Book of Common Prayer
The Majesty of the Lord
93 The Lord ·is king [reigns; 47:2; 96:10; 97:1; 98:6; 99:1; Rev. 19:6]. He is ·clothed [robed] in majesty.
The Lord is ·clothed [robed] in majesty
and ·armed [girded] with strength.
The world is ·set [established],
and it ·cannot be moved [will not totter].
2 Lord, your ·kingdom [L throne] was ·set up [established] long ago;
you are everlasting.
3 Lord, the ·seas [L rivers; C perhaps referring to currents within the sea] raise,
the ·seas [L rivers] raise their voice.
The ·seas [L rivers] raise up their pounding waves [C representing chaos].
4 The sound of the water is loud;
the ·ocean waves [L breakers of the sea] are ·powerful [majestic],
but the Lord above is much ·greater [more powerful/majestic; C God is in control of chaos].
5 Lord, your ·laws [decrees; testimonies] ·will stand forever [are very faithful/true].
·Your Temple will be holy forevermore [L At your house holiness is fitting/appropriate and will be for length of days].
Praise for the Lord’s Glory
96 Sing to the Lord a new song [C celebrating victory; 33:3; 40:3; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Is. 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3];
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord and ·praise [bless] his name;
every day ·tell [announce the good news] ·how he saves us [L of his salvation/victory].
3 Tell the nations of his glory [C his manifest presence];
tell all peoples the ·miracles [wonderful acts] he does,
4 because the Lord is great; he should be praised ·at all times [or with vigor].
He ·should be honored [is awesome; should be feared] more than all the gods,
5 because all the gods of the nations are ·only idols [or worthless],
but the Lord made the heavens [Gen. 1].
6 The Lord has ·glory [splendor] and majesty;
he has power and beauty in his ·Temple [sanctuary; L Holy Place].
7 ·Praise [L Ascribe to] the Lord, all ·nations on earth [L families of peoples];
·praise the Lord’s [L ascribe to the Lord] glory and power.
8 ·Praise the glory of the Lord’s [L Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his] name.
Bring an ·offering [grain/gift/tribute sacrifice; Lev. 2:1] and come into his Temple courtyards.
9 ·Worship [Bow down to] the Lord ·because he is holy [L in the splendor of his holiness].
Tremble before him, everyone on earth.
10 Tell the nations, “The Lord ·is king [reigns; 47:2; 93:1; 97:1; 98:6; 99:1; Rev. 19:6].”
The earth is ·set [established], and it cannot be moved.
He will judge the people fairly.
11 Let the ·skies [heavens] rejoice and the earth be glad;
let the sea and everything in it ·shout [thunder; roar].
12 Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 before the Lord, because he is coming.
He is coming to judge the world;
he will judge the world with ·fairness [righteousness]
and the peoples with ·truth [faithfulness; 98:9].
Praise God Who Judges and Saves
David’s song from the time he ·acted crazy [acted mad/insane; L changed his mind/discernment] so Abimelech [C perhaps another name for Achish] would ·send [drive] him away, and David did leave [1 Sam. 21:10–15].
34 I will ·praise [bless] the Lord at all times;
his praise is always ·on my lips [L in my mouth].
2 My ·whole being [soul] praises the Lord.
The ·poor [humble] will hear and be glad.
3 ·Glorify [Praise; Magnify] the Lord with me,
and let us ·praise [L extol] his name together.
4 I ·asked the Lord for help [sought the Lord], and he answered me.
He ·saved [rescued; T delivered] me from all that I feared.
5 Those who ·go [L look] to him for help are ·happy [radiant],
and ·they [L their faces] are never ·disgraced [shamed].
6 This ·poor [afflicted] man [C someone in the congregation or the psalmist himself] ·called [prayed], and the Lord heard him
and ·saved him from [gave him victory over] all his ·troubles [distress].
7 The angel of the Lord [91:11; Gen. 32:1–2; 2 Kin. 6:17; Matt. 4:5–6] camps around those who fear God [Prov. 1:7],
and he saves them.
8 ·Examine [L Taste] and see how good the Lord is.
·Happy [Blessed] is the person who ·trusts [finds refuge in] him.
9 You ·who belong to the Lord [holy ones], fear him [Prov. 1:7]!
Those who fear him will ·have everything they need [not lack anything; 23:1].
10 Even lions [C the most noble wild beast] may get weak and hungry,
but those who ·look to [seek] the Lord ·will have every [L do not lack any] good thing.
11 Children, come and listen to me.
I will teach you ·to worship [L the fear of] the Lord.
12 ·You must do these things
to enjoy life and have many happy days [L Who of you takes pleasure in life and loves days to experience good?].
13 You must ·not say evil things [L guard/keep your tongue from evil],
and ·you must not tell lies [L your lips from deception].
14 ·Stop doing [L Turn aside from] evil and do good.
·Look for [Seek] peace and ·work for [pursue] it.
15 ·The Lord sees the [L The eyes of the Lord are on] ·good [righteous] people
and ·listens to their prayers [L his ears attend to their cries for help].
16 But the ·Lord is [L face of the Lord is] against those who do evil;
he ·makes the world forget them [L cuts memory of them off the earth].
17 ·The Lord hears good people when they [L They] cry out to him,
and he saves them from all their ·troubles [distress].
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
19 People who ·do what is right may [are righteous] have many ·problems [afflictions],
but the Lord ·will solve them [L saves them from them] all.
20 He will protect their very bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate ·good [righteous] people will be judged guilty.
22 But the Lord ·saves [redeems; ransoms] his servants’ lives;
no one who ·trusts [finds refuge in] him will be judged guilty.
12 The people told David, “The Lord has blessed the ·family [household] of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because the Ark of God is there.” So David went and brought it up from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem with ·joy [gladness; a great celebration]. 13 When the men carrying the Ark of the Lord had walked six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a ·fat calf [fat sheep; L fatling]. 14 Then David danced with all his might before the Lord. He had on a holy linen ·vest [ephod; Ex. 28:6–14]. 15 David and all the Israelites shouted with joy and blew the ·trumpets [ram’s horns] as they brought the Ark of the Lord to the city.
16 As the Ark of the Lord came into the city [L of David], Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw David ·jumping [leaping] and ·dancing [whirling] in the presence of the Lord, she ·hated him [L despised/had contempt for him in her heart].
17 David put up a tent for the Ark of the Lord, and then the Israelites put it in its place inside the tent. David offered whole burnt offerings and ·fellowship [or peace; well-being] offerings [Lev. 3:1] before the Lord. 18 When David finished offering the whole burnt offerings and the ·fellowship [peace; well-being] offerings [Lev. 3:1], he blessed the people in the name of the Lord ·All-Powerful [of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts]. 19 David gave a loaf of bread, a ·cake [cluster] of dates, and a ·cake [cluster] of raisins to ·every Israelite [L the whole multitude/crowd of Israel], both men and women. Then all the people went home.
20 David went back to bless ·the people in his home [his household/family], but Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, “·With what honor [How] the king of Israel ·acted [distinguished himself] today! You ·took off your clothes [exposed/uncovered/displayed yourself] in front of the servant girls of your officers like ·one who takes off his clothes without shame [any vulgar/foolish/shameless fellow might do]!”
21 Then David said to Michal, “I did it ·in the presence of [before] the Lord. The Lord chose me, ·not [over; above] your father ·or anyone from Saul’s family [and all his house]. The Lord appointed me ·to be [ruler; leader; prince] over Israel. So I will celebrate ·in the presence of [before] the Lord. 22 Maybe I will ·lose even more honor [become even more lightly esteemed/contemptible/undignified], and maybe I will be ·brought down in my own opinion [humbled in my own eyes], but the ·girls [maids; servant girls] you talk about will honor me!”
23 And Saul’s daughter Michal had no children to the day she died.
7 [L For] We do not live for ourselves, and we do not die for ourselves. 8 If we live, we are living for the Lord, and if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord.
9 The reason Christ died and ·rose from the dead to live again [L lived] was so he would be Lord over both the dead and the living. 10 So why do you judge your brothers or sisters in Christ? And why do you ·think you are better than they are [L despise/look down on your brother or sister]? [L For] We will all stand before ·God to be judged [the judgment seat of God], 11 because it is written in the Scriptures:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘·Everyone [L Every knee] will bow before me;
·everyone [L every tongue] will ·say that I am [confess; acknowledge; or praise] God [Is. 45:23].’”
12 So each of us will ·have to answer [give an account of ourselves] to God.
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee [C a region about 50 miles north of Jerusalem]. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me [C as a disciple].”
44 Philip was from the town of Bethsaida [C a town just to the north of the Sea of Galilee], where Andrew and Peter lived. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about him. [C The law and the prophets refer to the OT Scriptures.] He is Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth [C a village a few miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee].”
46 But Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” [C This is because of its insignificance and lack of mention in the OT.]
Philip answered, “Come and see.”
47 As Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, “Here is truly an Israelite. There is ·nothing false [no deceit; no guile] in him.”
48 Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree, before Philip ·told you about me [L called you].”
49 Then Nathanael said to Jesus, “Teacher [L Rabbi], you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
50 Jesus said to Nathanael, “Do you believe simply because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that.” 51 And Jesus said to them, “·I tell you the truth [L Truly, truly I say to you], you will all see heaven open and ‘angels of God going up and coming down’ [C a reference to Jacob’s dream in Gen. 28:12] on the Son of Man [C a title for the Messiah; Dan. 7:13–14].”
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