant toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.(T)
38 [h]But God being compassionate forgave their sin;
he did not utterly destroy them.
Time and again he turned back his anger,
unwilling to unleash all his rage.(U)
39 He remembered that they were flesh,
a breath that passes on and does not return.
III
A
40 How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness,
grieved him in the wasteland.
41 Again and again they tested God,
provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power,
the day he redeemed them from the foe,(V)
43 [i]When he performed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the plain of Zoan.(W)
44 God turned their rivers to blood;
their streams they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of insects that devoured them,(X)
frogs that destroyed them.
46 He gave their harvest to the caterpillar,
the fruits of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail,(Y)
their sycamores with frost.
48 He exposed their cattle to plague,
their flocks to pestilence.(Z)
49 He let loose against them the heat of his anger,
wrath, fury, and distress,
a band of deadly messengers.
50 He cleared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but delivered their animals to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,(AA)
the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
52 Then God led forth his people like sheep,
guided them like a flock through the wilderness.(AB)
53 He led them on secure and unafraid,
while the sea enveloped their enemies.(AC)
54 And he brought them to his holy mountain,
the hill his right hand had won.(AD)
55 He drove out the nations before them,
allotted them as their inherited portion,
and settled in their tents the tribes of Israel.
B
56 But they tested and rebelled against God Most High,
his decrees they did not observe.
57 They turned disloyal, faithless like their ancestors;
they proved false like a slack bow.
58 They enraged him with their high places,
and with their idols provoked him[j] to jealous anger.(AE)
C
59 God heard and grew angry;
he rejected Israel completely.
60 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh,[k](AF)
the tent he set up among human beings.
61 He gave up his might into captivity,
his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.(AG)
62 God delivered his people to the sword;
he was enraged against his heritage.
63 Fire consumed their young men;
their young women heard no wedding songs.(AH)
64 Their priests fell by the sword;
their widows made no lamentation.
D
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shouting from the effects of wine.
66 He put his foes to flight;
everlasting shame he dealt them.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph,
chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
68 [l]God chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.(AI)
69 He built his shrine like the heavens,
like the earth which he founded forever.
70 He chose David his servant,
took him from the sheepfolds.(AJ)
71 From tending ewes God brought him,
to shepherd Jacob, his people,
Israel, his heritage.(AK)
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart;
with skilled hands he guided them.
Chapter 59
Salvation Delayed
1 [a]No, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.(A)
2 Rather, it is your crimes
that separate you from your God,
It is your sins that make him hide his face
so that he does not hear you.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with crime;
Your lips speak falsehood,
and your tongue utters deceit.(B)
4 No one brings suit justly,
no one pleads truthfully;
They trust an empty plea and tell lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth malice.
5 [b]They hatch adders’ eggs,
and weave spiders’ webs:
Whoever eats the eggs will die,
if one of them is crushed, it will hatch a viper;(C)
6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing,
nor can they cover themselves with their works.
Their works are evil works,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness,
violence and destruction are on their highways.(D)
8 The way of peace they know not,
and there is no justice on their paths;
Their roads they have made crooked,
no one who walks in them knows peace.
Acknowledgment of Transgressions
9 [c]That is why judgment is far from us
and justice does not reach us.
We look for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, and we walk in gloom!(E)
10 Like those who are blind we grope along the wall,
like people without eyes we feel our way.
We stumble at midday as if at twilight,
among the vigorous, we are like the dead.
11 Like bears we all growl,
like doves we moan without ceasing.
We cry out for justice, but it is not there;
for salvation, but it is far from us.(F)
12 For our transgressions before you are many,
our sins bear witness against us.
Our transgressions are present to us,
and our crimes we acknowledge:
13 Transgressing, and denying the Lord,
turning back from following our God,
Planning fraud and treachery,
uttering lying words conceived in the heart.
14 Judgment is turned away,
and justice stands far off;
For truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.(G)
15 Fidelity is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
Divine Intervention
The Lord saw this, and was aggrieved
that there was no justice.
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting.[a] 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God(A) for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,[b] 2 to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanksgiving. 3 (B)I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,[c] as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 [d]I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears, so that I may be filled with joy, 5 as I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you.(C)
II. Exhortations to Timothy
The Gifts Timothy Has Received. 6 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God[e] that you have through the imposition of my hands.(D) 7 For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.(E) 8 So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,[f] nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.(F)
9 [g]He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,(G) 10 but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,(H) 11 [h]for which I was appointed preacher and apostle(I) and teacher. 12 [i]On this account I am suffering these things; but I am not ashamed,(J) for I know him in whom I have believed and am confident that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day. 13 Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.(K) 14 Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us.(L)
Temptations to Sin. 42 (A)“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna,[a] into the unquenchable fire. [44 ][b] 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. [46 ] 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, 48 where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’(B)
The Simile of Salt. 49 [c]“Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.”(C)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.