Book of Common Prayer
God the Righteous Judge
A Psalm of Asaph.
50 The (A)Mighty One, God the Lord,
Has spoken and called the earth
From the rising of the sun to its going down.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
(B)God will shine forth.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;
(C)A fire shall devour before Him,
And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.
4 (D)He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 “Gather (E)My saints together to Me,
(F)Those who have [a]made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 Let the (G)heavens declare His righteousness,
For (H)God Himself is Judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
(I)I am God, your God!
8 (J)I will not [b]rebuke you (K)for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.
9 (L)I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
(M)For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
13 (N)Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
14 (O)Offer to God thanksgiving,
And (P)pay your vows to the Most High.
15 (Q)Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
17 (R)Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
18 When you saw a thief, you (S)consented[c] with him,
And have been a (T)partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil,
And (U)your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent;
(V)You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And (W)set them in order before your eyes.
The Assured Judgment of the Wicked
To the Chief Musician. Set to [a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David (A)when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.
59 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
[b]Defend me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.
3 For look, they lie in wait for my life;
(B)The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
4 They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.
(C)Awake to help me, and behold!
5 You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the [c]nations;
Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah
6 (D)At evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
7 Indeed, they belch with their mouth;
(E)Swords are in their lips;
For they say, (F)“Who hears?”
8 But (G)You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the [d]nations in derision.
9 I will wait for You, O You [e]his Strength;
(H)For God is my [f]defense.
10 [g]My God of mercy shall (I)come to meet me;
God shall let (J)me see my desire on my enemies.
11 Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
12 (K)For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
13 (L)Consume them in wrath, consume them,
That they may not be;
And (M)let them know that God rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah
14 And (N)at evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
15 They (O)wander up and down for food,
And [h]howl if they are not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, (P)O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.
Urgent Prayer for the Restored Favor of God(Q)
To the Chief Musician. (R)Set to [i]“Lily of the Testimony.” A Michtam of David. For teaching. (S)When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
60 O God, (T)You have cast us off;
You have broken us down;
You have been displeased;
Oh, restore us again!
2 You have made the earth tremble;
You have broken it;
(U)Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
3 (V)You have shown Your people hard things;
(W)You have made us drink the wine of [j]confusion.
4 (X)You have given a banner to those who fear You,
That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah
5 (Y)That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has (Z)spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will (AA)divide (AB)Shechem
And measure out (AC)the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
(AD)Ephraim also is the [k]helmet for My head;
(AE)Judah is My lawgiver.
8 (AF)Moab is My washpot;
(AG)Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
(AH)Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”
9 Who will bring me to the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not You, O God, (AI)who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did (AJ)not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble,
(AK)For the help of man is useless.
12 Through God (AL)we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History
33 Rejoice (A)in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
[a]Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4 For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
6 (B)By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the (C)host of them (D)by the breath of His mouth.
7 (E)He gathers the waters of the sea together [b]as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For (F)He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 (G)The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
11 (H)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has (I)chosen as His own inheritance.
13 (J)The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts individually;
(K)He [c]considers all their works.
16 (L)No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17 (M)A horse is a [d]vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.
18 (N)Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
19 To deliver their soul from death,
And (O)to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.
Vision of the Lampstand and Olive Trees
4 Now (A)the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, (B)as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?”
So I said, “I am looking, and there is (C)a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, (D)and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3 (E)Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?”
And I said, “No, my lord.”
6 So he answered and said to me:
“This is the word of the Lord to (F)Zerubbabel:
(G)‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
7 ‘Who are you, (H)O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth (I)the capstone
(J)With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
9 “The hands of Zerubbabel
(K)Have laid the foundation of this [a]temple;
His hands (L)shall also finish it.
Then (M)you will know
That the (N)Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.
10 For who has despised the day of (O)small things?
For these seven rejoice to see
The [b]plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
(P)They are the eyes of the Lord,
Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
11 Then I answered and said to him, “What are these (Q)two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip [c]into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?”
13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?”
And I said, “No, my lord.”
14 So he said, (R)“These are the two [d]anointed ones, (S)who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, (A)who lives forever and ever, 10 (B)the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You(C) are worthy, [a]O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
(D)For You created all things,
And by (E)Your will they [b]exist and were created.”
The Lamb Takes the Scroll
5 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (F)a scroll written inside and on the back, (G)sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, (H)“Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.
4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open [c]and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, (I)the Lion of the tribe of (J)Judah, (K)the Root of David, has (L)prevailed to open the scroll (M)and [d]to loose its seven seals.”
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet (A)the bridegroom. 2 (B)Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, (C)they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight (D)a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom [a]is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and (E)trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and (F)the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, (G)‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, (H)I do not know you.’
13 (I)“Watch therefore, for you (J)know neither the day nor the hour [b]in which the Son of Man is coming.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.