Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97[a]
Divine King and Universal Judge
1 The Lord is King;[b] let the earth exult;
let the distant isles rejoice.
2 [c]Clouds and darkness[d] surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire[e] precedes him,
consuming his enemies on every side.
4 His flashes of lightnwing illumine the world;
the earth sees this and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,[f]
and all the nations behold his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast of their worthless idols;
bow down before him, all you gods.[g]
8 Zion hears and rejoices,
and the cities[h] of Judah exult
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9 For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 [i]Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he protects the souls of his faithful ones
and rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 [j]Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name.
Psalm 99[a]
God, King of Justice and Holiness
1 The Lord is King;[b]
let the nations tremble.
He sits enthroned on the cherubim;
let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name:[c]
holy is he!
4 Mighty King, you love justice,
and you have established fairness;
in Jacob[d] you have brought about
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he![e]
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel was among those who invoked his name;
they cried out to the Lord,
and he answered them.[f]
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;[g]
they obeyed his decrees and the law he gave them.
8 O Lord, our God,
you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but you punished their wrongdoings.[h]
9 Exalt the Lord, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord, our God, is holy.[i]
Psalm 100[j]
Processional Entrance Hymn
1 A psalm of thanksgiving.[k]
Acclaim the Lord[l] with joy, all the earth;
2 serve the Lord[m] with gladness;
enter his presence with songs of joy.
3 Proclaim that the Lord is God.[n]
He made us and we are his possession;
we are his people, the flock he shepherds.
4 Offer thanksgiving as you enter his gates,[o]
sing hymns of praise as you approach his courts;
give thanks to him and bless his name,
5 for the Lord is good.
His kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness is constant to all generations.[p]
Psalm 94[a]
God, Judge, and Avenger
1 O Lord, you are an avenging God;[b]
shine forth, O God of vengeance.
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay[c] the arrogant as they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked be triumphant?[d]
4 [e]Their mouths pour forth their arrogant words
as these evildoers never cease to boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord,
and they oppress your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the foreigner
and put the orphan to death.
7 They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob[f] pays no attention.”
8 [g]Try to comprehend, you senseless people.
You fools, when will you gain some wisdom?[h]
9 Does the one who made the ear not hear?
Does the one who fashioned the eye not see?[i]
10 Does the one who guides the nations[j] not punish?
Does the one who instructs people lack knowledge?
11 The Lord is well aware of our thoughts[k]
and how foolish they are.
12 [l]Blessed[m] is the man you admonish, O Lord,
the man you teach by means of your law,
13 giving him respite in times of misfortune
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not abandon his people
or forsake his heritage.[n]
15 Judgment will again be based on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart[o] will uphold it.
16 [p]Who will stand up for me against the wicked?
Who will defend me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not come to my aid,
I would long ago have been consigned to the kingdom of silence.[q]
18 When I realized that my foot was slipping,
your kindness,[r] O Lord, raised me up.
19 When my anxious thoughts multiplied,
your comfort filled my soul with joy.[s]
20 [t]Can evil rulers have you as an ally,
those who make use of the law to oppress the helpless?[u]
21 They conspire against the righteous[v]
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has been my stronghold,[w]
my God, the rock in whom I find refuge.
23 He will repay the wicked for their iniquity
and destroy them for their evil deeds;
the Lord, our God, will destroy them.
Psalm 95[x]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [y]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [z]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[aa]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[ab] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[ac]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[ad]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[ae]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[af]
10 “For forty years[ag] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[ah]
10 Now is the day of the Lord.
Behold, the end is at hand.
The scepter has blossomed;
insolence is at its peak.
11 Violence has now become the means
to punish wickedness.
None of the people will be left,
nor their wealth nor anything of value.
12 The time has come; the day is near.
Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn,
for fury engulfs the entire populace.
13 The seller will not be able to recover what he has sold as long as he lives. Neither party will be willing to cancel out the transaction.
14 They have sounded the trumpet
and made everything ready,
but no one goes to battle,
my wrath falls upon all alike.
15 The sword is outside;
pestilence and famine are within.
Those in the country will die by the sword;
those in the city will be devoured
by famine and pestilence.
23 Prepare chains,
because the land is full of bloodshed
and the city is filled with violence.
24 I will bring in the cruelest of the nations
to seize their houses.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong,
and their sanctuaries will be profaned.
25 When terror comes, they will seek peace,
but there will be none.
26 There will be disaster after disaster
and rumor upon rumor.
Prophets will be pestered endlessly for a vision;
priests will fail to offer guidance,
and the elders will provide no counsel.
27 The king will go into mourning;
the prince will be enveloped in despair;
the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will deal with them as their conduct deserves,
and I will judge them in accordance with their judgments.
Thus they will know that I am the Lord.
13 Cling Tightly to Hope.[a] When God made his promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants.” 15 And so, after waiting patiently, he obtained the promise.
16 Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument. 17 Likewise, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of his promise the unalterable nature of his purpose, he confirmed it by an oath.
18 Therefore, by these two unchangeable acts in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge in his protection have been strongly encouraged to grasp firmly the hope that has been held out to us. 19 We have this hope as the anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the sanctuary behind the veil,[b] 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
The Mission of All the Disciples
Chapter 10
The Mission of the Seventy-Two[a] 1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. 2 He said to them: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers for his harvest.
3 “Go on your way. Behold, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no money bag or sack and wear no sandals. Greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 If a man of peace lives there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.
7 “Remain in the same house, and eat and drink whatever is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat whatever is set before you. 9 Cure the sick who are there, and say, ‘The kingdom of God has come unto you.’
10 “But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go out into the streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to us we wipe off our feet as a sign against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand.’ 12 I tell you, on that day[b] it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town.
13 Woe to the Cities of Galilee.[c]“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty deeds performed in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have come to repentance long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will be brought down to the netherworld.[d]
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
17 Joy of the Missionaries.[e] The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and they said, “Lord, in your name even the demons are subject to us.”
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