Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You,
my flesh faints for You,
in a dry and thirsty land
with no water.
2 I have seen You in the sanctuary,
to see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
4 Thus will I bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You on my bed,
and meditate on You in the night watches,
7 because You have been my help,
therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
8 My soul clings hard to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek my soul to destroy it
will go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They will fall by the sword;
they will be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God;
everyone who swears by Him will glory,
because the mouth of liars will be stopped.
Psalm 98
A Psalm.
1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song,
for He has done marvelous deeds!
His right hand and His holy arm
have accomplished deliverance.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy
and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the deliverance of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth;
break out in loud songs, and sing praises.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of melody,
6 with trumpets and sound of the horn;
make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it,
the world and those who live in it;
8 let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills be joyful together
9 before the Lord,
for He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He will judge the world,
and the peoples with justice.
Psalm 103
A Psalm of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquities,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 who satisfies your mouth with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord does righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always accuse,
neither will He keep his anger forever.
10 He does not treat us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord gives compassion to those who fear Him.
14 For He knows how we are formed;
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass;
as a flower of the field he flourishes.
16 For the hot wind passes over it, and it is gone;
the place where it was is not known.
17 But the mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting
upon those who fear Him,
and His righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep His covenant,
and to those who remember to do His commandments.
19 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
and His kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, you His angels,
who are mighty, and do His commands,
and obey the voice of His word.
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts;
you servants who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all His works,
in all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
The Fall of Babylon
47 Come down, and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground; there is no throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal.
Uncover your veil,
strip off the skirt, uncover the leg,
pass over the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your shame shall be seen;
I will take vengeance,
and I will not meet you as a man.
4 As for our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name,
the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit silently, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
the queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with My people;
I have polluted My inheritance
and given them into your hand.
You did not show them mercy;
on the aged
you have laid your yoke very heavily.
7 You said, “I shall be a queen forever,”
but you did not take these things to heart,
nor remember the outcome of them.
8 Therefore, now hear this, you who are given to pleasures,
who dwell carelessly,
who say in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow,
nor shall I know the loss of children”;
9 but these two things shall come to you
in a moment, in one day,
the loss of children and widowhood.
They shall come upon you in their fullness
because of the multitude of your sorceries
and for the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness;
you have said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge have perverted you;
and you have said in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 Therefore, evil shall come upon you,
which you shall not know from where it rises.
And disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you shall not be able to atone.
And desolation shall come upon you suddenly,
which you shall not know.
12 Stand fast now with your enchantments,
and with the multitude of your sorceries
in which you have labored from your youth.
Perhaps you shall be able to profit,
perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
let now the astrologers, the stargazers,
the monthly prognosticators stand up
and save you from these things that shall come upon you.
14 Surely they shall be as stubble,
the fire shall burn them;
they shall not deliver themselves
from the power of the flame;
it shall not be coal to be warmed by
nor a fire to sit before.
15 Thus those shall be to you
with whom you have labored,
even your merchants, from your youth;
they shall wander, everyone to his quarter.
No one shall save you.
Exhortation and Warning
19 Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way that He has opened for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, 21 and since we have a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse them from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us firmly hold the profession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to spur one another to love and to good works. 25 Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but let us exhort one another, especially as you see the Day approaching.
26 For if we willfully continue to sin after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who despised Moses’ law died without mercy in the presence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severe a punishment do you suppose he deserves, who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded the blood of the covenant that sanctified him to be a common thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine,” says the Lord, “I will repay.”[a] And again He says, “The Lord will judge His people.”[b] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great crowd of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. After the stirring of the water, whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever disease he had. 5 A certain man was there who had an illness for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been in that condition now a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed, took up his bed, and walked.
That day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 Now the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have become whole. Sin no more lest something worse happens to you.” 15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
16 So the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. 17 Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” 18 So the Jews sought even more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.