Book of Common Prayer
God’s Blessing on the King
For the music director. A psalm of David.[a]
20 May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble.
May the name of Jacob’s God protect[b] you.
2 May he send you help[c] from the sanctuary,
and from Zion may he sustain you.
3 May he remember all your offerings,
and your burnt offering may he regard favorably.[d]
4 May he give to you your heart’s desire,[e]
and your every plan may he fulfill. Selah
5 May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God may we set up banners.
May Yahweh fulfill all your requests.
6 Now I know that Yahweh will help his anointed.[f]
He will answer him from his holy heaven
with the victorious power of his right hand.
7 Some boast in chariots and others in horses,[g]
but we boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.
8 They will collapse and fall,
and we will rise and stand firm.
9 Rescue,[h] O Yahweh.
Let the king answer us when we call.
Joy in the Salvation of Yahweh
For the music director. A psalm of David.[i]
21 O Yahweh, the king will rejoice in your strength,
and how greatly he will delight in your help.[j]
2 You have given him the desire of his heart,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with blessings of good things.
You set on his head a crown of fine gold.
4 He asked life from you; you gave it to him—
length of days forever and ever.
5 His honor is great because of your help.[k]
Splendor and majesty you have bestowed upon him.
6 For you set on him blessings forever.
You make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 Because the king trusts Yahweh,
and through the steadfast love[l] of the Most High
he shall not be moved.
8 Your hand will find all your enemies;
your right hand will find those who hate you.
9 You will make them like your fiery furnace
at the time of your appearance.
Yahweh will swallow them in his wrath
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring[m] from the earth,
and their descendants[n] from among the children of humankind.
11 Though they have plotted[o] evil against you,
though they have planned a scheme, they will not prevail.
12 For you will turn them to flight;[p]
you will aim arrows on your bowstrings at their faces.
13 Be exalted, O Yahweh, in your strength,
and we sing and praise your power.
Yahweh Gives Authority to His Messiah
Of David. A psalm.[a]
110 A declaration of Yahweh to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 Yahweh will send out your mighty scepter from Zion;
rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people will volunteer[b] in the day of your power.[c]
In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,
you will have the dew of your youth.[d]
4 Yahweh has sworn and he will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
according to the manner of Melchizedek.”
5 O Lord, at your right hand
he will shatter kings in the day of his anger.
6 He will judge among the nations;
he will fill them with corpses.
He will shatter the rulers[e] of many countries.
7 He will drink from the stream by the road;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Thanksgiving for God’s Deliverance
116 I love him, because Yahweh has heard
the voice of my supplications.[a]
2 Because he has inclined his ear to me,
I will call all my days.[b]
3 The ropes of death encircled me,
and the distresses of Sheol found me.
I found trouble and grief.
4 Then I called on the name of Yahweh:
“O Yahweh, please save my life!”
5 Gracious is Yahweh and righteous,
and our God is merciful.
6 Yahweh watches over the simple.
I was brought low, but he gave me victory.
7 Return, O my soul, to your repose,
for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have rescued me[c] from death,
my eyes[d] from tears, my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk before Yahweh
in the land[e] of the living.
10 I believed when I spoke,
“I am afflicted greatly.”
11 I said in my haste,
“Everyone[f] is a liar.”
12 What shall I give back to Yahweh
for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and proclaim the name of Yahweh.
14 I will pay my vows made to Yahweh
in the presence of all his people.
15 Costly in Yahweh’s view[g] is
the death of his faithful ones.
16 Ah, Yahweh, I am indeed your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and proclaim the name of Yahweh.
18 I will pay my vows made to Yahweh
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house[h] of Yahweh,
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise Yah![i]
Let All Peoples Praise Yahweh
117 Praise Yahweh, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For his loyal love is mighty on our behalf,
and the faithfulness of Yahweh is forever.
Praise Yah![j]
The Wrath of the King and His Fiery Furnace of Death
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with anger and the image of his face was changed toward[a] Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, so he ordered and said[b] to heat up the one furnace seven times what was usual to heat it up. 20 And he commanded the strongest men of the guards[c] who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were bound with their garments, their trousers and their turbans and their other clothing, and they were thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Therefore[d] because[e] the word of the king was severe and the furnace was exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed these men who lifted up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 23 But these men, the three of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and they were bound.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and he rose up in haste and he asked, saying to his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, bound, into the midst of the fire? They answered, saying to the king, “Certainly, O king!” 25 He answered,[f] saying, “Look, I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and there is no damage to them, and the[g] appearance of the fourth man resembles the son of a god.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire, and he called out, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants[h] of the Most High God, come out[i] and come here!” 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the advisors of the king were assembling, and they saw these men, that the fire had no power over their bodies, and the hair of their heads was[j] not singed, and their garments were not harmed, and the smell of fire did not come from them.
The King’s Praise for the Great Deliverance of the Three Young Israelites
28 Nebuchadnezzar responded,[k] saying, “Blessed be their God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent his angel[l] and rescued his servants who trusted in him, and the command of the king they disobeyed, and they gave their bodies so that they did not serve and did not worship any god except their God. 29 And from me is set forth[m] a decree that any people, nation, or language that may utter criticism against their God—the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—will be broken into pieces and their[n] house will be made like ruins. For[o] there is not another God who is able to rescue like this God.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
God is Love, so Love One Another
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and violently murdered his brother. And for what reason[a] did he violently murder him? Because his deeds were evil and the deeds of his brother were righteous.
13 Do not marvel,[b] brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life residing in him. 16 We have come to know love by this: that he[c] laid down his life on behalf of us, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers. 17 But whoever has the world’s material possessions and observes his brother in need[d] and shuts his heart against him, how does the love of God reside in him?
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
The Temptation of Jesus
4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when[a] they were completed, he was hungry. 3 So the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order this stone that it become bread!” 4 And Jesus replied to him, “It is written, ‘Man will not live on bread alone.’”[b]
5 And he led him up and[c] showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want. 7 So if you will worship before me, all this will be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and[d] said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”[e]
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and had him stand on the highest point of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,’[f]
11 and
‘on their hands they will lift you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”[g]
12 And Jesus answered and[h] said to him, “It is said, ‘You are not to put to the test the Lord your God.’”[i] 13 And when[j] the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a favorable time.[k]
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