Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
Prayer for Help in Despondency
A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 O Lord, God of my salvation,
at night, when I cry out before you,(A)
2 let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.(B)
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.(C)
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I am like those who have no help,(D)
5 like those forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.(E)
6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
in the regions dark and deep.(F)
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah(G)
8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;(H)
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.(I)
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah(J)
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness
or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?(K)
13 But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.(L)
14 O Lord, why do you cast me off?
Why do you hide your face from me?(M)
15 Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.[a](N)
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dread assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
from all sides they close in on me.(O)
18 You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me;
my companions are in darkness.(P)
Psalm 91
Assurance of God’s Protection
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,[a](A)
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”(B)
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;(C)
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defense.(D)
5 You will not fear the terror of the night
or the arrow that flies by day(E)
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.(F)
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.(G)
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,[b]
the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.(H)
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.(I)
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.(J)
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.(K)
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble;
I will rescue them and honor them.(L)
16 With long life I will satisfy them
and show them my salvation.(M)
Psalm 92
Thanksgiving for Vindication
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High,(N)
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning
and your faithfulness by night,(O)
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.(P)
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!(Q)
6 The dullard cannot know;
the stupid cannot understand this:
7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever,(R)
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.(S)
9 For your enemies, O Lord,
for your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.(T)
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have anointed me with fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.(U)
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.(V)
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,(W)
15 showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.(X)
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”(A)
28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.(B) 2 Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(C) 3 May God Almighty[a] bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples.(D) 4 May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, land that God gave to Abraham.”(E)
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a stairway[a] set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.(A) 13 And the Lord stood beside him[b] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring,(B) 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed[c] in you and in your offspring.(C) 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”(D) 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”(E) 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.(F) 19 He called that place Bethel,[d] but the name of the city was Luz at the first.(G) 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,(H) 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,(I) 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.”(J)
Being Subject to Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.(A) 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval,(B) 4 for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority[a] does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.(C) 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s agents, busy with this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Love for One Another
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.(D) 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(E) 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.(F)
An Urgent Appeal
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;(G) 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off[b] the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;(H) 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.(I) 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.(J)
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”(A)
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.(B) 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.(C) 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham, yet you look for an opportunity to kill me because there is no place in you for my word. 38 I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”[a](D)
Jesus and Abraham
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do[b] what Abraham did,(E) 40 but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God himself.”(F) 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.(G) 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. 44 You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.(H) 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.[c] 46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”(I)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.