Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97
The Lord Reigns. Throw Away Your Idols
Introduction
1 The Lord reigns. Let the earth celebrate.
Let the many islands and coastlands rejoice.
God Will Judge
2 Clouds and deep darkness surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes out in front of him.
It burns up his foes all around him.
4 His lightning lights up the world.
The earth sees and writhes in pain.
5 The mountains melt like wax
in the presence of the Lord,
in the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
Warning Against Idols
7 All who serve idols are put to shame,
those who boast in “nothings.”[a]
Bow to him, all you gods![b]
His People’s Response
8 Zion hears and rejoices,
and the daughters of Judah[c] celebrate
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9 For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
You are raised up far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil.
He guards the lives of his favored ones.
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light rises[d] for the righteous
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,
and give thanks as you remember his holiness.
Psalm 99
The Holy One Rules in Israel
Admonition to the Nations
1 The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble.
He is seated above the cherubim. Let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your name, great and awesome.
Refrain
He is holy!
Assurance to Israel
4 The King is mighty. He loves justice.
You, Lord,[a] have established fairness.
In Jacob you carried out justice and righteousness.
5 Exalt the Lord our God and bow down before his footstool.
Refrain
He is holy!
Examples From History
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests.
Samuel was among those who call on his name.
They called on the Lord, and he answered them.
7 From within the pillar of cloud he spoke to them.
They kept his testimonies and the order that he gave them.
8 O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who removes sin,
but you repaid them for their deeds.
Concluding Refrain
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
and bow down before his holy mountain,
because the Lord our God is holy.
Psalm 100
He Rules His People
Heading
A psalm for giving thanks.
Know That the Lord Is God
1 Shout to the Lord with joy, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his.[b]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.[c]
5 For the Lord is good. His mercy endures forever.
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 94
The Lord Rules the Wicked
A Call for Vengeance
1 O Lord, God of vengeance,
God of vengeance, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth.
Repay the proud with what they deserve.
3 How long will the wicked, O Lord,
how long will the wicked celebrate?
The Deeds of the Wicked
4 They gush. They speak arrogantly.
All the evildoers brag about themselves.
5 They crush your people, O Lord.
They oppress the people that belong to you.
6 They kill the widow and the alien.
They murder the fatherless.
7 Then they say, “The Lord[a] does not see.
The God of Jacob does not understand.”
8 Understand, you brutes among the people.
You fools, when will you become wise?
Relief for the Righteous
9 The one who planted the ear—will he not hear?
The one who formed the eye—will he not observe?
10 The one who disciplines nations—will he not rebuke them?
He is the one who teaches mankind knowledge.
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of mankind.
He knows that they are just vapor.
12 How blessed is the person whom you discipline, O Lord,
whom you teach from your law.
13 You grant him rest in days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not desert his people,
and he will never forsake those who are his own.
15 Then judgment will again be based on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart will pursue it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the Lord had been my helper,
my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, “My foot has slipped,”
your mercy, Lord, upheld me.
19 When my worries within me were many,
your comfort brought joy to my soul.
20 Can a destructive throne be allied with you,
one that creates injustice by its decrees?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and they condemn innocent blood.
22 But the Lord has become my fortress,
and my God is the rock where I take refuge.
23 Then he will repay them for their iniquity,
and he will destroy them for their wickedness.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
Psalm 95
Worship and Warning
Worship
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord.
Let us give a loud shout to the Rock who saves us.
2 Let us approach his presence with thanksgiving.
With music we will shout to him.
3 For the Lord is the great God
and the great King above all gods.
4 He holds the unexplored places of the earth in his hand,
and the peaks of the mountains belong to him.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down. Let us revere him.
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker,
7 for he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his hand.
Warning
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as they did at Meribah,
as they did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers challenged me
and tested me though they had seen what I had done.
10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation,
and I said, “They are a people who have hearts that stray.
They do not acknowledge my ways.”
11 So I swore in my anger,
“They shall never enter my resting place.”
The Twelfth Judge: Samson Versus the Philistines
Samson’s Birth
13 The people of Israel again committed evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren. She had not given birth. 3 The Angel of the Lord[a] appeared to the woman and said to her, “Listen, you are barren and have not given birth, but you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now, please be careful. Do not drink wine or beer,[b] and do not eat anything unclean. 5 Listen, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb. He will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
6 The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and he looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 But he did say to me, ‘Listen! You will be pregnant and give birth to a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb until the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord, “Please, Lord, the man of God whom you sent—please let him come to us again, to teach us what we are to do for the young man who is to be born.”
9 God heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God returned to the woman while she was sitting in the field. Once again her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly and told her husband. She said to him, “Come, see! The man who appeared to me came to me again today.”
11 Manoah then got up and followed his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”
He answered, “I am.”
12 Manoah said, “Now, when your words come true, what will be the rule for the young man and his actions?”
13 The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “The woman must be careful concerning everything that I said to her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any unclean thing. Everything that I commanded her she must observe.”
15 Manoah then said to the Angel of the Lord, “May we persuade you to stay, so that we may prepare a young goat for you?”
27 After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin. The high priest asked them, 28 “Did we not give you strict orders not to teach in this name?[a] Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man’s blood down on us!”
29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you arrested and killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his right hand as Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. 32 We are witnesses[b] of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were furious and began making a plan to put them to death.[c] 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was highly respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men[d] be put outside for a little while.
35 Then he said to them, “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you are about to do with these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, all his followers were scattered, and it all came to nothing.
37 “After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and led many[e] people in a revolt. He also was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and leave them alone! For if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them.[f] Perhaps you might even be found to be fighting against God!”
40 They were convinced by him. They summoned the apostles, beat them, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer shame for the Name.[g] 42 Every day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.
23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, 24 for John had not been thrown into prison yet.
25 Then an argument broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[a] about purification. 26 His disciples came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”
27 John answered, “A man cannot receive a single thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
31 The one who comes from above is superior to everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in a way that belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is superior to everyone. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 The one who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. 34 In fact, the one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, for God[b] gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.