Book of Common Prayer
Joy in the Fellowship of God
A Psalm of David (A)when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
63 O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
(B)My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see (C)Your power and Your glory.
3 (D)Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
4 Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will (E)lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with [a]marrow and [b]fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
6 When (F)I remember You on my bed,
I 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 follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall [c]fall by the sword;
They shall be [d]a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
(G)Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
A Song of Praise to the Lord for His Salvation and Judgment
A Psalm.
98 Oh, (A)sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has (B)done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 (C)The Lord has made known His salvation;
(D)His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the [a]nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
(E)All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies
A Psalm of David.
103 Bless (A)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 (B)Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who (C)heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
(D)Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that (E)your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
7 (F)He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
8 (G)The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 (H)He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 (I)He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished 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 (J)removed our transgressions from us.
13 (K)As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, (L)his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 (M)For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And (N)its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 (O)To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.
19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And (P)His kingdom rules over all.
20 (Q)Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who (R)do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
(S)You [c]ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
2 (A)Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey (B)from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the (C)place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram (D)called on the name of the Lord.
5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. 6 Now (E)the land was not able to [a]support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was (F)strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (G)The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
8 So Abram said to Lot, (H)“Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 (I)Is not the whole land before you? Please (J)separate from me. (K)If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all (L)the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord (M)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) (N)like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward (O)Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot (P)dwelt in the cities of the plain and (Q)pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom (R)were exceedingly wicked and (S)sinful against the Lord.
14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot (T)had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—(U)northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see (V)I give to you and (W)your [b]descendants forever. 16 And (X)I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
18 (Y)Then Abram moved his tent, and went and (Z)dwelt by [c]the terebinth trees of Mamre, (AA)which are in Hebron, and built an (AB)altar there to the Lord.
Defending the Gospel(A)
2 Then after fourteen years (B)I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up [a]by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but (C)privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means (D)I might run, or had run, in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of (E)false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our (F)liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, (G)that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that (H)the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
6 But from those (I)who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; (J)God [b]shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something (K)added nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, (L)when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised (M)had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter 8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the (N)circumcised (O)also (P)worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), 9 and when James, [c]Cephas, and John, who seemed to be (Q)pillars, perceived (R)the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, (S)that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, (T)the very thing which I also was eager to do.
Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute(A)
31 (B)Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32 Then (C)they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and (D)He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then, (E)looking up to heaven, (F)He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
35 (G)Immediately his ears were opened, and the [a]impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then (H)He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 And they were (I)astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He (J)makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.