Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 66
For the Music Director. A Song. A Psalm.
1 Shout joyfully to God, all you lands!
2 Sing out the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
Through the greatness of Your power
Your enemies cringe before You.
4 All the earth will worship You
and will sing to You;
they will sing to Your name.” Selah
5 Come and see the works of God;
He is awesome in His doings toward mankind.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
they crossed the river on foot;
there we rejoiced in Him.
7 He rules by His power forever;
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
8 Oh, bless our God, you people,
and make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 who keeps our soul among the living,
and does not allow our feet to slip.
10 For You, O God, have proved us;
You have refined us, as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net;
You placed distress on our backs.
12 You have allowed people to ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
but You brought us out into a well-watered place.
13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will fulfill my vows to You,
14 which my lips have uttered,
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
with the incense of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will declare what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
and He was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me;
19 but certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God,
who has not turned away my prayer,
nor His mercy from me.
Psalm 67
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
1 May God be gracious to us, and bless us,
and cause His face to shine on us; Selah
2 that Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
for You will judge the people uprightly,
and lead the nations on earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
6 Then will the earth yield its produce,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.
Psalm 19
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,
and night unto night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech and there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them has He set a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
it rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
6 Its going forth is from one end of the heavens,
and its circuit extends to the other end,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is Your servant warned,
and by keeping them comes great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be upright
and innocent from great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Psalm 46
For the Music Director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a well-proven help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved;
God will help her in the early dawn.
6 The nations roared; the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice; the earth melted.
7 The Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, see the works of the Lord,
who makes desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts off the spear;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Death of Rebels Predicted
26 The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: 27 How long will this evil assembly be murmuring against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against Me. 28 Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. 29 In this wilderness your corpses will fall, and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, 30 you will not go into the land which I swore by My hand to cause you to dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your children, whom you said would be a prey, I will bring them in and they will know the land, which you rejected. 32 But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they will suffer for your fornications, until your corpses are in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day you will bear your iniquity, forty years, and you will know My displeasure.” 35 I the Lord have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil assembly gathered against Me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die.
36 The men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made all the assembly murmur against him by bringing up an evil report about the land, 37 the men who brought an evil report about the land, died by the pestilence before the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the men that went to explore the land, lived.
Defeat in Battle
39 Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. 40 They rose up early in the morning, and they went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”
41 Moses said, “Why do you now transgress the commandment of the Lord? This will not prosper. 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you; do not let yourselves be defeated by your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword because you are turned from the Lord, and the Lord will not be with you.”
44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that mountain went down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.
The Council in Jerusalem
15 Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised in the tradition of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others among them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared what God had done through them.
5 Then some believers of the sect of the Pharisees rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders assembled to consider this matter. 7 After much disputing, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God decided among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, approved of them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between them and us, and purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why test God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”
12 The entire assembly remained silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
Jesus the Cause of Division(A)
49 “I have come to send fire upon the earth and wish that it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how pressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For there will be from now on five divided in one house, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, and mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Discerning the Appointed Time(B)
54 Then He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rise out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it is. 55 And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth. But why do you not know how to discern this time?
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.