Book of Common Prayer
מ Mem
97 How I love your instruction!(A)
It is my meditation all day long.(B)
98 Your command makes me wiser than my enemies,(C)
for it is always with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers
because your decrees are my meditation.(D)
100 I understand more than the elders(E)
because I obey your precepts.(F)
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path(G)
to follow your word.
102 I have not turned from your judgments,(H)
for you yourself have instructed me.
103 How sweet your word is(I) to my taste—
sweeter than honey in my mouth.
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;(J)
therefore I hate every false way.(K)
נ Nun
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet(L)
and a light on my path.
106 I have solemnly sworn(M)
to keep your righteous judgments.
107 I am severely afflicted;
Lord, give me life according to your word.(N)
108 Lord, please accept my freewill offerings of praise,(O)
and teach me your judgments.(P)
109 My life is constantly in danger,[a]
yet I do not forget your instruction.(Q)
110 The wicked have set a trap for me,(R)
but I have not wandered from your precepts.(S)
111 I have your decrees as a heritage forever;
indeed, they are the joy of my heart.(T)
112 I am resolved to obey your statutes
to the very end.[b](U)
ס Samek
113 I hate those who are double-minded,(V)
but I love your instruction.(W)
114 You are my shelter and my shield;(X)
I put my hope in your word.(Y)
115 Depart from me,(Z) you evil ones,
so that I may obey my God’s commands.(AA)
116 Sustain me as you promised,(AB) and I will live;
do not let me be ashamed of my hope.(AC)
117 Sustain me so that I can be safe(AD)
and always be concerned about your statutes.(AE)
118 You reject all who stray from your statutes,(AF)
for their deceit is a lie.
119 You remove all the wicked on earth
as if they were[c] dross from metal;(AG)
therefore, I love your decrees.(AH)
120 I tremble[d] in awe of you;(AI)
I fear your judgments.
Psalm 81
A Call to Obedience
For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.(A)
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.(B)
2 Lift up a song—play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp.(C)
3 Blow the ram’s horn on the day of our feasts[a]
during the new moon(D)
and during the full moon.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.(E)
5 He set it up as a decree for Joseph
when he went throughout[b] the land of Egypt.(F)
I heard an unfamiliar language:
6 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.(G)
7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud.(H)
I tested you at the Waters of Meribah.(I)Selah
8 Listen, my people, and I will admonish you.
Israel, if you would only listen to me!(J)
9 There must not be a strange god among you;
you must not bow down to a foreign god.(K)
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.(L)
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(M)
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel did not obey me.(N)
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.(O)
13 If only my people would listen to me
and Israel would follow my ways,(P)
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.”(Q)
15 Those who hate the Lord
would cower to him;(R)
their doom would last forever.(S)
16 But he would feed Israel[c] with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”(T)
Psalm 82
A Plea for Righteous Judgment
A psalm of Asaph.(U)
1 God stands in the divine assembly;
he pronounces judgment among the gods:[d](V)
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?(W)Selah
3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.(X)
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”(Y)
5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.(Z)
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.(AA)
6 I said, “You are gods;(AB)
you are all sons of the Most High.(AC)
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”(AD)
8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.(AE)
24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him.(A) He took some of the Spirit who was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,(B) but they never did it again. 26 Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth,[a] responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29 But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account?(C) If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.
Quail in the Camp
31 A wind sent by the Lord(D) came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet[b] off[c] the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction.(E) 32 The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels[d]—and they spread them out all around the camp.[e](F)
33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned(G) against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.(H) 34 So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah,[f] because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth[g](I) and remained there.
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness,[a] evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,(A) 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful,(B) inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,(C) 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving,[b](D) and unmerciful. 32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die[c](E)—they not only do them, but even applaud[d](F) others who practice them.
God’s Righteous Judgment
2 Therefore, every one of you[e](G) who judges is without excuse.(H) For when you judge another,(I) you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. 3 Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness,(J) restraint,(K) and patience,(L) not recognizing[f] that God’s kindness(M) is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath(N) for yourself in the day of wrath,(O) when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works:[g](P) 7 eternal life(Q) to those who by persistence in doing good(R) seek glory, honor,(S) and immortality;(T) 8 but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking(U) and disobey the truth(V) while obeying unrighteousness. 9 There will be affliction and distress(W) for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;(X) 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no favoritism with God.(Y)
Who Is the Greatest?
18 At that time[a](A) the disciples(B) came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (C) 2 He called a small child and had him stand among them. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like little children,(D) you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.(E) 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes[b] one child like this in my name welcomes me.
6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.(F) 7 Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.(G) 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.(H) 9 And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire.[c](I)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.