Book of Common Prayer
Give the King Your Judgments
Of Solomon.
72 O God, give the king (A)Your judgments,
And (B)Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 [a]May [b]he (C)render judgment to Your people with righteousness
And (D)Your [c]afflicted with justice.
3 Let the mountains lift up [d](E)peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
4 [e]May he (F)give justice to the [f]afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy,
And crush the oppressor.
5 [g]Let them fear You (G)while the sun endures,
And [h]as long as the moon, from generation to all generations.
6 [i]May he come down (H)like rain upon the mown grass,
Like (I)showers that water the earth.
7 [j]May the (J)righteous flourish in his days,
And (K)abundance of peace until the moon is no more.
8 May he also have dominion (L)from sea to sea
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 [k]Let (M)the desert creatures (N)kneel before him,
And his enemies (O)lick the dust.
10 [l]Let the kings of (P)Tarshish and of the (Q)coastlands bring a present;
The kings of (R)Sheba and (S)Seba (T)offer tribute.
11 [m]And let all (U)kings bow down to him,
All (V)nations serve him.
12 For he will (W)deliver the needy when he cries for help,
The [n]afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will have (X)compassion on the poor and needy,
And the [o]lives of the needy he will save.
14 He will (Y)redeem their [p]life from oppression and violence,
And their blood will be (Z)precious in his sight;
15 So may he live! And may they give to him the (AA)gold of Sheba;
And let each pray for him continually;
Let each bless him all day long.
16 May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains;
May its fruit wave like the cedars of (AB)Lebanon;
And may those from the city blossom like (AC)vegetation of the earth.
17 May his (AD)name endure forever;
May his name [q]increase [r](AE)as long as the sun shines;
Let all nations [s](AF)be blessed in him;
(AG)Let all nations call him blessed.
18 (AH)Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,
Who alone (AI)works wondrous deeds.
19 And blessed be His (AJ)glorious name forever;
And may the whole (AK)earth be filled with His glory.
(AL)Amen, and Amen.
20 [t]The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.
Yodh
73 (A)Your hands made me and established me;
(B)Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
74 May those who [a]fear You (C)see me and be glad,
Because I [b](D)wait for Your word.
75 I know, O Yahweh, that Your judgments are (E)righteous,
And that (F)in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
76 Oh may Your lovingkindness [c]comfort me,
According to Your [d]word to Your slave.
77 May (G)Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my (H)delight.
78 May (I)the arrogant be ashamed, for they wrong me (J)with lying;
But I shall (K)muse on Your precepts.
79 May those who [e]fear You turn to me,
And those who know Your testimonies.
80 May my heart be [f](L)blameless in Your statutes,
So that I will not (M)be ashamed.
Kaph
81 My (N)soul fails with longing for Your salvation;
I [g](O)wait for Your word.
82 My (P)eyes fail with longing for Your [h]word,
Saying, “When will You comfort me?”
83 For I (Q)am like a wineskin in the smoke,
But I do (R)not forget Your statutes.
84 How many are the (S)days of Your slave?
When will You (T)execute judgment on those who persecute me?
85 The arrogant have (U)dug pits for me,
Men who are not [i]in accord with Your law.
86 All Your commandments are (V)faithful;
They have (W)persecuted me with lying; (X)help me!
87 They almost made an end of me on the earth,
But as for me, I (Y)did not forsake Your precepts.
88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness,
So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.
Lamedh
89 (Z)Forever, O Yahweh,
Your word stands firm in heaven.
90 Your (AA)faithfulness endures [j]from generation to generation;
You (AB)established the earth, and it (AC)stands.
91 They stand this day according to Your (AD)judgments,
For (AE)all things are Your slaves.
92 If Your law had not been my (AF)delight,
Then I would have perished (AG)in my affliction.
93 I will (AH)never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have [k](AI)revived me.
94 I am Yours, (AJ)save me;
For I have (AK)sought Your precepts.
95 The wicked (AL)hope for me—to destroy me;
I shall perceive Your testimonies.
96 I have seen [l]a limit to all perfection;
Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
18 And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for (A)I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in [a]your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households, 20 and (B)bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, “(C)Surely we are guilty concerning our brother because we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “(D)Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? (E)So also his blood, behold, it is required of us.” 23 Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 And he turned away from them and (F)wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he (G)took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 (H)Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.
26 So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and went from there. 27 Then one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. And he saw his (I)money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts [b]sank, and they turned [c]trembling to one another, saying, “(J)What is this that God has done to us?”
9 I wrote you in my letter (A)not to associate with sexually immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with (B)idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate [a]with any so-called (C)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or greedy, or (D)an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging (E)outsiders? (F)Are you not to judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God will judge. (G)Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
Lawsuits Among Believers
6 Does any one of you, when he has a [b]case against another, dare to be tried before the unrighteous and (H)not before the [c]saints? 2 Or (I)do you not know that (J)the [d]saints will judge (K)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not worthy to [e]constitute the smallest law courts? 3 (L)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? 4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint those who are of no account in the church as judges? 5 (M)I say this to your shame. Is it really this way: there is not one wise man among you who will be able to pass judgment between his (N)brothers? 6 On the contrary, brother is tried with brother, and that before (O)unbelievers!
7 Actually, then, it is already a failure for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. (P)Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your (Q)brothers.
The Parable of the Sower
4 (A)And He began to teach again (B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that (C)He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in (D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no [a]crop. 8 And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a [b]crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “(E)He who has ears to hear, [c]let him hear.”
10 And when He was alone, [d]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to (F)those who are outside, everything comes (G)in parables, 12 so that (H)while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately (J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they [e]fall away. 18 And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of (K)the [f]world, and the (L)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and (M)are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
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