Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83
Surrounded by Enemies
Heading
A song. A psalm by Asaph.
Opening Plea
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.
A Catalog of Enemies
2 Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
3 Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
5 Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal[a] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot.[b]
Prayer for Destruction of the Enemies
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
10 They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
17 May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 145
The Lord Is Worthy of Praise
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A song of praise. By David.
Praise
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Proclamation of His Greatness
3 Great is the Lord and worthy of great praise,
and there are no limits to the extent of his greatness.
Praise
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and they will declare your mighty acts.
5 I will contemplate the glorious splendor of your majesty
and the accounts of your wonderful works.
6 Then they will speak about the power of your awesome works,
and I will tell about your great deeds.
7 They will pour forth the memory of your abundant goodness
and sing loudly about your righteousness.
Proclamation of His Grace
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all.
His compassion extends over all he has made.
Praise
10 Everyone you have made will thank you, O Lord,
and the ones you favor will bless you.
11 They will tell about the glory of your kingdom,
and they will speak about your might,
12 to make known his might to the children of Adam,
to make known the glorious splendor of his kingdom.
Proclamation of His Kingdom
13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is faithful to all his words
and merciful toward all he has made.[a]
14 The Lord lifts up all who fall,
and he supports all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look eagerly to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 He opens his hand,
and he satisfies the desire of every living thing.[b]
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and merciful toward all that he has made.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He grants the desire of those who fear him.
He hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but he will destroy all the wicked.
Praise
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord.
Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 85
You Showed Favor to Your Land
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For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
Past Goodness
1 You showed favor to your land, O Lord.
You restored Jacob.
2 You removed the guilt of your people. Interlude
You covered all their sin.
3 You put away all your wrath.
You turned from your burning anger.
Present Distress
4 Restore us, O God who saves us.
Put an end to your indignation with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you extend your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not turn and revive us,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
Hope for the Future
7 Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and give us your salvation.
8 I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say.
He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones,
but do not let them turn to foolish ways.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give good things,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness walks in front of him.
It prepares the way for his footsteps.
Psalm 86
Guard My Life
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A prayer by David.
David’s Need and David’s Faith
1 Turn your ear, O Lord.
Answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am favored by you.[a]
You are my God.
Save your servant, who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
God’s Grace
5 Indeed, you, Lord, are good and forgiving
and abounding in mercy to all who call to you.
6 Give ear to my prayer, O Lord.
Pay attention to the sound of my cries for mercy.
God’s Ruling Power
7 In the day of my distress I will call to you,
because you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord.
There are no deeds like your deeds.
9 All the nations you have made will come.
They will bow before you, O Lord,
and they will give glory to your name,
10 because you are great and do marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.
God’s Praise
11 Teach me your way, O Lord.
I will walk in your truth.
Give me wholehearted commitment to fear your name.
12 I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your mercy toward me,
and you have delivered my soul from “the lowest hell.”[b]
The Plea Repeated
14 God, the arrogant rise against me.
A mob of ruthless men seeks my life.
They pay no attention to you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give a sign of your goodness for me.
Then those who hate me will see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and also your grandson—because you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”
23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. Only the Lord will rule over you.” 24 But Gideon also said to them, “Let me ask you for one thing: that each man give me an earring from his plunder.” (The enemy wore gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25 They answered, “All right, we will give them to you.” Then they spread out a garment, and each man among them threw in an earring from his plunder. 26 The weight of the gold earrings that he had requested was seventeen hundred shekels.[a] This was in addition to the crescents, the pendants, and the purple clothing that had been worn by the kings of Midian, and the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. 27 Gideon made the gold into a sacred breastplate.[b] He set it up in his town of Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
28 In this way Midian was humbled before the people of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again.
The land was quiet for forty years during the days of Gideon.
29 Jerubbaal son of Joash returned and lived in his own house. 30 Gideon had seventy sons, who were his direct descendants from his own body, because he had many wives. 31 Also his concubine at Shechem bore him a son, and he named him Abimelek.[c]
32 Finally Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 After Gideon died, the people of Israel again prostituted themselves to the Baals, and they set up Baal of the Covenant as their god. 34 The people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies around them. 35 They were not loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good he had done for Israel.
On Trial for an Act of Kindness
4 As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple guard, and the Sadducees approached them. 2 They were very upset because Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead in connection with Jesus. 3 They arrested them and put them in jail until the next day because it was already evening.
4 But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men increased to about five thousand.
5 The next day, the rulers, the elders, and the experts in the law assembled in Jerusalem 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the rest of the high priest’s family. 7 After they made Peter and John stand in front of them, they began to question them: “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel,[a] 9 if we are being questioned today for a kind act that was done for the lame man, as to how this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that it was by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead! By him this man stands before you healed. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.[b]
12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
43 The next day, Jesus wanted to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 Nathanael said to him, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
“Come and see!” Philip told him.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Truly, here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that!” 51 Then he added, “Amen, Amen,[a] I tell you:[b] You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.