Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61[a]
Prayer of One in Exile
1 For the director.[b] With stringed instruments. Of David.
2 O God, hear my cry
and listen to my prayer.
3 From the ends of the earth[c] I call to you,
with a heart that is fainting away;
set me high upon a rock.
4 For you are my refuge,
a tower of strength against the enemy.
5 I will abide in your tent forever
and find refuge in the shelter of your wings.[d] Selah
6 For you, O God, have heard my vows
and granted me the heritage of those who fear your name.[e]
7 [f]Add length of days to the life of the king;
may his years be prolonged for many generations.
8 May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever,
and may your kindness and faithfulness watch over him.
9 Then I will sing praise to your name forever
as I fulfill my vows day after day.[g]
Psalm 62[h]
Trust in God Alone
1 For the director.[i] For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
2 In God alone is my soul[j] at rest;
it is from him that my salvation comes.
3 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress, so that I stand ever unshaken.
4 How long will you assault someone,
and all of you beat him down,
as if he were a leaning wall
or a tottering fence?[k]
5 They devise plots to dislodge me
from my place on high[l]
and delight in spreading lies about me.
They bless with their lips,
but they curse in their hearts. Selah
6 In God alone be at rest,[m] O my soul;
it is from him that my hope comes.
7 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress, so that I stand unshaken.
8 My deliverance and my glory depend on God;
he is my mighty rock and my refuge.
9 Trust in him at all times, my people,
and pour out your heart before him,[n]
for God is our refuge. Selah
10 Ordinary people are no more than a breath,
and the great are no more than a delusion.
When they are placed on scales all together,
they are lighter than air.[o]
11 Do not place your trust in extortion,
and set no vain hopes in stolen goods;
no matter how greatly your wealth increases,
do not set your heart[p] on it.
12 One thing God has revealed;
two things have I heard:
that power belongs to you, O God,
13 and so does kindness,[q] O Lord.
You reward each person
in accordance with his deeds.
Psalm 68[a]
Song of Victory
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David. A song.
2 [c]May God rise up, and his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
3 As smoke is blown away in the wind,
so will they be blown away.
As wax melts away before a flame,
so will the wicked perish before God.
4 But those who are righteous will rejoice;
they will exult before God,
crying out with great delight.
5 [d]Sing to God, sing praise to his name;[e]
exalt him who rides upon the clouds.
Rejoice in the presence of this God
whose name is the Lord.
6 [f]The Father of orphans and the defender of widows:
such is God in his holy dwelling place.
7 He gives a home to those who are forsaken
and leads out prisoners amid chants of exultation,
while rebels are forced to live in an arid land.
8 [g]O God, when you set out at the head of your people,
when you went marching through the wilderness, Selah
9 the earth quaked,[h]
and rain poured down from the heavens,
at the presence of God, the One of Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
10 [i]You poured down rain in abundance, O God,
and revived your exhausted inheritance.
11 It was there that your people settled;
and in your great goodness, O God,
you provided for those who were needy.
12 [j]The Lord issues the word,[k]
and a vast army proclaims good tidings:
13 “Kings and their armies are beating a hasty retreat;
even those who remained in camp are dividing up the spoils.
14 “While you linger by the sheepfolds,
the wings of the dove are covered[l] with silver,
its feathers brilliant with shining gold.”
15 When the Almighty[m] routed the kings there,
it was like snow fallen upon Zalmon.
16 [n]The mountains of Bashan are God’s mountains;
the mountains of Bashan are mighty peaks.
17 Why, O rugged mountains, do you gaze enviously
at the mountain[o] that God has chosen as his abode,
where the Lord himself will dwell forever?
18 The chariots of God[p] are myriad,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord has come down from Sinai
and entered into the holy place.
19 You ascended on high,
leading captives in your train;
you accepted slaves as tribute,
so that even rebels might dwell with the Lord God.[q]
20 [r]Blessed be the Lord, day after day,
the God of our salvation, who carries our burden. Selah
21 Our God is a God who saves;
the Lord God delivers from death.[s]
22 God himself will smite the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who persist in their sins.
23 The Lord has said:
“I will bring them back even from Bashan,
I will bring them back even from the depths of the sea,[t]
24 so that you may bathe your feet in the blood of your foes
and the tongues of your dogs may have their share.”[u]
25 [v]Your procession, O God, comes into view,
the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.
26 The singers enter first,
with musicians trailing behind them,
while in their midst are the maidens playing tambourines.[w]
27 Bless God in the assembly;
the Lord, the source of Israel.
28 In the lead is Benjamin, the smallest in number,
with the princes of Judah in a council,
as well as the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
29 [x]Marshal your power once again, O God,
the power of God that you have often wielded for us.
30 For to your temple in Jerusalem
kings will come to you bearing gifts.[y]
31 Rebuke those wild beasts of the reeds,[z]
the herd of mighty bulls, the calves of nations,
who bring bars of silver and prostrate themselves;
rout the nations that delight in war.
32 Envoys will come from Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.[aa]
33 [ab]Sing to God, all you kingdoms of the earth;
sing the praises of the Lord, Selah
34 who rides the ancient heavens above[ac]
and speaks with his voice of thunder.
35 Acknowledge the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel
and whose power is in the skies.
36 Awesome is God in his sanctuary,
the God of Israel, who gives power and strength to his people.[ad]
Blessed be God!
Ishbaal and Abner Quarrel. 6 During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had gradually been gaining power in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ishbaal said to Abner: “Why have you slept with my father’s concubine?”
8 Abner became enraged at this insult of Ishbaal, and he said: “Am I nothing more than a dog’s head in Judah? I have continued to be loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his brothers and friends, and I have not betrayed you into the hands of David. Yet now you charge me with a crime involving a woman.
9 “May God punish Abner severely, and inflict even greater ills, if I fail to accomplish for David what the Lord swore to him. 10 I shall take the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beer-sheba.” 11 And Ishbaal did not dare to say another word in response, because he was afraid of him.
12 Abner and David Reconciled. Abner sent messengers on his own behalf to say to David: “Who should control the land? If you come to an agreement with me, I will give you my support in bringing all Israel over to you.” 13 [a]David replied: “Good! I will negotiate an agreement with you. However, I will impose one condition. You will not be allowed to appear in my presence unless you bring back Saul’s daughter, Michal, when you come to see me.”
14 Then David also sent messengers to Ishbaal, the son of Saul, with this demand: “Return to me my wife Michal whom I espoused after paying the ransom of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” 15 Therefore, Ishbaal summoned Michal and took her away from her husband Paltiel, the son of Laish. 16 However, her husband, weeping copiously, followed her as far as Horonaim, at which time Abner commanded him: “Go back,” and he returned home.
17 Abner then proceeded to confer with the elders of Israel. “For a long time now,” he said, “you have wanted David to be your king. 18 Now is the time for you to make that wish a reality, for the Lord has said of David: ‘By means of my servant David I will deliver my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from all their enemies.’ ” 19 Abner also spoke personally to the Benjaminites. After that he went to Hebron to notify David about everything that the people of Israel and the house of Benjamin had agreed to do.
20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 Abner then said to David: “Allow me now to go and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, in order that they may make a covenant with you, and thus you will reign over all that your heart desires.” Therefore, David dismissed Abner, who went away in peace.
6 They traveled through the region of Phrygia[a] and Galatia because they had been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they approached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but since the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do so, 8 they passed through Mysia and came down to Troas.[b]
Paul at Philippi.[c] 9 During the night, Paul had a vision in which a man of Macedonia appeared to him and pleaded with him, saying, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Once he had seen this vision, we immediately arranged for passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had summoned us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and made a straight run to Samothrace.[d] On the following day, we reached Neapolis, 12 and from there we sailed to Philippi,[e] a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city.
13 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate alongside the river where we assumed there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of the women, whose name was Lydia, was a worshiper of God. She was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. 15 When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us insistently, “If you regard me as a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she won us over.
30 The Return of the Twelve. The apostles[a] returned to Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away with me, by yourselves, to a deserted place and rest for a while.” For people continued to come and go in great numbers, and they had no time even to eat.
32 And so they went off by themselves in a boat to a deserted place. 33 Now many people saw them departing and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As Jesus went ashore and beheld the vast crowd, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
35 Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men.[b] When it began to be late in the day, his disciples came up to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it is getting very late. 36 Send the people away now so that they can go to the farms and villages in the area and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 He replied, “Give them something to eat yourselves.” They said to him, “Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii[c] on bread for them to eat?” 38 He asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out, they reported: “Five loaves, and two fish.”
39 Then he ordered them to have all the people sit down on the green grass in groups. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to distribute among the people. He also divided the two fish among them. 42 They all ate and were satisfied. 43 Then they gathered up the fragments of the bread and fish—twelve full baskets.[d] 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
45 Jesus Walks on the Water.[e] Immediately afterward, Jesus instructed his disciples to get into the boat and to go on ahead to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And when he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
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