Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 93

¹ The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

² Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up the roaring of their waves.

⁴ The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea.

⁵ Your testimonies are very sure; holiness [apparent in separation from sin, with simple trust and hearty obedience] is becoming to Your house, O Lord, forever.

Psalm 96

¹ O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!

² Sing to the Lord, bless (affectionately praise) His name; show forth His salvation from day to day.

³ Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be reverently feared and worshiped above all [so-called] gods.^(A)

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are [lifeless] idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

⁶ Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

⁸ Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come [before Him] into His courts.

⁹ O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before and reverently fear Him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the nations that the Lord reigns; the world also is established, so that it cannot be moved; He shall judge and rule the people righteously and with justice.^(B)

¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all the things which fill it;

¹² Let the field be exultant, and all that is in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy

¹³ Before the Lord, for He comes, for He comes to judge and govern the earth! He shall judge the world with righteousness and justice and the peoples with His faithfulness and truth.^(C)

Psalm 34

[A Psalm] of David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him out, and he went away.

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

² My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad.

³ O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

⁴ I sought (inquired of) the Lord and required Him [of necessity and on the authority of His Word], and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.^(A)

⁵ They looked to Him and were radiant; their faces shall never blush for shame or be confused.

⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

^7 [a]The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe] and each of them He delivers.^(B)

⁸ O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.^(C)

⁹ O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear.

¹⁰ The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.

¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you to revere and worshipfully fear the Lord.

¹² What man is he who desires life and longs for many days, that he may see good?

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

¹⁴ Depart from evil and do good; seek, inquire for, and crave peace and pursue (go after) it!

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the [uncompromisingly] righteous and His ears are open to their cry.

¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.^(D)

¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles.

¹⁸ The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent.

¹⁹ Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

²⁰ He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

²¹ Evil shall cause the death of the wicked; and they who hate the just and righteous shall be held guilty and shall be condemned.

²² The Lord redeems the lives of His servants, and none of those who take refuge and trust in Him shall be condemned or held guilty.

²² And the Lord said to Moses,

²³ Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,

²⁴ The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;

²⁵ The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;

²⁶ The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).

²⁷ And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.

13 Now in the church (assembly) at Antioch there were prophets (inspired interpreters of the will and purposes of God) and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger [Black], Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate now for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

³ Then after fasting and praying, they put their hands on them and sent them away.

⁴ So then, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from [that port] they sailed away to Cyprus.

⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they preached the Word of God [concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God] in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John [Mark] as an attendant to assist them.

⁶ When they had passed through the entire island of Cyprus as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain Jewish wizard or sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷ He was closely associated with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent and sensible man of sound understanding; he summoned to him Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God [concerning salvation in the kingdom of God attained through Christ].

⁸ But Elymas ^[a]the wise man—for that is the translation of his name [^[b]which he had given himself]—opposed them, seeking to keep the proconsul from accepting the faith.

⁹ But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit, looked steadily at [Elymas]

¹⁰ And said, You master in every form of deception and recklessness, unscrupulousness, and wickedness, you son of the devil, you enemy of everything that is upright and good, will you never stop perverting and making crooked the straight paths of the Lord and plotting against His saving purposes?^(A)

¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind, [so blind that you will be] unable to see the sun for a time. Instantly there fell upon him a mist and a darkness, and he groped about seeking persons who would lead him by the hand.

¹² Then the proconsul believed (became a Christian) when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished and deeply touched at the teaching concerning the Lord and from Him.

⁴¹ Peter said, Lord, are You telling this parable for us, or for all alike?

⁴² And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward, the wise man whom his master will set over those in his household service to supply them their allowance of food at the appointed time?

⁴³ Blessed (happy and ^[a]to be envied) is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he arrives.

⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will set him in charge over all his possessions.

⁴⁵ But if that servant says in his heart, My master is late in coming, and begins to strike the menservants and the maids and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he does not know, and will punish him and cut him off and assign his lot with ^[b]the unfaithful.

⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act as he would wish him to act shall be beaten with many [lashes].

⁴⁸ But he who did not know and did things worthy of a beating shall be beaten with few [lashes]. For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more.^(A)