Book of Common Prayer
Yahweh’s Glorious Reign
97 Yahweh is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let many coastlands be glad.
2 Cloud and thick darkness are surrounding him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him,
and devours his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings light the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh,
at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
7 Let all who serve an image be ashamed,
those who boast about idols.[a]
Worship him, all you gods.
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O Yahweh.
9 For you, O Yahweh, are most high over all the earth.
You are highly[b] exalted above all gods.
10 You who love Yahweh, hate evil.
He protects the lives of his faithful;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Be glad in Yahweh, you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name.[c]
Yahweh Is a Holy King
99 Yahweh is king; let the peoples tremble.
He sits enthroned[a] between the cherubim. Let the earth shake.
2 Yahweh is great in Zion,
and he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and fearful name.
He is holy.
4 And the strength of the king loves justice.[b]
You have established equity;
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt Yahweh our God,
and worship at his footstool.
He is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They called to Yahweh, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.
They kept his testimonies and the statute he gave to them.
8 O Yahweh our God, you answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrong deeds.
9 Exalt Yahweh our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
for Yahweh our God is holy.
Worship God with Joy
A psalm of thanksgiving.[c]
100 Shout in triumph to Yahweh, all the earth.
2 Serve[d] Yahweh with joy;
come into his presence with exultation.
3 Know that Yahweh, he is God;
he made us and we are his.[e]
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
5 For Yahweh is good; his loyal love is forever,
and his faithfulness is from generation to generation.[f]
A Prayer for Retribution against Oppressors
94 O Yahweh, God of vengeance,
God of vengeance, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth.
Repay upon the proud what is their rightful due.
3 How long will the wicked, O Yahweh,
how long will the wicked exult?
4 They gush words[a] unrestrained.
All the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O Yahweh;
they oppress your inheritance.
6 They kill widow and stranger,
and they murder orphans,
7 while[b] they say, “Yah[c] does not see,”
and “The God of Jacob does not pay attention.”
8 You pay attention, O brutes among the people.
And you fools, when you will show insight?
9 Will the one who planted the ear not hear?
Will the one who formed the eye not see?
10 Will the one who instructs nations not rebuke,
the one who teaches humankind knowledge?
11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of humankind,
that they are to no purpose.[d]
12 Blessed is the man, O Yah, whom you instruct
and teach from your law,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For Yahweh will not abandon his people,
nor forsake his inheritance.
15 For judgment will return to righteousness,[e]
and all the upright in heart will follow after it.
16 Who rose up for me against the wicked?
Who stood up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 If Yahweh had not been my help,
my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.
18 When I thought,[f] “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Yahweh, supported me.
19 When my troubled thoughts were many within me,[g]
your consolations cheered my soul.
20 Can there be allied with you a throne of destruction,
one that forms trouble based on statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and declare the blameless guilty of blood.[h]
22 But Yahweh has become my high stronghold,
and my God has become my rock of refuge.
23 And he will repay on them their iniquity,
and by[i] their evil he will destroy them.
Yahweh our God will destroy them.
A Call to Worship and Obey
95 Come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh;
let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
with songs let us shout joyfully to him.
3 For Yahweh is the[j] great God,
and the great king over all gods,
4 in whose hand are the unexplored places[k] of the earth,
and the heights of the mountains are his,
5 to whom belongs the sea that he made, [l]
and the dry land that his hands formed.
6 Come in, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before Yahweh, our maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
Today[m] if you will hear his voice:[n]
8 “Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors[o] tried me.
They put me to the test,
even though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation,
and said, ‘They are a people whose heart wanders.
And my ways they do not know.’
11 Therefore I swore in my anger,
‘They shall surely not enter into my rest.’”
The Prayer of Habakkuk
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2 O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you;
O Yahweh, I stand in awe of your works.
In the midst of the years, revive it!
In the midst of the years, make it known!
In wrath, may you remember to show compassion.
3 God came from Teman;
the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covers the heavens,
and his praise fills the earth.
4 And his brightness was like the light;
flashing rays came from his hand for him;
And there is the covering of his strength.
5 Before him went Disease,[a]
and Pestilence[b] went out at his feet.
6 He stood and measured the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
Then the mountains of old were shattered;
the hills of old collapsed.
The ways of old belong to him.
7 Under affliction I saw the tents of Cushan;
the tent curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was the anger of Yahweh against the rivers?
Was your wrath against the rivers,
or your fury against the sea,
when you mounted upon your horses,
upon your victory chariot?
9 You laid bare the nakedness of your bow,
swearing oaths with the arrows of your word.
You split the earth with rivers.
10 When the mountains saw you they writhed;
a torrent of waters swept by;
the deep gave its voice;
it raised its hands on high.
11 Sun and moon stood still in their place;
at the light of your arrows they moved about;
at the gleam of the flashing of your spear.
12 In fury you marched through the earth;
in anger you trampled the nations.
13 You went forth for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of wickedness,
laying bare from the foundation to the top.[c]
14 You pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows;
they came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
their exultation like one who devours the afflicted in ambush.
15 You trampled upon the sea with your horses,
the churning of many waters.
16 I hear and my stomach shakes;
my lips quiver at the sound;
infection enters my bones;
that which is beneath me trembles;
I wait quietly for the day of trouble
to come upon the people attacking us.
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom,
nor there be fruit on the vines;
the yield of the olive tree fails,
and the cultivated fields do not yield food;
the flock is cut off from the animal pen,
and there is no cattle in the stalls,
18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
Restraining the Tongue
3 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you[a] know that we will receive a greater judgment.[b] 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual,[c] able to hold in check his whole body also. 3 And if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. 4 Behold also ships: although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wishes. 5 So also the tongue is a small member of the body[d] and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets ablaze how great a forest! 6 And the tongue is a fire! The world of unrighteousness,[e] the tongue, is set among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire the course of human existence[f], being set on fire by hell.
7 For every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no human being is able to tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the[g] Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so! 11 A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water, does it?[h] 12 A fig tree is not able, my brothers, to produce olives, or a grapevine figs. Neither can a saltwater spring produce fresh water.
Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service
17 And he said to his disciples, “It is impossible for causes for stumbling not to come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone[a] is placed around his neck and he is thrown into the sea than that he causes one of these little ones to sin.
3 “Be concerned about yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times he returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “And which of you who has a slave plowing or shepherding sheep[b] who comes in from the field will say to him, ‘Come here at once and[c] recline at the table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something that I may eat, and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink, and after these things you will eat and drink.’ 9 He will not be grateful[d] to the slave because he did what was ordered, will he?[e] 10 Thus you also, when you have done all the things you were ordered to do,[f] say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done what we were obligated to do.’”
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