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.’”
Remembering Yahweh’s Mercy
7 I will mention the loyal love of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has done for us,
and the greatness of goodness to the house of Israel that he has done to them according to his mercy and the abundance of his loyal love.
8 And he said, “Surely my people are children; they will not break faith.” And he became a Savior to them.
9 In all their distress, there was no distress,[a]
and the messenger of his presence[b] saved them,
in his love and compassion he himself redeemed them,
and he lifted them up,
and he supported them all the days of old.
10 But[c] they were the ones who[d] rebelled,
and they grieved his Holy Spirit,[e]
so[f] he became an enemy to them;[g]
he himself fought against them.
11 Then[h] his people remembered the days of old, of Moses.
Where is the one who led up them from the sea with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is the one who puts his Holy Spirit[i] inside him,
12 who made[j] his magnificent arm move at[k] the right hand of Moses,
who divided[l] the waters before them,[m]
to make an everlasting name for himself,
13 who led[n] them through the depths?
They did not stumble like a horse in the desert;
14 like cattle in the valley that goes down, the Spirit of Yahweh gave him rest,[o]
so you lead your people to make a magnificent name for yourself.
Paul’s Charge to Timothy
18 I am setting before you this instruction, Timothy my child, in accordance with the prophecies spoken long ago about you, in order that by them you may fight the good fight, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some, because they[a] have rejected these, have suffered shipwreck concerning their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, in order that they may be taught not to blaspheme.
Instructions to Pray for All People
2 Therefore, I urge first of all that petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people, 2 on behalf of kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we may live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable before God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony at the proper time, 7 for which I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am speaking the truth, I am not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and dispute.
A Barren Fig Tree Cursed
12 And on the next day as[a] they were departing from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And when he[b] saw from a distance a fig tree that had leaves, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he[c] came up to it he found nothing except leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 And he responded and[d] said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you any more forever!”[e] And his disciples heard it.[f]
The Cleansing of the Temple
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered into the temple courts[g] and[h] began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple courts,[i] and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. 16 And he did not permit anyone to carry objects[j] through the temple courts.[k] 17 And he began to teach[l] and was saying to them, “Is it not written,
‘My house will be called a house of prayer
for all the nations,’[m]
but you have made it a cave of robbers!” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it,[n] and began considering[o] how they could destroy him. For they were afraid of him because the whole crowd was astounded by his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.
The Barren Fig Tree Withered
20 And as they[p] passed by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 And Peter remembered and[q] said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered!” 22 And Jesus answered and[r] said to them, “Have faith in God! 23 Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea!’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 For this reason I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it,[s] and it will be done for you. 25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him,[t] so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your sins.”[u]
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