Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 75
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A song.
1 We give praise and thanks to You, O God, we praise and give thanks; Your wondrous works declare that Your [a]Name is near and they who invoke Your Name rehearse Your wonders.
2 When the proper time has come [for executing My judgments], I will judge uprightly [says the Lord].
3 When the earth totters, and all the inhabitants of it, it is I Who will poise and keep steady its pillars. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
4 I said to the arrogant and boastful, Deal not arrogantly [do not boast]; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn [of personal aggrandizement].
5 Lift not up your [aggressive] horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck and insolent arrogance.
6 For not from the east nor from the west nor from the south come promotion and lifting up.(A)
7 But God is the Judge! He puts down one and lifts up another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup [of His wrath], and the wine foams and is red, well mixed; and He pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth must drain it and drink its dregs.(B)
9 But I will declare and rejoice forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the ungodly also will I cut off [says the Lord], but the horns of the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be exalted.
Psalm 76
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A song.
1 In Judah God is known and renowned; His name is highly praised and is great in Israel.
2 In [Jeru]Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place is in Zion.
3 There He broke the bow’s flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
4 Glorious and excellent are You from the mountains of prey [splendid and majestic, more than the everlasting mountains].
5 The stouthearted are stripped of their spoil, they have slept the sleep [of death]; and none of the men of might could raise their hands.
6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot [rider] and horse are cast into a dead sleep [of death].(C)
7 You, even You, are to be feared [with awe and reverence]! Who may stand in Your presence when once Your anger is roused?
8 You caused sentence to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still—
9 When God arose to [establish] judgment, to save all the meek and oppressed of the earth. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; the remainder of wrath shall You restrain and gird and arm Yourself with it.
11 Vow and pay to the Lord your God; let all who are round about Him bring presents to Him Who ought to be [reverently] feared.
12 He will cut off the spirit [of pride and fury] of princes; He is terrible to the [ungodly] kings of the earth.
Psalm 23
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
2 He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters.(A)
3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake.
4 Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with [a]oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.
6 Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.
Psalm 27
[A Psalm] of David.
1 The Lord is my Light and my Salvation—whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.(A)
5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.
6 And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; have mercy and be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].
9 Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!
10 Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].(B)
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain and even path because of my enemies [those who lie in wait for me].
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breathe out cruelty and violence.
13 [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!
14 Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.
5 There was a certain Jew in the capital in Shushan whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,
6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile.
7 He had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was beautiful and lovely, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
8 So when the king’s command and his decree were proclaimed and when many maidens were gathered in Shushan the capital under the custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken to the king’s house into the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
15 Now when the turn for Esther the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his own daughter, had come to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s attendant, the keeper of the women, suggested. And Esther won favor in the sight of all who saw her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the maidens, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his princes and his servants, Esther’s feast; and he gave a holiday [or a lessening of taxes] to the provinces and gave gifts in keeping with the generosity of the king.
19 And when the maidens were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.
20 Now Esther had not yet revealed her nationality or her people, for she obeyed Mordecai’s command to her [[a]to fear God and execute His commands] just as when she was being brought up by him.
21 In those days, while Mordecai sat at the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who guarded the door, were angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
22 And this was known to Mordecai, who told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name.
23 When it was investigated and found to be true, both men were hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence.
16 Now while Paul was awaiting them at Athens, his spirit was grieved and roused to anger as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17 So he reasoned and argued in the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped there, and in the marketplace [where assemblies are held] day after day with any who chanced to be there.
18 And some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him and began to engage in discussion. And some said, What is this babbler with his scrap-heap learning trying to say? Others said, He seems to be an announcer of foreign deities—because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the [a]Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], saying, May we know what this novel (unheard of and unprecedented) teaching is which you are openly declaring?
20 For you set forth some startling things, foreign and strange to our ears; we wish to know therefore just what these things mean—
21 For the Athenians, all of them, and the foreign residents and visitors among them spent all their leisure time in nothing except telling or hearing something newer than the last—
22 So Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], said: Men of Athens, I perceive in every way [on every hand and with every turn I make] that you are most religious or very reverent to demons.
23 For as I passed along and carefully observed your objects of worship, I came also upon an altar with this inscription, To the unknown god. Now what you are already worshiping as unknown, this I set forth to you.
24 The God Who produced and formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade shrines.
25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything, for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people].(A)
26 And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),
27 So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us.
28 For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
29 Since then we are God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that Deity (the Godhead) is like gold or silver or stone, [of the nature of] a representation by human art and imagination, or anything constructed or invented.
30 Such [former] ages of ignorance God, it is true, ignored and allowed to pass unnoticed; but now He charges all people everywhere to repent ([b]to change their minds for the better and heartily to amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins),
31 Because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously (justly) by a Man Whom He has destined and appointed for that task, and He has made this credible and given conviction and assurance and evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead.(B)
32 Now when they had heard [that there had been] a resurrection from the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again about this matter.
33 So Paul went out from among them.
34 But some men were on his side and joined him and believed (became Christians); among them were Dionysius, a judge of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, and some others with them.
44 But Jesus loudly declared, The one who believes in Me does not [only] believe in and trust in and rely on Me, but [in believing in Me he believes] in Him Who sent Me.
45 And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me.
46 I have come as a Light into the world, so that whoever believes in Me [whoever cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] may not continue to live in darkness.
47 If anyone hears My teachings and fails to observe them [does not keep them, but disregards them], it is not I who judges him. For I have not come to judge and to condemn and to pass sentence and to inflict penalty on the world, but to save the world.
48 Anyone who rejects Me and persistently sets Me at naught, refusing to accept My teachings, has his judge [however]; for the [very] message that I have spoken will itself judge and convict him at the last day.
49 This is because I have never spoken on My own authority or of My own accord or as self-appointed, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me orders [concerning] what to say and what to tell.(A)
50 And I know that His commandment is (means) eternal life. So whatever I speak, I am saying [exactly] what My Father has told Me to say and in accordance with His instructions.
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