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.’”
The Return of the Ark of Covenant
6 Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months, 2 and the Philistines called to the priests and to those who practiced divination, saying, “What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Inform us how we should send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, you must not send it away empty, but by all means return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will become known to you why his hand is not turned aside from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we should return to him?” They said, “The number of the rulers of the Philistines is five. Therefore send five gold tumors[a] and five gold mice, because one plague was on all of you and all your rulers. 5 You must make images of your tumors[b] and images of your mice that are ravaging the land, and you must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you and on your gods and on your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? Is it not just like when he dealt with them wantonly so that they sent them away and they left? 7 So then, prepare[c] one new utility cart and two milking cows that have never had a yoke on them, and you must harness the cows to the utility cart and then turn their calves from following them to their stall. 8 And you must take the ark of Yahweh and place it on the utility cart with the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering. You must place them in the container[d] beside the ark and then send it off so that it goes away. 9 You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, he has caused this great disaster to come on us. But if not, then we will know his hand has not struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us. 10 So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. 11 Then they put the ark of Yahweh on the utility cart with the container[e] holding the gold mice and the images of their tumors. 12 The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went.[f] They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they were glad to see it. 14 The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 15 Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container[g] that was beside it, in which were the gold objects, and they set them on the large stone.[h] Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they made[i] sacrifices to Yahweh on that day. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that same day.
The Apostles on Trial Before the Sanhedrin
27 And when they[a] had brought them, they made them[b] stand in the Sanhedrin,[c] and the high priest put a question to them, 28 saying, “We strictly commanded[d] you[e] not to teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching! And you are intending to bring upon us the blood of this man!” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered and[f] said, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed by[g] hanging him[h] on a tree. 31 This one God has exalted to his right hand as Leader and Savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses of these things, and so is[i] the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” 33 Now when[j] they heard this,[k] they were infuriated, and were wanting to execute them. 34 But a certain man stood up in the Sanhedrin,[l] a Pharisee named[m] Gamaliel, a teacher of the law respected by all the people, and[n] gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. 35 And he said to them, “Men and Israelites, take care for yourselves what you are about to do to these men! 36 For before these days, Theudas rose up saying he was somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him.[o] He[p] was executed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and caused people to follow him in revolt.[q] And that one perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 And now I tell you, keep away from these men, and leave them alone, because if this plan or this matter is from people, it will be overthrown.[r] 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them, lest you even be found fighting against God.” So they were persuaded by him. 40 And they summoned the apostles, beat them,[s] commanded them[t] not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.[u] 41 So they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin[v] rejoicing, because they had been considered worthy to be dishonored for the sake of the name. 42 Every day, both in the temple courts[w] and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that the Christ[x] was Jesus.
37 So throughout the days he was teaching in the temple courts,[a] and throughout the nights he was going out and[b] spending the night on the hill that is called the Mount of Olives. 38 And all the people were getting up very early in the morning to come[c] to him in the temple courts[d] to listen to him.
The Chief Priests and Scribes Plot to Kill Jesus
22 Now the feast of Unleavened Bread (which is called Passover) was drawing near. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they could destroy him, because they were afraid of the people.
Judas Arranges to Betray Jesus
3 And Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 And he went away and[e] discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he could betray him to them. 5 And they were delighted, and came to an agreement with him to give him[f] money. 6 And he agreed, and began looking[g] for a favorable opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd.
Jesus’ Final Passover with the Disciples
7 And the day of the feast of Unleavened Bread came, on which it was necessary for the Passover lamb to be sacrificed. 8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and[h] prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.[i] 9 So they said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”[j] 10 And he said to them, “Behold, when[k] you have entered into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters. 11 And you will say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 And he will show you a large furnished[l] upstairs room. Make preparations there.” 13 So they went and[m] found everything[n] just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
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