Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 63[a]
A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.[b]
63 O God, you are my God. I long for you.[c]
My soul thirsts[d] for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched[e] land where there is no water.
2 Yes,[f] in the sanctuary I have seen you,[g]
and witnessed[h] your power and splendor.
3 Because[i] experiencing[j] your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
4 For this reason[k] I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.[l]
5 As with choice meat[m] you satisfy my soul.[n]
My mouth joyfully praises you,[o]
6 whenever[p] I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
7 For you are my deliverer;[q]
under your wings[r] I rejoice.
8 My soul[s] pursues you;[t]
your right hand upholds me.
9 Enemies seek to destroy my life,[u]
but they will descend into the depths of the earth.[v]
10 Each one will be handed over to the sword;[w]
their corpses will be eaten by jackals.[x]
11 But the king[y] will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name[z] will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.[aa]
Psalm 98[a]
A psalm.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song,[b]
for he performs[c] amazing deeds.
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance.[d]
2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver;[e]
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel.[f]
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us.[g]
4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth.
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
5 Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music.
6 With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord.
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
9 before the Lord.
For he comes to judge the earth.
He judges the world fairly,[h]
and the nations in a just manner.
Psalm 103[a]
By David.
103 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
With all that is within me, praise[b] his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Do not forget all his kind deeds.[c]
3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases,[d]
4 who delivers[e] your life from the Pit,[f]
who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life with good things,[g]
so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.[h]
6 The Lord does what is fair,
and executes justice for all the oppressed.[i]
7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts[j] to Moses,
his deeds to the Israelites.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient[k] and demonstrates great loyal love.[l]
9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry.[m]
10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve;[n]
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve.[o]
11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers[p] over his faithful followers.[q]
12 As far as the eastern horizon[r] is from the west,[s]
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions[t] from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,[u]
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.[v]
14 For he knows what we are made of;[w]
he realizes[x] we are made of clay.[y]
15 A person’s life is like grass.[z]
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
16 but when the hot wind[aa] blows, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,[ab]
and is faithful to their descendants,[ac]
18 to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands.[ad]
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;
his kingdom extends over everything.[ae]
20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees
and obey his orders.[af]
21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his,[ag]
you servants of his who carry out his desires.[ah]
22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made,[ai]
in all the regions[aj] of his kingdom.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 (Now Abram was very wealthy[a] in livestock, silver, and gold.)[b]
3 And he journeyed from place to place[c] from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned[d] to the place where he had pitched his tent[e] at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 4 This was the place where he had first built the altar,[f] and there Abram worshiped the Lord.[g]
5 Now Lot, who was traveling[h] with Abram, also had[i] flocks, herds, and tents. 6 But the land could[j] not support them while they were living side by side.[k] Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live[l] alongside one another. 7 So there were quarrels[m] between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen.[n] (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)[o]
8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.[p] 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go[q] to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked up and saw[r] the whole region[s] of the Jordan. He noticed[t] that all of it was well watered (this was before the Lord obliterated[u] Sodom and Gomorrah)[v] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt,[w] all the way to Zoar. 11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled[x] toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other.[y] 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain[z] and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13 (Now[aa] the people[ab] of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.)[ac]
14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram,[ad] “Look[ae] from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants[af] forever. 16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.[ag] 17 Get up and[ah] walk[ai] throughout the land,[aj] for I will give it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live[ak] by the oaks[al] of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
Confirmation from the Jerusalem Apostles
2 Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along too. 2 I went there[a] because of[b] a revelation and presented[c] to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so[d] only in a private meeting with the influential people,[e] to make sure that I was not running—or had not run[f]—in vain. 3 Yet[g] not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. 4 Now this matter arose[h] because of the false brothers with false pretenses[i] who slipped in unnoticed to spy on[j] our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.[k] 5 But[l] we did not surrender to them[m] even for a moment,[n] in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.[o]
6 But from those who were influential[p] (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people[q])—those influential leaders[r] added[s] nothing to my message.[t] 7 On the contrary, when they saw[u] that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised[v] just as Peter was entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised[w] 8 (for he who empowered[x] Peter for his apostleship[y] to the circumcised[z] also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles)[aa] 9 and when James, Cephas,[ab] and John, who had a reputation as[ac] pillars,[ad] recognized[ae] the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me[af] the right hand of fellowship, agreeing[ag] that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.[ah] 10 They requested[ai] only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.
Healing a Deaf Mute
31 Then[a] Jesus[b] went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.[c] 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 33 After Jesus[d] took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s[e] ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.[f] 34 Then[g] he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”).[h] 35 And immediately the man’s[i] ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more.[j] 37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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