Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18[a]
A King’s Thanksgiving for Victory
1 For the leader. Of David, the servant of the Lord, who sang to the Lord the words of this song after the Lord had rescued him from the clutches of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:(A)
I
I love you, Lord, my strength,
3 Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer,
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, my saving horn,[b] my stronghold!(B)
4 Praised be the Lord, I exclaim!
I have been delivered from my enemies.
II
5 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.
6 The cords[c] of Sheol encircled me;
the snares of death lay in wait for me.(C)
7 In my distress I called out: Lord!
I cried out to my God.(D)
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry to him reached his ears.
8 [d]The earth rocked and shook;
the foundations of the mountains trembled;
they shook as his wrath flared up.(E)
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils,
a devouring fire from his mouth;
it kindled coals into flame.
10 He parted the heavens and came down,
a dark cloud under his feet.(F)
11 Mounted on a cherub[e] he flew,
borne along on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his cloak around him;
his canopy, water-darkened stormclouds.
13 From the gleam before him, his clouds passed,
hail and coals of fire.(G)
14 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High made his voice resound.(H)
15 He let fly his arrows[f] and scattered them;
shot his lightning bolts and dispersed them.(I)
16 Then the bed of the sea appeared;
the world’s foundations lay bare,(J)
At your rebuke, O Lord,
at the storming breath of your nostrils.
17 He reached down from on high and seized me;
drew me out of the deep waters.(K)
18 He rescued me from my mighty enemy,
from foes too powerful for me.
19 They attacked me on my day of distress,
but the Lord was my support.
20 He set me free in the open;
he rescued me because he loves me.
III
21 The Lord acknowledged my righteousness,
rewarded my clean hands.(L)
22 For I kept the ways of the Lord;
I was not disloyal to my God.
23 For his laws were all before me,
his decrees I did not cast aside.
24 I was honest toward him;
I was on guard against sin.
25 So the Lord rewarded my righteousness,
the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
26 Toward the faithful you are faithful;
to the honest man you are honest;(M)
27 Toward the pure, you are pure;
but to the perverse you are devious.
28 For humble people you save;
haughty eyes you bring low.(N)
29 For you, Lord, give light to my lamp;
my God brightens my darkness.(O)
30 With you I can rush an armed band,
with my God to help I can leap a wall.
31 God’s way is unerring;
the Lord’s promise is refined;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.(P)
IV
32 Truly, who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is the rock?(Q)
33 This God who girded me with might,
kept my way unerring,
34 Who made my feet like a deer’s,
and set me on the heights,(R)
35 Who trained my hands for war,
my arms to string a bow of bronze.[g](S)
V
36 You have given me your saving shield;
your right hand has upheld me;
your favor made me great.
37 You made room for my steps beneath me;
my ankles never twisted.(T)
38 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till I destroyed them.
39 I decimated them; they could not rise;
they fell at my feet.
40 You girded me with valor for war,
subjugated my opponents beneath me.
41 You made my foes expose their necks to me;
those who hated me I silenced.
42 They cried for help, but no one saved them;
cried to the Lord but received no answer.
43 I ground them to dust before the wind;
I left them like mud in the streets.
44 You rescued me from the strife of peoples;
you made me head over nations.
A people I had not known served me;
45 as soon as they heard of me they obeyed.
Foreigners submitted before me;
46 foreigners cringed;
they came cowering from their dungeons.(U)
VI
47 The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock!(V)
Exalted be God, my savior!
48 O God who granted me vengeance,
made peoples subject to me,(W)
49 and saved me from my enemies,
Truly you have elevated me above my opponents,
from a man of lawlessness you have rescued me.
50 Thus I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.(X)
51 You have given great victories to your king,
and shown mercy to his anointed,
to David and his posterity forever.(Y)
18 (A)At that time I charged you: The Lord, your God, has given you this land as your possession. But all your troops equipped for battle must cross over in the vanguard of your fellow Israelites. 19 But your wives and children, as well as your livestock, of which I know you have a large number, shall remain behind in the towns I have given you, 20 until the Lord has settled your relatives as well, and they too possess the land which the Lord, your God, will give them on the other side of the Jordan. Then you may all return to the possessions I have given you.
21 And I charged Joshua as well, “Your own eyes have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to both these kings; so, too, will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you will cross over. 22 Do not fear them, for it is the Lord, your God, who will fight for you.”(B)
Moses Excluded from the Promised Land. 23 (C)It was then that I entreated the Lord, 24 “Lord God, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. What god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and powerful acts like yours? 25 Ah, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that fine hill country, and the Lebanon!” 26 But the Lord was angry with me on your account[a] and would not hear me.(D) The Lord said to me, Enough! Speak to me no more of this. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look out to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross this Jordan.(E) 28 Commission Joshua,(F) and encourage and strengthen him, for it is he who will cross at the head of this people and he who will give them possession of the land you are to see.
19 [a]You will say to me then, “Why [then] does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?”(A) 20 But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(B) Will what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?” 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one? 22 What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction?(C) 23 This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory, 24 namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.
Witness of the Prophets. 25 As indeed he says in Hosea:
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved[b] I will call ‘beloved.’(D)
26 And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they shall be called children of the living God.”(E)
27 (F)And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved; 28 for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted:
“Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom
and have been made like Gomorrah.”(G)
Righteousness Based on Faith.[c] 30 What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith;(H) 31 but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law?(I) 32 Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works.(J) They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling,[d] 33 as it is written:
“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion
that will make people stumble
and a rock that will make them fall,
and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame.”(K)
Chapter 24
The Destruction of the Temple Foretold. 1 [a](A)Jesus left the temple area and was going away, when his disciples approached him to point out the temple buildings. 2 [b]He said to them in reply, “You see all these things, do you not? Amen, I say to you, there will not be left here a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
The Beginning of Calamities. 3 As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives,[c] the disciples approached him privately and said, “Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be of your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 [d]Jesus said to them in reply, “See that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. 6 (B)You will hear of wars[e] and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. 7 (C)Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. 8 [f]All these are the beginning of the labor pains. 9 [g](D)Then they will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 And then many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; 12 and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. 13 (E)But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 14 (F)And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations,[h] and then the end will come.
The Great Tribulation.[i]
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