Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
Darkness Is My Friend
The Headings
A song. A psalm. By the Sons of Korah.
For the choir director. According to mahalath leannoth.[a]
A maskil[b] of Heman the Ezrahite.
Opening Plea
1 O Lord, the God who saves me, by day I cry out.
At night I cry before you.
2 May my prayer come before you.
Turn your ear to my cry.
The Problem
3 Indeed, my soul has had its fill of troubles,
and my life has arrived at the grave.
4 I am treated like those who go down to the pit.
I am like someone without strength.
5 I am turned loose with the dead.
I am like the slain who lie in the grave,
like the ones you do not remember anymore,
like those who are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath presses against me. Interlude
You have battered me with all your breakers.
8 You have distanced my acquaintances from me.
You have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and I cannot get out.
9 My eyesight grows dim from affliction.
I call to you, O Lord, every day.
I spread out my hands to you.
The Darkness of Death
10 Is it for the dead that you do a miracle? Interlude
Do the spirits of the dead rise up and praise you?
11 Is your mercy declared in the tomb,
your faithfulness in decay?
12 Is your wonderful work known in the darkness?
Is your righteousness known in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I cry to you, O Lord,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, O Lord, do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted
and I have been close to death since my youth.
I have endured your terrors.
I am in despair.
16 Your rage has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like water.
They have battered me completely.
18 You have distanced my loved one and friend from me.
My only friend is darkness.
Psalm 91
The Shadow of Your Wings
The General Principle
1 One who lives in the shelter of the Most High
will stay in the shadow of the Almighty.
Application to Oneself
2 I will say to the Lord,
“My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
Application to Others
3 Surely he will rescue you from the fowler’s trap,
from the destructive plague.
4 With his feathers he will cover you,
and under his wings you will find refuge.
His truth will be your shield and armor.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the plague that prowls in the darkness,
nor the pestilence that destroys at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe it with your eyes.
You will see the punishment of the wicked.
Application to Oneself
9 Yes, you, Lord, are my refuge!
Application to Others
If you make the Most High your shelter,
10 evil will not overtake you.
Disaster will not come near your tent.
11 Yes, he will give a command to his angels concerning you,
to guard you in all your ways.
12 They will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra.
You will trample the young lion and the serpent.
God’s Promise of Delivery
14 The Lord says,[a]
Because he clings to me, I will rescue him.
I will protect him, because he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in distress.
I will deliver him and I will honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
and I will let him see my salvation.
Psalm 92
It Is Good to Praise the Lord
Heading
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.
A Call to Praise
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
2 to proclaim your mercy in the morning
and your faithfulness every night,
3 with a ten-stringed instrument and with a harp,
with a melody on a lyre.
The Blessings of Praise
4 Yes, you make me glad by your work, O Lord.
I sing loudly at the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, O Lord.
Your thoughts are very deep!
The Folly and Fall of the Wicked
6 The senseless man does not know,
and the fool does not understand this—
7 when the wicked spring up like weeds,
and all evildoers bloom like flowers,
they will be destroyed forever.
Central Affirmation
8 But you are exalted forever, O Lord.
The Fall of the Wicked
9 Without a doubt your enemies, O Lord,
without a doubt your enemies will perish.
All evildoers will be scattered.
The Blessing of the Righteous
10 But you have raised my horn like that of a wild ox.[b]
I am drenched with fresh oil.[c]
11 My eyes have looked in triumph over my adversaries.
When evildoers rise against me, my ears hear their defeat.
12 The righteous will shoot up like a palm tree.
They will grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they will shoot up in the courtyards of our God.
14 They will still produce fruit in old age.
They will stay fresh and green.
Closing Praise
15 Yes, they can proclaim, “The Lord is upright.
He is my Rock, and he does no wrong.”
The Fifth Servant Song
The Spirit Anoints Him[a]
61
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the afflicted.
He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release for those who are bound,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance for our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion,
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit,
so that they will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord to display his beauty.
The Result of the Servant’s Work
4 Then they will rebuild ancient ruins.
They will raise up what was formerly devastated,
and they will renew ruined cities,
which have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will stand and shepherd your flock,
and foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers.
6 You will be called the Lord’s priests.
You will be named ministers of our God.
You will eat the wealth of nations,
and you will boast about their riches.
7 In place of your shame, you will receive a double portion.
Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their share of the land.
In fact, in their land they will inherit a double portion.
Everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 Yes, I am the Lord. I love justice.
I hate robbery in a burnt offering.[b]
I will repay them in faithfulness,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
All who see them will recognize
that they are offspring whom the Lord has blessed.
The Last Days
3 But know this: In the last days there will be terrible times. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, 4 treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such people. 6 For some of them are people who worm their way into households and gain control over vulnerable women who are overwhelmed with sins, led astray by various evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these people oppose the truth. They are people of depraved minds, disqualified in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, because their foolishness will be quite clear to everyone, just as it was in the case of Jannes and Jambres.
10 But you have faithfully followed my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfast endurance, 11 my persecutions, my sufferings—the kind that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the kind of persecutions I endured—and the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 As for you, continue in the things you have learned and about which you have become convinced. You know from whom[a] you learned them 15 and that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God breathed[b] and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.
Again Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them. The disciples were amazed, and the others who followed were afraid. He took the Twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the experts in the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the third day[a] he will rise again.”
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we wish that you would do for us whatever we ask.”
36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 They said to him, “Promise that we may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your glory.”
38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they replied.
Jesus told them, “You will drink the cup that I am going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with. 40 But to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to give; rather, these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard this, they were angry with James and John.
42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But that is not the way it is to be among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.