Book of Common Prayer
By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away. So David[a] left.
Learning about God’s Deliverance
34 [b]I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise will be in my mouth continuously.
2 My soul will glorify the Lord;
the humble will hear about it and rejoice.
3 Magnify the Lord with me!
Let us lift up his name together!
4 I sought the Lord and he answered me;
he delivered me from all of my fears.
5 Look to him and be radiant;
and you[c] will not be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard
and delivered him from all of his distress.
7 The angel of the Lord surrounds those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good!
How blessed is the person who trusts in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you holy ones of his;
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 Young lions lack and go hungry,
but those who seek the Lord will never lack any good thing.
11 Come, children, listen to me,
and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who among you[d] desires life,
and wants long life in order to see good?
13 Then keep your tongue from doing evil
and your lips from spreading lies.
14 Avoid evil and do good!
Seek peace and pursue it!
15 The[e] Lord looks on the righteous,
and he listens to their cries.
16 The face of the Lord is set against those who do evil,
and he will remove people’s recollection of them from the earth.
17 The Lord hears those who cry out,
and he delivers them from all their distress.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he delivers those whose spirit has been crushed.
19 A righteous person will have many troubles,
but the Lord will deliver him from them all.
20 God[f] protects all his bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate the righteous will be held guilty.
22 The Lord redeems the lives of his servants;
and none of those who trust in him will be held guilty.
The Servant of the Lord
49 “Listen to me, you coastlands!
Pay[a] attention, you people[b] from far away!
The Lord called me from the womb;
while I was still in my mother’s body,
he pronounced my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hands.[c]
He made me like a polished arrow
and hid me away in his quivers.[d]
3 He said to me: ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.’
4 “I[e] said: ‘I’ve labored for nothing.
I’ve exhausted my strength on futility and on[f] emptiness.’
Yet surely my recompense is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5 “And now, says the Lord,
who formed you[g] from the womb as his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered[h] to him—
and I am honored in the Lord’s sight
and my God has been my help[i]—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Israel[j]
and bring back those of Jacob[k] I have preserved.
I’ll also make you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends[l] of the earth.
Faithful Servants of the Messiah
4 Think of us as servants of the Messiah[a] and as servant managers entrusted with God’s secrets. 2 Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.[b] 3 It is a very small thing to me that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. 4 For my conscience is clear,[c] but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who examines me. 5 Therefore, stop judging prematurely, before the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts. Then each person will receive his praise from God.
Fools for the Messiah’s Sake
6 Brothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say.[d] Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.
7 For who makes you superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? 8 You already have all you want! You have already become rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display in last place, like men condemned to death. We have become a spectacle for the world, for angels, and for people to stare at. 10 We are fools for the Messiah’s[e] sake, but you are wise in the Messiah.[f] We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. 11 We are hungry, thirsty, dressed in rags, brutally treated, and homeless, right up to the present. 12 We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. 13 When slandered, we answer with kind words. Even now we have become the filth of the world, the scum of the universe.
Fatherly Advice
14 I’m not writing this to make you feel ashamed, but to warn you as my dear children. 15 You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah,[g] but not many fathers. For in the Messiah[h] Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.
Give Glory to the Lord
96 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord!
Bless his name!
Proclaim his deliverance every day!
3 Declare his glory among the nations
and his awesome deeds among all the peoples!
4 For the Lord is great,
and greatly to be praised;
he is awesome above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
might and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, you families of peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name,
bring an offering and enter his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Declare among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Indeed, he established the world so that it will not falter.
He will judge people fairly.
11 The heavens will be glad
and the earth will rejoice;
even the sea and everything that fills it will roar.[a]
12 The field and all that is in it will rejoice;
then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 in the Lord’s presence,
because he is coming;
indeed, he will come to judge the earth.
He will judge the world fairly
and its people reliably.
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.
The First Disciples
35 The next day, John was standing there again with two of his disciples. 36 As he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38 But when Jesus turned around and saw them following, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”
They asked him, “Rabbi,” (which is translated “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 He told them, “Come and see!” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.[a]
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.[b] 41 The first thing Andrew[c] did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, “We have found the Anointed One!”[d] (which is translated “Messiah”).[e]
42 He led Simon[f] to Jesus. Jesus looked at him intently and said, “You are Simon, John’s son.[g] You will be called Cephas!”[h] (which is translated “Peter”).[i]
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