Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89[a]
A Lament over God’s Promise to David
1 A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
A
I
2 I will sing of your mercy forever, Lord(A)
proclaim your faithfulness through all ages.
3 [b]For I said, “My mercy is established forever;
my faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.
4 I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
5 I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”(B)
Selah
II
6 The heavens praise your marvels, Lord,
your loyalty in the assembly of the holy ones.(C)
7 Who in the skies ranks with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of the gods?[c](D)
8 A God dreaded in the council of the holy ones,
greater and more awesome than all those around him!
9 Lord, God of hosts, who is like you?
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you.
10 You rule the raging sea;(E)
you still its swelling waves.
11 You crush Rahab[d] with a mortal blow;
with your strong arm you scatter your foes.
12 Yours are the heavens, yours the earth;
you founded the world and everything in it.(F)
13 [e]Zaphon and Amanus you created;
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
14 You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong; your right hand is ever exalted.
15 Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne;
mercy and faithfulness march before you.(G)
16 Blessed the people who know the war cry,
who walk in the radiance of your face, Lord.
17 In your name they sing joyfully all the day;
they rejoice in your righteousness.(H)
18 You are their majestic strength;
by your favor our horn[f] is exalted.(I)
19 Truly the Lord is our shield,
the Holy One of Israel, our king!(J)
III
20 Then you spoke in vision;(K)
to your faithful ones you said:
“I have set a leader over the warriors;
I have raised up a chosen one from the people.
21 I have chosen David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him.
22 My hand will be with him;(L)
my arm will make him strong.
23 No enemy shall outwit him,
nor shall the wicked defeat him.
24 I will crush his foes before him,
strike down those who hate him.
25 My faithfulness and mercy will be with him;
through my name his horn will be exalted.
26 [g]I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.
27 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,(M)
my God, the Rock of my salvation!’
28 I myself make him the firstborn,
Most High[h] over the kings of the earth.
29 Forever I will maintain my mercy for him;(N)
my covenant with him stands firm.
30 I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.
31 If his descendants forsake my teaching,(O)
do not follow my decrees,
32 If they fail to observe my statutes,
do not keep my commandments,
33 I will punish their crime with a rod
and their guilt with blows.
34 But I will not take my mercy from him,
nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness.(P)
35 I will not violate my covenant;
the promise of my lips I will not alter.(Q)
36 By my holiness I swore once for all:(R)
I will never be false to David.
37 [i]His dynasty will continue forever,(S)
his throne, like the sun before me.
38 Like the moon it will stand eternal,
forever firm like the sky!”
Selah
B
IV
39 But now you have rejected and spurned,(T)
been enraged at your anointed.
40 You renounced the covenant with your servant,
defiled his crown in the dust.
41 You broke down all city walls,(U)
left his strongholds in ruins.
42 All who pass through seize plunder;
his neighbors deride him.
43 You have exalted the right hand of his foes,
have gladdened all his enemies.(V)
44 You turned back his sharp sword,
did not support him in battle.
45 You brought to an end his splendor,
hurled his throne to the ground.
46 You cut short the days of his youth,
covered him with shame.
Selah
V
47 How long, Lord? Will you hide forever?
Must your wrath smolder like fire?(W)
48 Remember how brief life is,
how frail the sons of man you have created!(X)
49 What is man, that he should live and not see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?(Y)
Selah
VI
50 Where are your former mercies, Lord,
that you swore to David in your faithfulness?
51 Remember, Lord, the insults to your servants,
how I have borne in my bosom the slander of the nations.(Z)
52 Your enemies, Lord, insult;
they insult each step of your anointed.
53 [j]Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and amen!(AA)
Chapter 49
Jacob’s Testament.[a] 1 Jacob called his sons and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what is to happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel, your father.
3 “You, Reuben, my firstborn,
my strength and the first fruit of my vigor,
excelling in rank and excelling in power!
4 Turbulent as water, you shall no longer excel,
for you climbed into your father’s bed
and defiled my couch to my sorrow.(A)
5 [b]“Simeon and Levi, brothers indeed,
weapons of violence are their knives.[c]
6 Let not my person enter their council,
or my honor be joined with their company;
For in their fury they killed men,
at their whim they maimed oxen.(B)
7 Cursed be their fury so fierce,
and their rage so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob,
disperse them throughout Israel.
8 “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise
—your hand on the neck of your enemies;
the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub,
you have grown up on prey, my son.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
like a lioness—who would dare rouse him?(C)
10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah,
or the mace from between his feet,
Until tribute comes to him,[d]
and he receives the people’s obedience.
11 He tethers his donkey to the vine,
his donkey’s foal to the choicest stem.
In wine he washes his garments,
his robe in the blood of grapes.[e]
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore;
he will be a haven for ships,
and his flank shall rest on Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a rawboned donkey,
crouching between the saddlebags.
15 When he saw how good a settled life was,
and how pleasant the land,
He bent his shoulder to the burden
and became a toiling serf.
16 “Dan shall achieve justice[f] for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Let Dan be a serpent by the roadside,
a horned viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heel,
so that the rider tumbles backward.
18 “I long for your deliverance, O Lord![g]
19 “Gad shall be raided by raiders,
but he shall raid at their heels.[h]
20 “Asher’s produce is rich,
and he shall furnish delicacies for kings.
21 “Naphtali is a hind let loose,
which brings forth lovely fawns.
22 “Joseph is a wild colt,
a wild colt by a spring,
wild colts on a hillside.
23 Harrying him and shooting,
the archers opposed him;
24 But his bow remained taut,
and his arms were nimble,
By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 The God of your father, who helps you,[i]
God Almighty, who blesses you,
With the blessings of the heavens above,
the blessings of the abyss that crouches below,
The blessings of breasts and womb,
26 the blessings of fresh grain and blossoms,
the blessings of the everlasting mountains,
the delights of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
mornings he devours the prey,
and evenings he distributes the spoils.”
Farewell and Death. 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said about them, as he blessed them. To each he gave a suitable blessing.
14 Therefore, my beloved, avoid idolatry.(A) 15 I am speaking as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?(B) 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.(C)
18 Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?(D) 19 So what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I mean that what they sacrifice, [they sacrifice] to demons,[a] not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons.(E) 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.(F) 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger? Are we stronger than he?(G)
Seek the Good of Others.[b] 23 “Everything is lawful,” but not everything is beneficial.[c] “Everything is lawful,” but not everything builds up.(H) 24 No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor.(I) 25 [d]Eat anything sold in the market, without raising questions on grounds of conscience, 26 for “the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.”(J) 27 If an unbeliever invites you and you want to go, eat whatever is placed before you, without raising questions on grounds of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This was offered in sacrifice,” do not eat it on account of the one who called attention to it and on account of conscience; 29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other’s. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake thankfully, why am I reviled for that over which I give thanks?(K)
31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 [e]Avoid giving offense, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.(L)
Chapter 11
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.(M)
The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith. 24 (A)From that place he went off to the district of Tyre.[a] He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. 25 Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.(B) 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.[b] For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 28 She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
The Healing of a Deaf Man. 31 (C)Again he left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. 32 And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; 34 then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) 35 And [immediately] the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. 36 [c]He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. 37 They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and [the] mute speak.”(D)
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