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 Glory of the Lord in Creation
To the Chief Musician. [a]On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.
8 O Lord, our Lord,
How (A)excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have (B)set Your glory above the heavens!
2 (C)Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have [b]ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence (D)the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I (E)consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 (F)What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You (G)visit[c] him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than [d]the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 (H)You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
(I)You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
9 (J)O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God
To the Chief Musician. (A)On[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
84 How (B)lovely [b]is Your tabernacle,
O Lord of hosts!
2 (C)My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your (D)house;
They will still be praising You. Selah
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley (E)of [c]Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with [d]pools.
7 They go (F)from strength to strength;
[e]Each one (G)appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 (H)O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your [f]anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather [g]be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is (I)a sun and (J)shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
(K)No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
(L)Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Injustice Seems to Prevail
16 Moreover (A)I saw under the sun:
In the place of [a]judgment,
Wickedness was there;
And in the place of righteousness,
[b]Iniquity was there.
17 I said in my heart,
(B)“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every [c]purpose and for every work.”
18 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 (C)For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: (D)all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 (E)Who[d] knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? 22 (F)So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for (G)that is his [e]heritage. (H)For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
The Uselessness of Selfish Toil
4 Then I returned and considered all the (I)oppression that is done under the sun:
And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
[f]On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter.
2 (J)Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are still alive.
3 (K)Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,
Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Justification by Faith(A)
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you [a]that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed [b]among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, (B)or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? (C)Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by (D)the flesh? 4 (E)Have you suffered so [c]many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham (F)“believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only (G)those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And (H)the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, (I)“In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
The Law Brings a Curse
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, (J)“Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is [d]justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for (K)“the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet (L)the law is not of faith, but (M)“the man who does them shall live by them.”
13 (N)Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, (O)“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 (P)that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the (Q)Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive (R)the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Feeding the Five Thousand(A)
13 (B)When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He (C)was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 (D)When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, (E)He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.