Book of Common Prayer
An instruction[a]. By Ethan, the Ezrahite
God’s Covenant with David
89 I will sing forever about the gracious love of the Lord;
from generation to generation
I will declare your faithfulness with my mouth.
2 I will declare that your gracious love was established forever;
in the heavens itself, you have established your faithfulness.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise to David, my servant.
4 “I will establish your dynasty forever,
and I will lift up one who will build[b] your throne
from generation to generation.”
5 Even the heavens praise your awesome deeds, Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies compares to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the divine beings?
7 God is feared in the council of the holy ones,
revered by all those around him.
8 Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,
who is as mighty as you, Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the majestic[c] sea;
when its waves surge,
you calm them.
10 You crushed the proud one[d] to death;
with your powerful arm
you scattered your enemies.
11 Heaven and the earth belong to you,
the world and everything it contains—
you established them.
12 The north and south—you created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13 Your arm is strong;
your hand is mighty;
indeed, your right hand is victorious.[e]
14 Righteousness and justice make up
the foundation of your throne;
gracious love and truth meet before you.
15 How happy are the people who can worship joyfully![f]
Lord, they walk in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all day long;
they exult in your justice.[g]
17 For you are their strength’s grandeur;
by your favor you exalted our power.[h]
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
God’s Describes His Anointed
19 You spoke to your faithful[i] ones through a vision:[j]
“I will set a helper over[k] a warrior.
I will raise up a chosen one from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
I have anointed him with my sacred oil,
21 with whom my power[l] will be firmly established;
for my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will deceive him;
no wicked person[m] will afflict him.
23 I will crush his enemies before him
and strike those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,
and in my name his power[n] will be exalted.
25 I will place his hand[o] over the sea,
and his right hand[p] over the rivers.
26 He will announce to me
‘You are my father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 “Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will show[q] my gracious love toward him forever,
since my covenant is securely established with him.
29 I will establish his dynasty[r] forever,
and his throne as long as heaven endures.[s]
30 “But if his sons abandon my laws and
do not follow my ordinances,
31 if they profane my statutes;
and do not keep my commands,
32 then I will punish their disobedience with a rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 But I will not cut off[t] my gracious love from him,
and I will not stop being faithful.
34 I will not dishonor my covenant,
because I will not change what I have spoken.[u]
35 I have sworn by my holiness once for all:
I will not lie to David.
36 His dynasty[v] will last forever
and his throne will be like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
a faithful witness in the sky.”
A Commitment to Persevere
38 But you have spurned, rejected,
and became angry with your anointed one.
39 You have dishonored the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown on the ground.
40 You have broken through all his[w] walls;
you have laid his fortresses in ruin.
41 All who pass by on their way plunder him;
he has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
you have caused all of his enemies to rejoice.
43 Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword
and did not support him in battle.
44 You have caused his splendor[x] to cease
and cast down his throne to the ground.
45 You have caused the days of his youth to be cut short;
you have covered him with shame.
46 How long, Lord, will you hide yourself? Forever?
Will your anger continuously burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my lifetime is!
How powerless have you created all human beings![y]
48 What valiant man can live and not see death?
Who can deliver himself[z] from the power[aa] of Sheol.[ab]
49 Where is your gracious love of old, Lord,
that in your faithfulness you promised to David?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servant!
I carry inside me all the insults of many people,
51 when your enemies reproached you, Lord,
when they reproached the footsteps[ac] of your anointed.
52 Blessed is the Lord forever!
Amen and amen!
Habakkuk Waits for God’s Answer
2 “I will stand at my guard post
and station myself on a tower.
I will wait and see what the Lord[a] will say about me
and what I[b] will answer when he reprimands me.[c]”
God’s Reply to the Prophet’s Complaint
2 When he answered, the Lord told me:
Judgment on Those who Think They are Safe
9 “Woe to the one who amasses profit upon unjust profit
in order to establish his household,
so he can establish a secure place[a] on the heights
and escape from the power of evil.
10 You have brought shame to yourself[b] by killing many people—
you are forfeiting your own life.
11 Indeed, the stone will cry out from the wall
and the rafter will respond from the woodwork.”
Judgment on the Lawless
12 “Woe to the one who founds a city upon bloodshed,
and constructs a city by lawlessness.
13 Is it not because of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
that people grow tired putting out fires,[c]
and nations weary themselves over nothing?
14 Indeed, the earth will be filled
with knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as water fills[d] the sea.”
Judgment on the Violent
15 “Woe to the one who supplies his neighbor with a drink!
You are forcing your bottle[e] on him,[f]
making him drunk so you can see them naked.
16 You are filled with dishonor instead of glory.
So go ahead,[g] drink and be naked!
The Lord[h] will turn against you,
and utter disgrace will debase your reputation.[i]
17 Indeed, the violence done to Lebanon will overtake you,
and the destruction of the beasts will terrorize you—[j]
because you shed human blood
and did violence to[k] the land, to the city, and to all who live in it.”
Judgment on the Idol Maker
18 “Where is the benefit in owning[l] a carved image,
that motivates its maker to carve[m] it?
It is only a cast image—
a teacher that lies—
because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving,
crafting speechless idols.
19 “Woe to the one who says to a tree, ‘Wake up!’
or ‘Arise!’ to a speechless stone.
Idols[n] like this can’t teach, can they?
Look, even though it is overlaid with gold and silver,
there’s no breath in it at all.”
The Lord’s Final Counsel to Habakkuk
20 “The Lord is in his holy Temple.
All the earth—be quiet in his presence.”
Faith is Shown by Actions
14 What good does it do, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but does not prove it with actions? This kind of faith cannot save him, can it? 15 Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily food 16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace! Stay warm and eat heartily.” If you do not provide for their bodily needs, what good does it do? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it does not prove itself with actions, is dead.
18 But someone may say, “You have faith, and I have actions.” Show me your faith without any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions. 19 You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! Even the demons believe that and tremble with fear. 20 Do you want proof, you foolish person, that faith without actions is worthless? 21 Our ancestor Abraham was justified by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, wasn’t he? 22 You[a] see that his faith worked together with what he did, and by his actions his faith was made complete. 23 And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[b] And so he was called God’s friend. 24 You[c] observe that a person is justified through actions and not through faith alone. 25 Likewise, Rahab the prostitute was justified through actions when she welcomed the messengers[d] and sent them away on a different road, wasn’t she? 26 For just as the body without the spirit[e] is dead, so faith without actions is also dead.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Once there was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and live in great luxury every day. 20 A beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, was brought to his gate. 21 He was always trying to satisfy his hunger with what fell[a] from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.
22 “One day, the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In the afterlife,[b] where he was in constant torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus by his side. 24 So he shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue, because I am suffering in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember that during your lifetime you received blessings,[c] while Lazarus received hardships.[d] But now he is being comforted here, while you suffer. 26 Besides all this, a wide chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from this side to you cannot do so, nor can they cross from your side to us.’
27 “The rich man[e] said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus[f] to my father’s house— 28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t end up in this place of torture, too.’
29 “Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They should listen to them!’
30 “But the rich man[g] replied, ‘No, father Abraham! But if someone from the dead went to them, they would repent.’
31 “Then Abraham[h] told him, ‘If your brothers[i] do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.’”
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