Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The Mighty One, God, is the Lord;
He has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shined.
3 Our God will come, and will not keep silent;
a fire consumes before Him,
and a strong tempest is around Him.
4 He calls to the heavens above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 “Gather My faithful ones together to Me,
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens will declare His righteousness,
for God Himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings that are continually before Me.
9 I will take no young bull out of your house,
nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is Mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and the creatures that move in the field are Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
or take My covenant in your mouth?
17 You hate instruction,
and cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you are pleased,
and have a share in those who commit adultery.
19 You let loose your mouth to evil,
and your tongue is bound to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you accuse your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silent;
you thought that I was indeed like you;
but I will reprove you
and make a case before your eyes.
22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
23 Whoever sacrifices a thank offering
glorifies Me and makes a way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
Psalm 59
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
give me refuge from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
and save me from bloodthirsty people.
3 For they lie in wait for my life;
the mighty are gathered against me,
not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.
4 For no guilt of mine, they run and prepare themselves.
Arise to help me, and take notice.
5 You, O Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel,
awake to punish all the nations;
do not be gracious to any wicked transgressors. Selah
6 They return at evening,
they growl like a dog,
and go around the city.
7 Indeed, they burst out with their mouth;
swords are in their lips;
for who listens?
8 But You, O Lord, will laugh at them;
You will have all the nations in derision.
9 O my strength, I will wait on You;
for God is my refuge.
10 The God of lovingkindness will go before me;
God will cause me to look in triumph on my enemies.
11 Do not slay them,
lest my people forget;
scatter them by Your power,
and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth
and the words of their lips,
may they be snared by their pride,
and because of curses and lies that they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath,
consume them so they no longer exist;
and let them know that God rules in Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 At evening they return,
and growl like a dog,
and go around the city.
15 They roam about to eat,
and if they are not satisfied, they complain.
16 But I will sing of Your power;
I will sing aloud of Your lovingkindness in the morning,
for You have been my refuge
and escape in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, O my strength, I will sing,
for God is my refuge, and the God of my lovingkindness.
Psalm 60(A)
For the Music Director. A Miktam of David to teach. To the melody of “Lily of the Testimony,” when he struggled with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah and when Joab returned from striking down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, You have rejected us, You have scattered us;
You have been displeased; take us back.
2 You have made the earth tremble; You have split it open;
heal its breaches, for it shook.
3 You have shown Your people hard times;
You have made us drink wine, causing us to stagger.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear You,
that they may flee to it from the bow.[a] Selah
5 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
save with Your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
and measure out the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is My helmet;
Judah is My scepter;
8 Moab is My wash basin;
over Edom I will cast My shoe;
shout the alarm, O Philistia, because of Me.”
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
10 You, O God, have You not cast us off?
And You, O God, did not go out with our armies.
11 Give us help from trouble,
for the help of man is worthless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,
for He will tread down our enemies.
Psalm 33
The Sovereignty of the Lord.
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
for praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp;
make music to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
play an instrument skillfully with a joyful shout.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all His work is done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of His mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He puts the depths in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations;
He restrains the purposes of the people.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the purposes of His heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom He has chosen as His inheritance.
13 The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His habitation He gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts alike;
He considers all their works.
16 No king is saved by a great army;
a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for safety;
it will not deliver by its great strength.
18 The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
on those who hope in His lovingkindness,
19 to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart will rejoice in Him,
because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be on us,
just as we hope in You.
18 For wickedness burns as a fire;
it shall devour the briers and thorns,
and shall ignite in the thickets of the forest,
and they shall mount up like rising smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts
is the land burned up,
and the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
no man shall spare his brother.
20 They shall snatch on the right hand,
but still be hungry;
and they shall eat on the left hand,
and shall not be satisfied;
every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh consumes Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh,
and they together shall be against Judah.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
and His hand is stretched out still.
10 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees
and who write unjust judgments which they have prescribed
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and to take away the right from the poor of My people,
that widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will you do in the day of punishment
and in the desolation which shall come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to bow down among the prisoners,
and they shall fall among the slain.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
and His hand is stretched out still.
10 especially those who walk after the flesh in pursuit of unclean desires, and despise authority.
They are presumptuous and arrogant, and are not afraid to slander the angelic beings. 11 Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring slanderous accusations against them before the Lord. 12 But these people are like irrational animals, born to be captured and destroyed. They speak evil of the things that they do not understand, and in their corruption they will be destroyed.
13 They shall receive the wages of unrighteousness. They count it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes who revel in their own deception while they carouse together with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. They entice unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are cursed children! 15 They have forsaken the right way and have gone astray. They follow the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness, 16 but who was rebuked for his iniquity. The mute donkey speaking with a man’s voice constrained the madness of the prophet.
The Preaching of John the Baptist(A)
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make His paths straight.’ ”[a]
4 This same John had clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him, 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to escape from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is put to the tree roots. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.