Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 30
A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the Temple. [A Psalm] of David.
1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me.
3 O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit (the grave).
4 Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
5 For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.(A)
6 As for me, in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
7 By Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried to You, O Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication.
9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit (the grave)? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth and faithfulness to men?
10 Hear, O Lord, have mercy and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
12 To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 32
[A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.(A)
3 When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
6 For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.
7 You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
8 I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Book Two
Psalm 42
To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of the sons of Korah.
1 As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.
2 My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?(A)
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God?
4 These things I [earnestly] remember and pour myself out within me: how I went slowly before the throng and led them in procession to the house of God [like a bandmaster before his band, timing the steps to the sound of music and the chant of song], with the voice of shouting and praise, a throng keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.
6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.
7 [Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.
8 Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
10 As with a sword [crushing] in my bones, my enemies taunt and reproach me, while they say continually to me, Where is your God?
11 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Psalm 43
1 Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead and defend my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength [my Stronghold—in Whom I take refuge]; why have You cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling.
4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy; yes, with the lyre will I praise You, O God, my God!
5 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my [sad] countenance, and my God.
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job],
2 Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself.(A)
3 Is it any pleasure or advantage to the Almighty that you are righteous (upright and in right standing with Him)? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?(B)
4 Is it for your [reverential] fear of Him that He [thus] reproves you, that He enters with you into judgment?
21 Acquaint now yourself with Him [agree with God and show yourself to be conformed to His will] and be at peace; by that [you shall prosper and great] good shall come to you.
22 Receive, I pray you, the law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart.(A)
23 If you return to the Almighty [and submit and humble yourself before Him], you will be built up; if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents,
24 If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth],
25 And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure,
26 Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
28 You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways.
29 When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves.
30 He will even deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.(B)
23 Then Job answered,
2 Even today is my complaint rebellious and bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!
4 I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.
6 Would He plead against me with His great power? No, He would give heed to me.(C)
7 There the righteous [one who is upright and in right standing with God] could reason with Him; so I should be acquitted by my Judge forever.
26 Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and all those others among you who reverence and fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation [the salvation obtained through Jesus Christ].(A)
27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know or recognize Him or understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have actually fulfilled these very predictions by condemning and sentencing [Him].
28 And although they could find no cause deserving death with which to charge Him, yet they asked Pilate to have Him executed and put out of the way.
29 And when they had finished and fulfilled everything that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 But God raised Him from the dead.
31 And for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are His witnesses to the people.
32 So now we are bringing you the good news (Gospel) that what God promised to our forefathers,
33 This He has [a]completely fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are My Son; today I have begotten You [[b]caused You to arise, to be born; [c]formally shown You to be the Messiah by the resurrection].(B)
34 And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, now no more to return to [undergo] putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave], He spoke in this way, I will fulfill and give to you the holy and sure mercy and blessings [that were promised and assured] to David.(C)
35 For this reason He says also in another psalm, You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption [to undergo putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].(D)
36 For David, after he had served God’s will and purpose and counsel in his own generation, fell asleep [[d]in death] and was buried among his forefathers, and he did see corruption and undergo putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave].
37 But He Whom God raised up [to life] saw no corruption [did not experience putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].
38 So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you;
39 And that through Him everyone who believes [who [e]acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him] is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which he could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses and given right standing with God.
40 Take care, therefore, lest there come upon you what is spoken in the prophets:
41 Look, you scoffers and scorners, and marvel and perish and vanish away; for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never have confidence in or believe, [even] if someone [[f]clearly describing it in detail] declares it to you.(E)
42 As they [Paul and Barnabas] went out [of the synagogue], the people earnestly begged that these things might be told to them [further] the next Sabbath.
43 And when the congregation of the synagogue dispersed, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to continue [to trust themselves to and to stand fast] in the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God.
10 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way (elsewhere, from some other quarter) is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 The watchman opens the door for this man, and the sheep listen to his voice and heed it; and he calls his own sheep by name and brings (leads) them out.
4 When he has brought his own sheep outside, he walks on before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5 They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or recognize their call.
6 Jesus used this parable (illustration) with them, but they did not understand what He was talking about.
7 So Jesus said again, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that I Myself am the Door [a]for the sheep.
8 All others who came [as such] before Me are thieves and robbers, but the [true] sheep did not listen to and obey them.
9 I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture.
10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [b]overflows).
11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep.(A)
12 But the hired servant (he who merely serves for wages) who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away. And the wolf chases and snatches them and scatters [the flock].
13 Now the hireling flees because he merely serves for wages and is not himself concerned about the sheep [cares nothing for them].
14 I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me—
15 Even as [truly as] the Father knows Me and I also know the Father—and I am giving My [very own] life and laying it down on behalf of the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring and [c]impel those also; and they will listen to My voice and heed My call, and so there will be [they will become] one flock under one Shepherd.(B)
17 For this [reason] the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life—to take it back again.
18 No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily. [I put it from Myself.] I am authorized and have power to lay it down (to resign it) and I am authorized and have power to take it back again. These are the instructions (orders) which I have received [as My charge] from My Father.
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