Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83
A song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Keep not silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.
2 For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.(A)
3 They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.
5 For they have consulted together with one accord and one heart; against You they make a covenant—
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot [the Ammonites and the Moabites] and have been an arm to them. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 Do to them as [You did to] the Midianites, as to Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,(B)
10 Who perished at Endor, who became like manure for the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, yes, all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna,(C)
12 Who say, Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind!
14 As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek, inquire for, and insistently require Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
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.
Psalm 85
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Lord, You have [at last] been favorable and have dealt graciously with Your land [of Canaan]; You have brought back [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven and taken away the iniquity of Your people, You have covered all their sin. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!
3 You have withdrawn all Your wrath and indignation, You have turned away from the blazing anger [which You had let loose].
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease [forever].
5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger [and disfavor] and spread it out to all generations?
6 Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
7 Show us Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.
8 I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)—but let them not turn again to [self-confident] folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, [and is ready to be appropriated] that [the manifest presence of God, His] glory may tabernacle and abide in our land.
10 Mercy and loving-kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.
Psalm 86
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and distressed, needy and desiring.
2 Preserve my life, for I am godly and dedicated; O my God, save Your servant, for I trust in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, without fear or doubt].
3 Be merciful and gracious to me, O Lord, for to You do I cry all the day.
4 Make me, Your servant, to rejoice, O Lord, for to You do I lift myself up.
5 For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and listen to the cry of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call on You, for You will answer me.
8 There is none like unto You among the gods, O Lord, neither are their works like unto Yours.
9 All nations whom You have made shall come and fall down before You, O Lord; and they shall glorify Your name.
10 For You are great and work wonders! You alone are God.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.(A)
12 I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.
13 For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].
14 O God, the proud and insolent are risen against me; a rabble of violent and ruthless men has sought and demanded my life, and they have not set You before them.
15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness and truth.
16 O turn to me and have mercy and be gracious to me; grant strength (might and inflexibility to temptation) to Your servant and save the son of Your handmaiden.
17 Show me a sign of [Your evident] goodwill and favor, that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because You, Lord, [will show Your approval of me when You] help and comfort me.
12 Now Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because of his [a]Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman.
2 And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
3 Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.
4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting. And the three of them came out.
5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the Tent door and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward.
6 And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream.
7 But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house.(A)
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed.
10 And when the cloud departed from over the Tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron looked at Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous!
11 And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, I plead with you, lay not the sin upon us in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.
12 Let her not be as one dead, already half decomposed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.
13 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech You!
14 And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp for seven days, and after that let her be brought in again.
15 So Miriam was shut up without the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought in again.
16 Afterward [they] removed from Hazeroth and encamped in the Wilderness of Paran.
12 All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law.
13 For it is not merely hearing the Law [read] that makes one righteous before God, but it is the doers of the Law who will be held guiltless and acquitted and justified.
14 When Gentiles who have not the [divine] Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law.
15 They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their [moral] [a]decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving [b]thoughts) will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse [them]
16 On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to [c]the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts).(A)
17 But if you bear the name of Jew and rely upon the Law and pride yourselves in God and your relationship to Him,
18 And know and understand His will and discerningly approve the better things and have a sense of what is vital, because you are instructed by the Law;
19 And if you are confident that you [yourself] are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, and [that
20 You are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
21 Well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you teach against stealing, do you steal (take what does not really belong to you)?
22 You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery [are you unchaste in action or in thought]? You who abhor and loathe idols, do you rob temples [do you appropriate to your own use what is consecrated to God, thus robbing the sanctuary and [d]doing sacrilege]?
23 You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law [by stealthily infringing upon or carelessly neglecting or openly breaking it]?
24 For, as it is written, The name of God is maligned and blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you! [The words to this effect are from your own Scriptures.](B)
10 Beware that you do not despise or feel scornful toward or think little of one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always are in the presence of and look upon the face of My Father Who is in heaven.
11 [a]For the Son of man came to save [[b]from the penalty of eternal death] that which was lost.
12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray and gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost?
13 And if it should be that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.
14 Just so it is not the will of My Father Who is in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost and perish.
15 If your brother wrongs you, go and show him his fault, between you and him privately. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
16 But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that every word may be confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
17 If he pays no attention to them [refusing to listen and obey], tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector.(A)
18 Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be [c]what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be [d]what is already permitted in heaven.
19 Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and [e]everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I Am in the midst of them.(B)
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