Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61[a]
For the music director, to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David.
61 O God, hear my cry for help.
Pay attention to my prayer.
2 From the remotest place on earth[b]
I call out to you in my despair.[c]
Lead me[d] up to a rocky summit where I can be safe.[e]
3 Indeed,[f] you are[g] my shelter,
a strong tower that protects me from the enemy.[h]
4 I will be a permanent guest in your home;[i]
I will find shelter in the protection of your wings.[j] (Selah)
5 For you, O God, hear my vows;
you grant me the reward that belongs to your loyal followers.[k]
6 Give the king long life.
Make his lifetime span several generations.[l]
7 May he reign[m] forever before God.
Decree that your loyal love and faithfulness should protect him.[n]
8 Then I will sing praises to your name continually,[o]
as I fulfill[p] my vows day after day.
Psalm 62[q]
For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
62 For God alone I patiently wait;[r]
he is the one who delivers me.[s]
2 He alone is my protector[t] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[u] I will not be upended.[v]
3 How long will you threaten[w] a man like me?
All of you are murderers,[x]
as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence.[y]
4 They[z] spend all their time planning how to bring their victim[aa] down.[ab]
They love to use deceit;[ac]
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses.[ad] (Selah)
5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul![ae]
For he is the one who gives me hope.[af]
6 He alone is my protector[ag] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[ah] I will not be shaken.
7 God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter.[ai]
8 Trust in him at all times, you people!
Pour out your hearts before him.[aj]
God is our shelter. (Selah)
9 Men are nothing but a mere breath;
human beings are unreliable.[ak]
When they are weighed in the scales,
all of them together are lighter than air.[al]
10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression.[am]
Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery.[an]
If wealth increases, do not become attached to it.[ao]
11 God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard:[ap]
God is strong,[aq]
12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love.[ar]
For you repay men for what they do.[as]
Psalm 68[a]
For the music director, by David, a psalm, a song.
68 God springs into action.[b]
His enemies scatter;
his adversaries[c] run from him.[d]
2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away.[e]
As wax melts before fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
3 But the godly[f] are happy;
they rejoice before God
and are overcome with joy.[g]
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name.
Exalt the one who rides on the clouds.[h]
For the Lord is his name.[i]
Rejoice before him.
5 He is a father to the fatherless
and an advocate for widows.[j]
God rules from his holy dwelling place.[k]
6 God settles in their own homes those who have been deserted;[l]
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity.[m]
But sinful rebels live in the desert.[n]
7 O God, when you lead your people into battle,[o]
when you march through the wastelands,[p] (Selah)
8 the earth shakes.
Yes, the heavens pour down rain
before God, the God of Sinai,[q]
before God, the God of Israel.[r]
9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall[s] on your chosen people.[t]
When they[u] are tired, you sustain them,[v]
10 for you live among them.[w]
You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.
11 The Lord speaks;[x]
many, many women spread the good news.[y]
12 Kings leading armies run away—they run away![z]
The lovely lady[aa] of the house divides up the loot.
13 When[ab] you lie down among the sheepfolds,[ac]
the wings of the dove are covered with silver
and with glittering gold.[ad]
14 When the Sovereign One[ae] scatters kings,[af]
let it snow[ag] on Zalmon.
15 The mountain of Bashan[ah] is a towering mountain;[ai]
the mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks.[aj]
16 Why do you look with envy,[ak] O mountains[al] with many peaks,
at the mountain where God has decided to live?[am]
Indeed[an] the Lord will live there[ao] permanently.
17 God has countless chariots;
they number in the thousands.[ap]
The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor.[aq]
18 You ascend on high;[ar]
you have taken many captives.[as]
You receive tribute[at] from[au] men,
including even sinful rebels.
Indeed, the Lord God lives there.[av]
19 The Lord deserves praise.[aw]
Day after day[ax] he carries our burden,
the God who delivers us. (Selah)
20 Our God is a God who delivers;
the Lord, the Sovereign Lord, can rescue from death.[ay]
21 Indeed, God strikes the heads of his enemies,
the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion.[az]
22 The Lord says,
“I will retrieve them[ba] from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that your feet may stomp[bb] in their blood,
and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.”[bc]
24 They[bd] see your processions, O God—
the processions of my God, my king, who marches along in holy splendor.[be]
25 Singers walk in front;
musicians follow playing their stringed instruments,[bf]
in the midst of young women playing tambourines.[bg]
26 In your large assemblies praise God,
the Lord, in the assemblies of Israel.[bh]
27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler,[bi]
and the princes of Judah in their robes,[bj]
along with the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
28 God has decreed that you will be powerful.[bk]
O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power.
29 Because of your temple in Jerusalem,[bl]
kings bring tribute to you.
30 Sound your battle cry against[bm] the wild beast of the reeds,[bn]
and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls.[bo]
They humble themselves[bp] and offer gold and silver as tribute.[bq]
God[br] scatters[bs] the nations that like to do battle.
31 They come with red cloth[bt] from Egypt.
Ethiopia[bu] voluntarily offers tribute[bv] to God.
32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)
33 to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times.[bw]
Look! He thunders loudly.[bx]
34 Acknowledge God’s power,[by]
his sovereignty over Israel,
and the power he reveals in the skies.[bz]
35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple.[ca]
It is the God of Israel[cb] who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise![cc]
Confrontation and Repentance at Bokim
2 The angel of the Lord[a] went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.[b] I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.’[c] But you have disobeyed me.[d] Why would you do such a thing?[e] 3 At that time I also warned you,[f] ‘If you disobey,[g] I will not drive out the Canaanites[h] before you. They will ensnare you[i] and their gods will lure you away.’”[j]
4 When the angel of the Lord finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.[k] 5 They named that place Bokim[l] and offered sacrifices to the Lord there.
A Monotonous Cycle
11 The Israelites did evil before[a] the Lord by worshiping[b] the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors[c] who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods—the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped[d] them and made the Lord angry. 13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.[e]
14 The Lord was furious with Israel[f] and handed them over to robbers who plundered them.[g] He turned them over to[h] their enemies who lived around them. They could no longer withstand their enemies’ attacks.[i] 15 Whenever they went out to fight,[j] the Lord did them harm,[k] just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do.[l] They suffered greatly.[m]
16 The Lord raised up leaders[n] who delivered them from these robbers.[o] 17 But they did not obey[p] their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped[q] them. They quickly turned aside from the path[r] their ancestors[s] had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not.[t] 18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people[u] from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them[v] when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.[w] 19 When a leader died, the next generation[x] would again[y] act more wickedly than the previous one.[z] They would follow after other gods, worshiping them[aa] and bowing down to them. They did not give up[ab] their practices or their stubborn ways.
A Divine Decision
20 The Lord was furious with Israel.[ac] He said, “This nation[ad] has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors[ae] by disobeying me.[af] 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, 22 in order to test Israel.[ag] [ah] I want to see[ai] whether or not the people[aj] will carefully walk in the path[ak] marked out by[al] the Lord, as their ancestors[am] were careful to do.” 23 This is why[an] the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately;[ao] he did not hand them over to Joshua.
17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters,[a] to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them! 18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds[b] of the naive. 19 Your obedience is known to all and thus I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my compatriots.[c] 22 I, Tertius, who am writing this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus the city treasurer and our brother Quartus greet you.[d]
25 [e] Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages, 26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever! Amen.
The Crucifixion
32 As[a] they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced[b] to carry his cross.[c] 33 They[d] came to a place called Golgotha[e] (which means “Place of the Skull”)[f] 34 and offered Jesus[g] wine mixed with gall to drink.[h] But after tasting it, he would not drink it. 35 When[i] they had crucified[j] him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice.[k] 36 Then they sat down and kept guard over him there. 37 Above[l] his head they put the charge against him,[m] which read:[n] “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” 38 Then two outlaws were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those[o] who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself![p] If you are God’s Son, come down[q] from the cross!” 41 In[r] the same way even the chief priests—together with the experts in the law[s] and elders[t]—were mocking him:[u] 42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down[v] now from the cross, we will believe in him! 43 He trusts in God—let God, if he wants to, deliver him now[w] because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” 44 The[x] robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.[y]
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