Book of Common Prayer
The Nations and God’s Anointed
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and their people involved in a vain plot?
2 As the kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say,[a]
3 “Let us tear off their shackles from us,[b]
and cast off their chains.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 In his anger he rebukes them,
and in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I have set my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
The Anointed King Speaks
7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord
that he told me:
“You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
you will shatter them like pottery.”
10 Therefore, kings, act wisely!
Earthly rulers, be warned!
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss[c] the son before he becomes[d] angry,
and you die where you stand.[e]
Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him.
To the Director: A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.
Restore Us, God
85 Lord you have favored your land
and restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You took away the iniquity of your people,
forgiving all their sins.
3 You withdrew all your wrath
and turned away from your burning anger.
4 Restore us, God of our salvation,
and stop being angry with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger from generation to generation?
6 Will you restore our lives again
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Lord, show your gracious love
and deliver us.
8 Let me listen to what God, the Lord, says;
for the Lord will promise peace
to his people, to his holy ones;
may they not return to foolishness.
9 Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him,
for his glory will live in our land.
10 Gracious love and truth meet;
righteousness and peace kiss.
11 Truth sprouts up from the ground,
while righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 The Lord will also provide what is good,
and our land will yield its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him
to prepare a path for his steps.
A Davidic psalm
A Priestly Ruler
110 A declaration from the Lord[a] to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 When the Lord extends your mighty scepter from Zion,
rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your soldiers[b] are willing volunteers on your day of battle;
in majestic holiness, from the womb,
from the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.
4 The Lord took an oath and will never recant:
“You are a priest forever,
after the manner of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will utterly destroy kings in the time of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment against the nations,
filling graves[c] with corpses.
He will utterly destroy leaders far and wide.
7 He will drink from a stream on the way,
then hold his head high.
A Song of Ascents
The Lord Lives in Zion
132 Lord, remember in David’s favor
all of his troubles;
2 how he swore an oath to the Lord,
vowing to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter[a] my house,
or lie down on[b] my bed,
4 or let myself go to sleep[c]
or even take a nap,[d]
5 until I locate a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard about it[e] in Ephrata;[f]
we found it in the fields of Jaar.[g]
7 Let’s go to his dwelling place
and worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, Lord,
and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness
and may your godly ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord made an oath to David
from which he will not retreat:
“One of your sons
I will set in place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my statutes that I will teach them,
then their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion,
desiring it as his dwelling place.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live,
because I desire to do so.
15 I will bless its provisions abundantly;
I will satiate its poor with food.[h]
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation
and its godly ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will create a power base[i] for David—
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with disgrace,
but on him his crown will shine.”
The Lord will Live in Zion
10 “Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! Take note! I am coming to live in your midst,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will cling to the Lord at that time[a] and will become my people. I will live in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will take possession of Judah as his own property in the Holy Land—and he will choose Jerusalem again. 13 Be silent, every living thing, in the presence of the Lord, because he is emerging[b] from his Holy Place.”
God’s Love Lives in Us
7 Dear friends, let us continuously love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent his uniquely existing Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved[a] God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God. 16 We have come to know and rely on[b] the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
The One who Comes from Above
31 The one who comes from above is superior to everything. The one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things.[a] The one who comes from heaven is superior to everything. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 The person who has accepted his testimony has acknowledged that God is truthful.[b] 34 The one whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God[c] does not give the Spirit in limited measure to him.[d] 35 The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
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