Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 66
For the choir director; a song; a psalm.
1 Shout happily to Elohim, all the earth!
2 Make music to praise the glory of his name.
Make his praise glorious.
3 Say to Elohim,
“How awe-inspiring are your deeds!
Your power is so great that your enemies will cringe in front of you.
4 The whole earth will worship you.
It will make music to praise you.
It will make music to praise your name.” Selah
5 Come and see what Elohim has done—
his awe-inspiring deeds for Adam’s descendants.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
They crossed the river on foot.
We rejoiced because of what he did there.
7 He rules forever with his might.
His eyes watch the nations.
Rebels will not be able to oppose him. Selah
8 Thank our Elohim, you nations.
Make the sound of his praise heard.
9 He has kept us alive
and has not allowed us to fall.
10 You have tested us, O Elohim.
You have refined us in the same way silver is refined.
11 You have trapped us in a net.
You have laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads.
We went through fire and water,
but then you brought us out and refreshed us.
13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings.
I will keep my vows to you,
14 the vows made by my lips and spoken by my own mouth
when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer you a sacrifice of fattened livestock for burnt offerings
with the smoke from rams.
I will offer cattle and goats. Selah
16 Come and listen, all who fear Elohim,
and I will tell you what he has done for me.
17 With my mouth I cried out to him.
High praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had thought about doing anything sinful,
Adonay would not have listened to me.
19 But Elohim has heard me.
He has paid attention to my prayer.
20 Thanks be to Elohim,
who has not rejected my prayer
or taken away his mercy from me.
9 To whom will they make the message understood?
To whom will they explain this message?
To children just weaned from milk?
To those just taken from their mother’s breasts?
10 They speak utter nonsense.[a]
11 Yahweh will speak to these people.
He will mock them by speaking in a foreign language.
12 He will say to them,
“This is a place for comfort.
This is a place of rest for those who are tired.
This is a place for them to rest.”
But they weren’t willing to listen.
13 Yahweh speaks utter nonsense to them.
That is why they will fall backwards.
That is why they will be hurt, trapped, and captured.
A Message to Jerusalem
14 So hear the word of Yahweh, you foolish talkers
who rule the people in Jerusalem.
15 You say, “We made a treaty with death
and an agreement with the grave.
When the overwhelming disaster passes by,
it won’t matter to us,
because we have taken refuge in our lies,
and falsehood is our hiding place.”
16 This is what Adonay Yahweh says:
I am going to lay a rock in Zion,
a rock that has been tested,
a precious cornerstone,
a solid foundation.
Whoever believes in him will not worry.
Christ’s Gifts to the Church
4 I, a prisoner in the Lord, encourage you to live the kind of life which proves that God has called you. 2 Be humble and gentle in every way. Be patient with each other and lovingly accept each other. 3 Through the peace that ties you together, do your best to maintain the unity that the Spirit gives. 4 There is one body and one Spirit. In the same way you were called to share one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over everything, through everything, and in everything.
7 God’s favor[a] has been given to each of us. It was measured out to us by Christ who gave it. 8 That’s why the Scriptures say:
“When he went to the highest place,
he took captive those who had captured us
and gave gifts to people.”
9 Now what does it mean that he went up except that he also had gone down to the lowest parts of the earth? 10 The one who had gone down also went up above all the heavens so that he fills everything.
11 He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. 12 Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to build up the body of Christ. 13 This is to continue until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God’s Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed and carried about by all kinds of teachings that change like the wind. We will no longer be influenced by people who use cunning and clever strategies to lead us astray. 15 Instead, as we lovingly speak the truth, we will grow up completely in our relationship to Christ, who is the head. 16 He makes the whole body fit together and unites it through the support of every joint. As each and every part does its job, he makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Psalm 116
1 I love Yahweh because he hears my voice, my pleas for mercy.
2 I will call on him as long as I live
because he turns his ear toward me.
3 The ropes of death became tangled around me.
The horrors of the grave took hold of me.
I experienced pain and agony.
4 But I kept calling on the name of Yahweh:
“Please, Yahweh, rescue me!”
5 Yahweh is merciful and righteous.
Our Elohim is compassionate.
6 Yahweh protects defenseless people.
When I was weak, he saved me.
7 Be at peace again, my soul,
because Yahweh has been good to you.
8 You saved me from death.
You saved my eyes from tears and my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk in Yahweh’s presence in this world of the living.
10 I kept my faith even when I said,
“I am suffering terribly.”
11 I also said when I was panic-stricken,
“Everyone is undependable.”
12 How can I repay Yahweh
for all the good that he has done for me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation
and call on the name of Yahweh.
14 I will keep my vows to Yahweh
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of Yahweh
is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O Yahweh, I am indeed your servant.
I am your servant,
the son of your female servant.
You have freed me from my chains.
17 I will bring a song of thanksgiving to you as a sacrifice.
I will call on the name of Yahweh.
18 I will keep my vows to Yahweh
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courtyards of Yahweh’s house,
in the middle of Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 117
1 Praise Yahweh, all you nations!
Praise him, all you people of the world!
2 His mercy toward us is powerful.
Yahweh’s faithfulness endures forever.
Hallelujah!
15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. 17 That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. 21 Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked Yeshua, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Yeshua answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them. 24 A person who doesn’t love me doesn’t do what I say. I don’t make up what you hear me say. What I say comes from the Father who sent me.
25 “I have told you this while I’m still with you. 26 However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.
27 “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly. 28 You heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.
29 “I’m telling you this now before it happens. When it does happen, you will believe. 30 The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer. 31 However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.