Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
A Contemplative Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
Your faithfulness shall be established in the heavens.”
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘Your offspring I will establish forever,
and build up your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
5 Let the heavens praise Your wonders, O Lord;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly sons is like the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the holy ones
and awesome to all those who surround Him.
8 O Lord God of Hosts, who is a mighty Lord like You,
with Your faithfulness all around You?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when the waves arise, You still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like a corpse;
You scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm.
11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours;
the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them;
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name.
13 You have a mighty arm,
and strong is Your hand, and victorious is Your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
mercy and truth shall go before Your presence.
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout.
They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence.
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day,
and in Your righteousness they shall be exalted.
17 For You are the beauty of their strength;
by Your favor our horn is exalted.
18 For the Lord is our shield of defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 Long ago You spoke in a vision
to Your godly one and said:
“I have given help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found David, My servant;
with My holy oil I have anointed him:
21 By whom My hand shall be established;
My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not take tribute from him,
nor the wicked humiliate him.
23 I will beat down his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him,
and in My name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto Me, ‘You are my Father, my God,
and the Rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 In My mercy I will keep him forever,
and My covenant shall stand firm with him.
29 His offspring also I will establish forever
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 “If his children forsake My law
and do not walk in My judgments,
31 if they break My statutes
and do not keep My commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not remove from him
nor be false in My faithfulness.
34 My covenant I will not violate
nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips.
35 Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness
that I will not lie to David:
36 His offspring shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before Me;
37 it shall be established forever as the moon
and as a faithful witness in the heavens.” Selah
38 But now You have cast off and rejected him,
You have been wrathful with Your anointed king.
39 You have renounced the covenant with Your servant;
You have defiled his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his walls;
You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way plunder him;
he is a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have set high the right hand of his adversaries;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword
and have not made him stand in battle.
44 You have made his glory cease
and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth You have shortened;
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
How long shall Your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is!
Why have You made all people in such emptiness?
48 What man can live and not see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses,
which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants
and how I bear in my heart the insults of the many nations,
51 which Your enemies taunt, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of Your anointed king.
52 Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
The Lord Commissions Joshua
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses: 2 “Moses My servant is dead, so now get up and cross over the Jordan—you and all this people—to the land that I am giving to the children of Israel. 3 I have given you every place that the sole of your foot shall tread, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Mediterranean Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 No man will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, I will be with you. I will not abandon you. I will not leave you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you shall provide the land that I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance for this people. 7 Be strong and very courageous, in order to act carefully in accordance with all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn aside from it to the right or the left, so that you may succeed wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may act carefully according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way successful, and you will be wise. 9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles
3 For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
2 You may have heard of the administration of the grace of God which was given me for you, 3 how by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have written briefly already, 4 by which, when you read it, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 6 how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.
7 Of this I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the incomprehensible riches of Christ, 9 and to reveal for all people what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, 10 so that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He completed in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
The Healing of a Centurion’s Servant(A)
5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion[a] came to Him, entreating Him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home, sick with paralysis, terribly tormented.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But speak the word only, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, He was amazed and said to those who followed, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say to you that many will come from the east and west and will dine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. And as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.
The Healing of Many People(B)
14 When Jesus entered Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother, lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she rose and served them.
16 When the evening came, they brought to Him many who were possessed with demons. And He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all who were sick, 17 to fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
“He Himself took our infirmities
and bore our sicknesses.”[b]
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.