Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88[a]
A song, a psalm written by the Korahites, for the music director, according to the machalath-leannoth style;[b] a well-written song[c] by Heman the Ezrahite.
88 O Lord God who delivers me,[d]
by day I cry out
and at night I pray before you.[e]
2 Listen to my prayer.[f]
Pay attention[g] to my cry for help.
3 For my life[h] is filled with troubles,
and I am ready to enter Sheol.[i]
4 They treat me like[j] those who descend into the grave.[k]
I am like a helpless man,[l]
5 adrift[m] among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power.[n]
6 You place me in the lowest regions of the Pit,[o]
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free.[p]
9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you.[q]
10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits[r] rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?[s]
12 Are your amazing deeds experienced[t] in the dark region,[u]
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?[v]
13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me?[w]
15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.[x]
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.[y]
16 Your anger overwhelms me;[z]
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me.[aa]
18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;[ab]
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.[ac]
Psalm 91[a]
91 As for you, the one who lives[b] in the shelter of the Most High,[c]
and resides in the protective shadow[d] of the Sovereign One[e]—
2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,
my God in whom I trust—
3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter[f]
and from the destructive plague.
4 He will shelter you[g] with his wings;[h]
you will find safety under his wings.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.[i]
5 You need not fear the terrors of the night,[j]
the arrow that flies by day,
6 the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the disease that ravages at noon.[k]
7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,
and a multitude on your right side,
it[l] will not reach you.
8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes—
you will see the wicked paid back.[m]
9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,
my shelter, the Most High.
10 No harm will overtake[n] you;
no illness[o] will come near your home.[p]
11 For he will order his angels[q]
to protect you in all you do.[r]
12 They will lift you up in their hands,
so you will not slip and fall on a stone.[s]
13 You will subdue[t] a lion and a snake;[u]
you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.
14 The Lord says,[v]
“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him[w] because he is loyal to me.[x]
15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,[y]
and will let him see my salvation.”
Psalm 92[z]
A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is fitting[aa] to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High.[ab]
2 It is fitting[ac] to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done.[ad]
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate![ae]
6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this.[af]
7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten,[ag]
it is so that they may be annihilated.[ah]
8 But you, O Lord, reign[ai] forever.
9 Indeed,[aj] look at your enemies, O Lord.
Indeed,[ak] look at how your enemies perish.
All the evildoers are scattered.
10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox.[al]
I am covered[am] with fresh oil.
11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me;[an]
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.[ao]
12 The godly[ap] grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon.[aq]
13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.[ar]
15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my Protector,
is just and never unfair.[as]
An Outpouring of the Spirit
28 (3:1)[a] After all of this[b]
I will pour out my Spirit[c] on all kinds of people.[d]
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;[e]
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will produce portents both in the sky[f] and on the earth—
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness
and the moon to the color of blood,[g]
before the day of the Lord comes—
that great and terrible day!
32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.[h]
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,[i]
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant[j] will be those whom the Lord will call.[k]
The Lord Plans to Judge the Nations
3 (4:1)[l] For look! In those[m] days and at that time
I will return the exiles[n] to Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Then I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[o]
I will enter into judgment[p] against them there
concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance,[q]
whom they scattered among the nations.
They partitioned my land,
3 and they cast lots for my people.
They traded[r] a boy for a prostitute;
they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.[s]
4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon?[t]
Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia?[u]
If you are, I will very quickly repay you for what you have done![v]
5 For you took my silver and my gold
and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces.[w]
6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,
removing them far from their own country.[x]
7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.
I will repay you for what you have done![y]
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to[z] the people of Judah.[aa]
They will sell them to the Sabeans,[ab] a nation far away.
Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.[a] 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift[b] is from above, coming down[c] from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.[d] 18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth[e] through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Living Out the Message
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters![f] Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20 For human[g] anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.[h] 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly[i] welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone[j] who gazes at his own face[k] in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets[l] what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there,[m] and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he[n] will be blessed in what he does.[o] 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before[p] God the Father[q] is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity[r] and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The Parable of the Clever Steward
16 Jesus[a] also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations[b] that his manager[c] was wasting[d] his assets. 2 So[e] he called the manager[f] in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you?[g] Turn in the account of your administration,[h] because you can no longer be my manager.’ 3 Then[i] the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position[j] away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig,[k] and I’m too ashamed[l] to beg. 4 I know[m] what to do so that when I am put out of management, people will welcome me into their homes.’[n] 5 So[o] he contacted[p] his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 The man[q] replied, ‘100 measures[r] of olive oil.’ The manager[s] said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’[t] 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man[u] replied, ‘100 measures[v] of wheat.’ The manager[w] said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write 80.’[x] 8 The[y] master commended the dishonest[z] manager because he acted shrewdly.[aa] For the people[ab] of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries[ac] than the people[ad] of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth,[ae] so that when it runs out you will be welcomed[af] into the eternal homes.[ag]
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