Book of Common Prayer
The Lord is King
97 The Lord reigns!
Let the earth rejoice!
May many islands be glad!
2 Thick clouds are all around him;
righteousness and justice are his throne’s foundation.
3 Fire goes out from his presence
to consume his enemies on every side.
4 His lightning bolts light the world;
the earth sees and shakes.
5 Mountains melt like wax in the Lord’s presence—
In the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness
so that all the nations see his glory.
7 All who serve carved images—
and those who praise idols—will be humiliated.
Worship him, all you “gods”!
The Lord is Holy
99 The Lord reigns—
let people tremble;
he is seated above the cherubim—
let the earth quake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion
and is exalted above all peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
He is holy!
4 A mighty king who loves justice,
you have established fairness.
You have exercised justice
and righteousness over Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God;
worship and bow down at his footstool;
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel also was among those who invoked his name.
When they called on the Lord,
he answered them.
7 In a pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they obeyed his decrees
and the Law that he gave them.
8 Lord our God, you answered them;
you were their God who forgave[a] them,
but also avenged their evil deeds.
9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy!
A psalm of thanksgiving
Give Thanks to the Lord
100 Shout to the Lord all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with joy.
Come before him with a joyful shout!
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him;
we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Thank him and bless his name,
5 for the Lord is good
and his gracious love stands forever.
His faithfulness remains from generation to generation.
God Avenges His Own
94 God of vengeance,
Lord God of vengeance,
display your splendor![a]
2 Stand up, judge of the earth,
and repay the proud.
3 How long will the wicked, Lord,
how long will the wicked continue to triumph?
4 When they speak, they spew arrogance.
Everyone who practices iniquity brags about it.[b]
5 Lord, they have crushed your people,
afflicting your heritage.
6 The wicked[c] kill widows and foreigners;
they murder orphans.
7 They say, “The Lord cannot see,
and the God of Jacob will not notice.”
8 Pay attention, you dull ones among the crowds!
You fools! Will you ever become wise?
9 The one who formed[d] the ear can hear, can he not?
The one who made the eyes can see, can he not?
10 The one who disciplines nations can rebuke them, can he not?
The one who teaches mankind can discern, can he not?
11 The Lord knows the thoughts of human beings—
that they are futile.
12 How blessed is the man whom you instruct, Lord,
whom you teach from your Law,
13 keeping him calm when times are troubled
until a pit has been dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage.
15 Righteousness will be restored with justice,
and all the pure of heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand for me against those who practice iniquity?
17 If the Lord had not been my helper,
I would have quickly become silent.
18 When I say that my foot is shaking,
your gracious love, Lord, will sustain me.
19 When my anxious inner thoughts become overwhelming,
your comfort encourages me.
20 Will destructive national leaders,[e]
who plan wicked things through misuse of the Law,
be allied with you?
21 They gather together against the righteous,
condemning the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord is my stronghold,
and my God, the rock, is my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their sin;
he will annihilate them because of their evil.
The Lord our God will annihilate them.
Worship and Obedience
95 Come! Let us sing joyfully to the Lord!
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout with songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is an awesome God;
a great king above all divine beings.[f]
4 He holds in his hand the lowest parts of the earth
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea that he made belongs to him,
along with the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come! Let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel in the presence of the Lord, who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock in his care.[g]
If only you would listen to his voice today,
8 do not be stubborn like your ancestors were[h] at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me.
They tested me,
even though they had seen my awesome deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said,
“They are a people whose hearts continuously err,
and they have not understood my ways.”
11 So in my anger I declared an oath:
“They are not to enter my place of rest.”
Habakkuk’s Prayer of Faith
3 A prayer by the prophet Habakkuk, set to music.[a]
2 Lord, as I listen to what has been said about you,
I am afraid.
Lord, revive your work throughout all of our lives—
reveal yourself[b] throughout all of our lives—
when you[c] are angry,
remember compassion.
3 God comes from Teman[d]—
the Holy One from Mount Paran.[e]
His glory spreads throughout the heavens,
and praises about him fill the earth.
4 His radiance is like sunlight;
beams of light shine[f] from his hand,
where his strength lays hidden.
5 Before him pestilence walks,
and disease follows behind him.[g]
6 He stood up and shook the land;
with his stare he startled the nations.
The age-old mountains were shattered,
and the ancient hilltops bowed down.
His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
and the tent curtains of the land of Midian in anguish.
8 Was the Lord displeased with the rivers?
Was your anger directed[h] against the watercourses
or your wrath against the sea?
Indeed, you rode upon your horses,
upon your chariots of deliverance.
9 Your bow was exposed,
and your[i] arrows targeted by command.
You split the earth with rivers.
10 When the mountains looked upon you, they trembled;
the overflowing water passed by,
the ocean shouted,
and its waves[j] surged upward.
11 The sun and moon stand still in their orbits;
at the glint of your arrows they speed along,
even at the gleam of your flashing spear.
12 You march through the land in righteous[k] indignation;
you tread down the nations in anger.
13 You marched out to deliver your people,
to deliver with your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the wicked;
you stripped him naked from head to foot.
14 With his own lances you pierced the heads of his warriors,
who came out like a windstorm to scatter us[l]—
their joy is to devour the afflicted who are in hiding.
15 You rode on the sea with your horses,
even riding[m] the crested waves of mighty waters.
Habakkuk’s Response
16 I heard and I trembled within.
My lips quivered at the noise.
My legs gave way beneath me,[n]
and I trembled.
Nevertheless, I await the day of distress
that will dawn on our invaders.
17 Even though the fig tree does not blossom,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even if the olive harvest fails,
and the fields produce nothing edible;
even if the flock is snatched from the sheepfold,
and there is no herd in the stalls—
18 as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.
Speak Wisely
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach[a] will be judged more severely than others.[b] 2 For all of us make many mistakes. If someone does not make any mistakes when he speaks, he is perfect and able to control his whole body. 3 Now if we put bits into horses’ mouths to make them obey us, we can guide their whole bodies as well. 4 And look at ships! They are so big that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the helmsman directs.
5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it can boast of great achievements. A huge forest can be set on fire by a little flame. 6 The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. Placed among the parts of our bodies, the tongue contaminates the whole body and sets on fire the course of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.[c] 7 For all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be or have been tamed by humans, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil filled with deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in God’s likeness. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It should not be like this, my brothers! 11 A spring cannot pour both fresh and brackish water from the same opening, can it? 12 My brothers, a fig tree cannot produce olives, nor a grapevine figs, can it? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Causing Others to Sin(A)
17 Jesus[a] told his disciples, “It is inevitable that temptations to sin will come, but how terrible it will be for the person through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 “Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day and comes back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Faith and Obedience
5 Then the apostles told the Lord, “Give us more faith!”
6 The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of[b] a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!
7 “Suppose a man among you has a servant plowing or watching sheep. Would he say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and have something to eat’? 8 Of course not. Instead, he would say to him, ‘Get dinner ready for me, and put on your apron and wait on me until I eat and drink. Then you can eat and drink.’ 9 He doesn’t praise the servant for doing what was commanded, does he? 10 That’s the way it is with you. When you have done everything you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless servants. We have done only what we ought to have done.’”
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