Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer to Restore Israel
For the music director, according to The Lilies.
A testimony. Of Asaph. A psalm.[a]
80 Give ear, O shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock.
Shine forth, you who sits enthroned above the cherubim.
2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
stir up your power
and come for our salvation.
3 O God, restore us,
and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
4 O Yahweh God of hosts,
how long will you be angry[b]
against the prayer of your people?
5 You have fed them the bread of tears;
you have given them tears to drink in full measure.[c]
6 You have made us an object of strife to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock among themselves.
7 O God of hosts, restore us
and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You prepared a place before it,
and it took deep root[d] and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
and the mighty cedars with its boughs.
11 It spread its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the river.
12 Why have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass on the road pluck fruit from it?
13 Swine from the forests devour[e] it
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 Please return, O God of hosts.
Observe from heaven and see,
and pay attention to this vine,
15 eventhe stalk that your right hand planted,
and concerning the shoot[f] you strengthened for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, cut down.
They perish at the rebuke of your face.
17 Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
on the son of humankind whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn back from you.
Restore us to life, and we will proclaim your name.
19 O Yahweh God of hosts, restore us;
cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
Remembering God’s Help for Israel
For the music director, on Jeduthun.[a]
Of Asaph. A psalm.[b]
77 I cry out with my voice to God;
with my voice to God, that he may hear me.
2 In the day I have trouble, I seek[c] the Lord.
At night my hand stretches out continually;[d]
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I groan loudly;
I meditate and my spirit grows faint.
4 You hold open my eyelids.
I am troubled and cannot speak.
5 I think about the days from long ago,
the years of ancient times.
6 I remember my song in the night.
With my heart I meditate,
and my spirit searches to understand.
7 Will the Lord reject us forever,
and will he never be pleased with us again?
8 Has his loyal love ceased forever?
Is his promise[e] ended throughout generations?
9 Has God forgotten to have compassion?
Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah
10 So I said, “This pierces me—[f]
the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I will remember the deeds of Yah.[g]
Surely I will remember your wonders[h] from long ago.
12 I will also muse on all your work,
and meditate on your deeds.
13 O God, your way is distinctive.[i]
Who is a great god like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;[j]
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 Waters saw you, O God;
waters saw you and they trembled.
Surely the deeps shook.
17 The clouds poured out water.
The skies thundered.[k]
Your arrows also flew about.[l]
18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;[m]
lightnings lit the world;
the earth shook and quaked.
19 Your way was through the sea,
and your path[n] through many waters.
Yet your footprints were not discerned.[o]
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A Lament for Jerusalem after Its Destruction
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
79 O God, the nations have entered your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have reduced Jerusalem to ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the heavens,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was none to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
a derision and a scorn to those around us.
5 How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name,
7 because they[b] have devoured Jacob
and have laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us former iniquities;
let your mercies meet us quickly
because we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
and deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
for the sake of your name.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let it[d] be known among the nations before our eyes,
by the avenging of the blood of your servants
that was poured out.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the greatness of your power,[e]
spare[f] the children appointed to death.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold upon them[g]
their taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord.
13 Then we, your people and the flock of your pasture,
we will give thanks to you forever.
Generation after generation[h]
we will tell of your praise.
Jeremiah’s Proclamation at the Gate of the House of Yahweh
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,[a] 2 “Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, those who enter through these gates to bow in worship to Yahweh. 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place. 4 Do not trust in the deceitful words,[b] saying,[c] ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, they are the temple of Yahweh.’ 5 For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods to your harm,[d] 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors[e] forever and ever.[f]
8 Look, you are relying for yourselves on deceitful words[g] without benefiting. 9 Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely?[h] And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known? 10 And then you come and you stand before[i] me in this house, which is called by my name,[j] and you say, ‘we are safe to go on doing[k] all of these detestable things.’ 11 Has this house, which is called by my name,[l] become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it,” [m] declares[n] Yahweh.
12 “For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it because of[o] the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 And now, because of your doing all these things,” declares[p] Yahweh, “and I have spoken to you over and over again,[q] and you have not listened, and I called you, and you have not answered, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name,[r] in which you are trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors[s] what[t] I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight[u] just as I cast out all of your blood relatives,[v] all of the offspring of Ephraim.”’
Abraham’s Faith Counted as Righteousness
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”[a] 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited according to grace, but according to his due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but who believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks about the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are they whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
and whose sins are covered over.
8 Blessed is the person against whom the Lord will never count sin.”[b]
9 Therefore, is this blessing for those who are circumcised[c], or also for those who are uncircumcised[d]? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.”[e] 10 How then was it credited? While he[f] was circumcised[g] or uncircumcised[h]? Not while circumcised[i] but while uncircumcised[j]! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal[k] of the righteousness by faith which he had while uncircumcised[l], so that he could be the father of all who believe although they are uncircumcised[m], so that righteousness could be credited to them,[n] 12 and the father of those who are circumcised[o] to those who are not only from the circumcision, but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised[p].
14 Now when the feast was already half over,[a] Jesus went to the temple courts[b] and began to teach.[c] 15 Then the Jews were astonished, saying, “How does this man possess knowledge,[d] because he[e] has not been taught?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but is from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know about my[f] teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking from myself. 18 The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law, and none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
20 The crowd replied, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work, and you are all astonished. 22 Because of this Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses would not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole man well[g] on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to outward appearance, but judge according to righteous judgment!”
Is Jesus the Christ?
25 Then some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem began to say,[h] “Is this not the one whom they are seeking to kill? 26 And behold, he is speaking openly and they are saying nothing to him! Can it be that the rulers truly know that this man is the Christ? 27 Yet we know where this man is from, but the Christ, whenever he comes—no one knows where he is from!”
28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple courts,[i] teaching and saying, “You both know me and you know where I am from! And I have not come from myself, but the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know. 29 I know him, because I am from him and he sent me.”
30 So they were seeking to seize him, and no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 But from the crowd many believed in him and were saying, “Whenever the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than this man has done, will he?”[j]
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers in order to take him into custody .[k] 33 Then Jesus said, “Yet a little time I am with you, and I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will seek me and will not find me,[l][m] and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 So the Jews said to one another, “Where is this one going to go, that we will not find him? He is not going to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?[n] 36 What is this saying that he said, ‘You will seek me and will not find me,[o][p] and where I am, you cannot come’?”
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