Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
A Cry of Desperation
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.(A)
1 Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out before you day and night.(B)
2 May my prayer reach your presence;
listen to my cry.(C)
3 For I have had enough troubles,
and my life is near Sheol.(D)
4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit.(E)
I am like a man without strength,(F)
5 abandoned[a] among the dead.
I am like the slain lying in the grave,(G)
whom you no longer remember,
and who are cut off from your care.[b](H)
6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.(I)
7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;(J)
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.(K)Selah
8 You have distanced my friends from me;
you have made me repulsive to them.(L)
I am shut in and cannot go out.
9 My eyes are worn out from crying.(M)
Lord, I cry out to you all day long;(N)
I spread out my hands to you.(O)
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do departed spirits rise up to praise you?(P)Selah
11 Will your faithful love be declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Abaddon?(Q)
12 Will your wonders be known in the darkness
or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?(R)
13 But I call to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer meets you.(S)
14 Lord, why do you reject me?(T)
Why do you hide your face from me?(U)
15 From my youth,
I have been suffering and near death.
I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.(V)
16 Your wrath sweeps over me;
your terrors destroy me.(W)
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they close in on me from every side.(X)
18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;
darkness is my only friend.[c](Y)
Psalm 91
The Protection of the Most High
1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High
dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.(A)
2 I will say[a] concerning the Lord, who is my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I trust:(B)
3 He himself will rescue you from the bird trap,(C)
from the destructive plague.
4 He will cover you with his feathers;
you will take refuge under his wings.(D)
His faithfulness will be a protective shield.(E)
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
the arrow that flies by day,(F)
6 the plague that stalks in darkness,
or the pestilence that ravages at noon.(G)
7 Though a thousand fall at your side
and ten thousand at your right hand,
the pestilence will not reach you.(H)
8 You will only see it with your eyes
and witness the punishment of the wicked.(I)
9 Because you have made the Lord—my refuge,(J)
the Most High—your dwelling place,(K)
10 no harm will come to you;
no plague will come near your tent.(L)
11 For he will give his angels orders concerning you,
to protect you in all your ways.(M)
12 They will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.(N)
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the young lion and the serpent.(O)
14 Because he has his heart set on me,
I will deliver him;
I will protect him because he knows my name.(P)
15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.
I will rescue him and give him honor.(Q)
16 I will satisfy him with a long life(R)
and show him my salvation.(S)
Psalm 92
God’s Love and Faithfulness
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,(T)
2 to declare your faithful love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,(U)
3 with a ten-stringed harp[b]
and the music of a lyre.(V)
4 For you have made me rejoice, Lord,
by what you have done;
I will shout for joy
because of the works of your hands.(W)
5 How magnificent are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!(X)
6 A stupid person does not know,
a fool does not understand this:(Y)
7 though the wicked sprout like grass(Z)
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be eternally destroyed.(AA)
8 But you, Lord, are exalted forever.(AB)
9 For indeed, Lord, your enemies—
indeed, your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.(AC)
10 You have lifted up my horn(AD)
like that of a wild ox;
I have been anointed[c] with the finest oil.(AE)
11 My eyes look at my enemies;
when evildoers rise against me,
my ears hear them.(AF)
12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.(AG)
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they thrive in the courts of our God.(AH)
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
healthy and green,(AI)
15 to declare, “The Lord is just;
he is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him.”(AJ)
46 So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls.(A) If Jacob marries someone from around here,[a] like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?” (B)
Jacob’s Departure
28 So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl. 2 Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you(C) so that you become an assembly of peoples.(D) 4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham(E) so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”(F)
Jacob at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed:(A) A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.(B) 13 The Lord was standing there beside him,[a] saying, “I am the Lord,(C) the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth,(D) and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.(E) 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land,(F) for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”(G) 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19 and named the place Bethel,[b] though previously the city was named Luz.(H) 20 Then Jacob made a vow:(I) “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s family,(J) then the Lord will be my God.(K) 22 This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”(L)
A Christian’s Duties to the State
13 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities,(A) since there is no authority except from God,(B) and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror(C) to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger(D) that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.(E) 6 And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.[a] 7 Pay your obligations(F) to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes,(G) tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect,(H) and honor to those you owe honor.
Love, Our Primary Duty
8 Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.(I) 9 The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal;[b] do not covet;[c](J) and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.[d](K) 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
Put On Christ
11 Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour(L) for you[e] to wake up from sleep,(M) because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.(N) 12 The night is nearly over, and the day is near;(O) so let us discard the deeds of darkness(P) and put on the armor of light.(Q) 13 Let us walk with decency,(R) as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness;(S) not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,(T) and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.(U)
33 “We are descendants[a] of Abraham,”(A) they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.(B) 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever,(C) but a son does remain forever.(D) 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. 37 I know you are descendants of Abraham,(E) but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. 38 I speak what I have seen(F) in the presence of the Father; [b](G) so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 “Our father is Abraham,” they replied.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.(H) 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth(I) that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You’re doing what your father does.”(J)
“We weren’t born(K) of sexual immorality,”(L) they said. “We have one Father—God.”(M)
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,(N) because I came from God(O) and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to[c] my word.(P) 44 You are of your father the devil,(Q) and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer(R) from the beginning(S) and does not stand in the truth,(T) because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature,[d] because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you can convict me of sin?(U) If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”
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