Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [b]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [c]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[d]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[e] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[f]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[g]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[h]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[i]
10 “For forty years[j] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[k]
Psalm 88[a]
Prayer in Affliction
1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[b] For the director. According to Mahalath. For singing. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 [c]O Lord, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out to you.
3 Let my prayer come before you;
give ear to my cry for help.
4 [d]For my soul[e] is filled with misery,
and my life draws near to the netherworld.
5 I am numbered among those who go down to the pit;[f]
all strength has failed me.
6 I have been abandoned among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no longer
and whom your hand has abandoned.[g]
7 [h]You have lowered me into the depths of the pit,
into the darkest regions of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves engulf me. Selah
9 You have caused my closest friends to shun me
and made me hateful in their sight.
I am shut in with no means of escape,[i]
10 and my eyes grow dim[j] with my suffering.
[k]Every day I call out to you, O Lord,
and spread out my hands to you.
11 Do you perform wonders[l] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[m] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[n]
14 [o]But for my part, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer rises before you.
15 Why do you cast me away, O Lord?[p]
Why do you hide your face from me?
16 Since infancy I have been wretched and close to death;
I have borne your terrors
and have now reached the point of exhaustion.
17 Your wrath has weighed down upon me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
18 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they encircle me completely.
19 You have caused my friends and neighbors to shun me;
my sole companion now is darkness.[q]
Psalm 91[a]
Security under God’s Protection
1 You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,[b]
who rest in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I place my trust.”
3 He will rescue you from the snare of the fowler[c]
and from virulent pestilence.
4 With his feathers he will shelter you,[d]
and you will take refuge under his wings;
his faithfulness serves as a protective shield.
5 You will not fear the terror by night[e]
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the plague[f] that lays waste at midday.
7 Even though a thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
such evils will not afflict you.
8 Rather, your own eyes will behold[g]
the punishment inflicted on the wicked.
9 You have made the Lord your refuge
and chosen the Most High to be your dwelling.
10 Therefore, no evil will threaten you,
no calamity will come near your dwelling.
11 [h]For he will command his angels[i] about you—
to guard you wherever you go.
12 They will lift you up with their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.[j]
13 You will tread upon the asp and the viper;
you will trample the lion and the dragon.[k]
14 [l]“Because he loves me, I will deliver him,
I will raise high[m] the one who acknowledges my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer,
and I will be with him in time of distress;
I will rescue him and cause him to be honored.[n]
16 I will reward him with a long life
and show him my salvation.”[o]
Psalm 92[p]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[q]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[r] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[s] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [t]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [u]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[v] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[w]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[x]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [y]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [z]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[aa]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
Chapter 47
1 Joseph went to inform Pharaoh, saying to him, “My father and my brothers with their flocks and herds and with all their possessions have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 He selected five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What work do you do?”
They answered Pharaoh, “We shepherd the flocks of your servants, just as our fathers did.” 4 They went on to tell Pharaoh, “We came to sojourn in this land because there were no more pastures for the flocks of your servants. The famine is terrible in the land of Canaan. Please allow your servants to dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is at your disposition. Have your father and your brothers settle in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any of them as able men, place them in charge of my cattle.”
7 Joseph then introduced Jacob, his father, and presented him to Pharaoh. After Jacob had blessed Pharaoh, 8 Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
9 Jacob answered Pharaoh, “One hundred and thirty are the years of my sojourning. Few and sad are the years of my life, and I have not reached the number of years that my fathers lived in their life journey.” 10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and withdrew from his presence.
11 Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the territory of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Joseph provided for his father, his brothers, and all the family of his father, as much bread as was needed for each person.
13 Joseph’s Administration.[a] Now there was no bread in the whole land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money there was in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain that they were buying. Joseph sent this money to Pharaoh. 15 When the money of the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread! Why should we die while you are watching? We do not have any more money.”
16 Joseph answered, “If you do not have any more money, give me your animals and I will give you bread in exchange for the animals.” 17 They therefore brought their animals to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses and sheep, their oxen and their donkeys. That year he fed them with bread in exchange for their animals.
18 That year having ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone and our animals now belong to my lord. We have nothing for my lord except our own bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die with you looking on, we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for bread, and we will become servants to Pharaoh, we and our land. But give us something to plant so that we live and not die and the land not become a desert.”
20 Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, because the Egyptians sold their fields on account of the famine that weighed upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s property. 21 As to the people, he moved them into the cities from one end to the other of the borders of Egypt. 22 Only the property which belonged to the priests was not bought, for the priests had a fixed allotment given to them by Pharaoh, and they ate the allotment that Pharaoh had given them. This is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “See, today I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed, sow the land. 24 But when you harvest it, you will give a fifth of it to Pharaoh and four-fifths will be for you to sow the fields and feed yourselves and those who are in your household and to feed your children.”
25 They answered, “You have saved our lives! Let us only find favor before my lord and we will be servants of Pharaoh.”
26 Joseph made a law that is still in force up until this day for the land of Egypt, that a one-fifth portion must be given to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests does not belong to Pharaoh.
16 If I proclaim the gospel, that is no reason for me to boast, for the obligation to do so has been given to me, and woe to me if I fail to fulfill it.
17 If I proclaimed the gospel of my own volition, I would deserve a reward; but if I do not do so voluntarily, I am simply discharging the commission that has been given to me. 18 What then is my reward? It is simply that in my preaching I may offer the gospel free of charge and not make use of the rights that the gospel affords me.
19 Although I am free and belong to no man, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. 20 To the Jews, I became like a Jew in order to win the Jews. To those under the Law, I became like one under the Law—although I myself am not under the Law—in order to win over those under the Law. 21 To those outside the Law, I became like one outside the Law—although I am not outside the Law of God but am subject to the Law of Christ—in order to win over those outside the Law. 22 To the weak, I have become weak in order to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, so that by every possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel so that I might share it with you.
Flee from Idolatry[a]
24 Discipline Yourself So As Not To Be Disqualified. You are well aware that while all the runners in the stadium compete in the race, only one wins the prize. Run in such a way as to win the prize. 25 Everyone who seeks a prize submits himself to rigorous self-discipline in every respect. They do so to win a perishable crown, while we seek an imperishable one. 26 Therefore, I do not run without purpose, nor do I fight like a man beating the air. 27 Rather, I discipline my body and bring it under control, for fear that after preaching to others I myself may be disqualified.
47 When evening came, the boat was far out on the water while he was alone on the shore. 48 He could see that the disciples were having difficulty in rowing the boat in the face of a headwind. Around the fourth watch of the night he came toward them, walking on the water. He was going to pass by them, 49 but when the disciples saw him walking on the water they thought it was a ghost and they cried out, 50 for they all had seen him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Have courage! It is I![a] Do not be afraid!” 51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were utterly astounded, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves. Their minds were closed.
53 Jesus Heals the Sick at Gennesaret.[b] After they had completed the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they disembarked, the people recognized Jesus immediately. 55 They rushed throughout the entire countryside, and began to bring the sick to him on pallets wherever they heard he was. 56 Everywhere he went, whether to village or town or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were completely healed.
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