Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 75[a]
God the Judge of the World
1 For the leader. Do not destroy! A psalm of Asaph; a song.
I
2 We thank you, God, we give thanks;
we call upon your name,
we declare your wonderful deeds.
[You said:][b]
3 “I will choose the time;
I will judge fairly.
4 Though the earth and all its inhabitants quake,
I make steady its pillars.”(A)
Selah
II
5 So I say to the boastful: “Do not boast!”(B)
to the wicked: “Do not raise your horns![c]
6 Do not raise your horns against heaven!
Do not speak with a stiff neck!”(C)
7 For judgment comes not from east or from west,
not from the wilderness or the mountains,(D)
8 But from God who decides,
who brings some low and raises others high.(E)
9 Yes, a cup[d] is in the Lord’s hand,
foaming wine, fully spiced.
When God pours it out,
they will drain it even to the dregs;
all the wicked of the earth will drink.(F)
10 But I will rejoice forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
11 (G)[Who has said:]
“I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”
Psalm 76[e]
God Defends Zion
1 For the leader; a psalm with stringed instruments. A song of Asaph.
I
2 Renowned in Judah is God,(H)
whose name is great in Israel.
3 On Salem[f] is God’s tent, his shelter on Zion.
4 There the flashing arrows were shattered,
shield, sword, and weapons of war.(I)
Selah
II
5 Terrible and awesome are you,
stronger than the ancient mountains.[g]
6 Despoiled are the stouthearted;
they sank into sleep;
the hands of all the men of valor have failed.(J)
7 At your roar, O God of Jacob,
chariot and steed lay still.
8 You, terrible are you;
who can stand before you and your great anger?(K)
9 From the heavens you pronounced sentence;
the earth was terrified and reduced to silence,
10 When you arose, O God, for judgment
to save the afflicted of the land.
Selah
11 Surely the wrath of man will give you thanks;
the remnant of your furor will keep your feast.
III
12 Make and keep vows to the Lord your God.(L)
May all around him bring gifts to the one to be feared,
13 Who checks the spirit of princes,
who is fearful to the kings of earth.
Psalm 23[a]
The Lord, Shepherd and Host
1 A psalm of David.
I
The Lord is my shepherd;[b]
there is nothing I lack.(A)
2 In green pastures he makes me lie down;
to still waters he leads me;
3 (B)he restores my soul.
He guides me along right paths[c]
for the sake of his name.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,(C)
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff comfort me.
II
Psalm 27[a]
Trust in God
1 (A)Of David.
A
I
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,[b](B)
These my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
II
4 One thing I ask of the Lord;
this I seek:
To dwell in the Lord’s house
all the days of my life,
To gaze on the Lord’s beauty,
to visit his temple.(C)
5 For God will hide me in his shelter
in time of trouble,(D)
He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Even now my head is held high
above my enemies on every side!
I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.
B
I
7 Hear my voice, Lord, when I call;
have mercy on me and answer me.
8 “Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”;[c]
your face, Lord, do I seek!(E)
9 Do not hide your face from me;
do not repel your servant in anger.
You are my salvation; do not cast me off;
do not forsake me, God my savior!
10 Even if my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me in.(F)
II
11 Lord, show me your way;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.(G)
12 Do not abandon me to the desire of my foes;
malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.
13 I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.[d](H)
14 Wait for the Lord, take courage;
be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!
28 Then the young woman ran off and told her mother’s household what had happened. 29 (A)Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring. 30 [a]When he saw the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms and when he heard Rebekah repeating what the man had said to her, he went to him while he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31 He said: “Come, blessed of the Lord! Why are you standing outside when I have made the house ready, as well as a place for the camels?” 32 The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 But when food was set before him, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my story.” “Go ahead,” they replied.
34 “I am Abraham’s servant,” he began. 35 “The Lord has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 My master put me under oath, saying: ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live; 38 instead, you must go to my father’s house, to my own family, to get a wife for my son.’
49 Now, if you will act with kindness and fidelity toward my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that too. I can then proceed accordingly.”
50 (A)Laban and Bethuel said in reply: “This thing comes from the Lord; we can say nothing to you either for or against it. 51 Here is Rebekah, right in front of you; take her and go, that she may become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has said.”
12 So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.(A) 13 Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.(B)
Penalties of Disobedience. 14 (C)Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 [a]See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled,(D) 16 that no one be an immoral or profane person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.(E) 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit his father’s blessing, he was rejected because he found no opportunity to change his mind, even though he sought the blessing with tears.(F)
18 [b]You have not approached that which could be touched[c](G) and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm 19 and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them,(H) 20 for they could not bear to hear the command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”(I) 21 Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”(J) 22 No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering,(K) 23 and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,[d] and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect,(L) 24 and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently[e] than that of Abel.(M)
25 See that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much more in our case if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven.(N) 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only earth but heaven.”(O) 27 That phrase, “once more,” points to [the] removal of shaken, created things, so that what is unshaken may remain.(P) 28 Therefore, we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe.(Q) 29 For our God is a consuming fire.(R)
14 When the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple area and began to teach. 15 [a](A)The Jews were amazed and said, “How does he know scripture without having studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me. 17 Whoever chooses to do his will[b] shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.(B) 18 Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no wrong in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”(C) 20 The crowd answered, “You are possessed![c] Who is trying to kill you?”(D) 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work[d] and all of you are amazed(E) 22 because of it. Moses gave you circumcision—not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs—and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.(F) 23 If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a sabbath?(G) 24 Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly.”(H)
25 So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? 26 And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities[e] have realized that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”(I) 28 So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.(J) 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”(K) 30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.(L) 31 But many of the crowd began to believe in him, and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?”(M)
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus.[f] 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring about him to this effect, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent guards to arrest him. 33 So Jesus said, “I will be with you only a little while longer, and then I will go to the one who sent me.(N) 34 You will look for me but not find [me], and where I am you cannot come.”(O) 35 So the Jews said to one another, “Where is he going that we will not find him? Surely he is not going to the dispersion[g] among the Greeks to teach the Greeks, is he? 36 What is the meaning of his saying, ‘You will look for me and not find [me], and where I am you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water.[h]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.