Book of Common Prayer
A psalm by David.
24 The earth and everything it contains are the Lord’s.
The world and all who live in it are his.
2 He laid its foundation on the seas
and set it firmly on the rivers.
3 Who may go up the Lord’s mountain?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 ⌞The one who⌟ has clean hands and a pure heart
and does not long for what is false
or lie when he is under oath.
5 ⌞This person⌟ will receive a blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from God, his savior.
6 This is the person who seeks him,
who searches for the face of the God of Jacob.[a] Selah
7 Lift your heads, you gates.
Be lifted, you ancient doors,
so that the king of glory may come in.
8 Who is this king of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty!
The Lord, heroic in battle!
9 Lift your heads, you gates.
Be lifted, you ancient doors,
so that the king of glory may come in.
10 Who, then, is this king of glory?
The Lord of Armies is the king of glory! Selah
A psalm by David.
29 Give to the Lord, you heavenly beings.
Give to the Lord glory and power.
2 Give to the Lord the glory his name deserves.
Worship the Lord in ⌞his⌟ holy splendor.
3 The voice of the Lord rolls over the water.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord shouts over raging water.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.
The Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip along like a calf
and Mount Sirion like a wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the wilderness tremble.
The Lord makes the wilderness of Kadesh tremble.
9 The voice of the Lord splits the oaks
and strips ⌞the trees of⌟ the forests bare.
Everyone in his temple is saying, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sat enthroned over the flood.
The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 The Lord will give power to his people.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
For the choir director; on the gittith; [a] a psalm by David.
8 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
Your glory is sung above the heavens.
2 From the mouths of little children and infants,
you have built a fortress against your opponents
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens,
the creation of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
4 what is a mortal that you remember him
or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
5 You have made him a little lower than yourself.
You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him rule what your hands created.
You have put everything under his control:
7 all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals,
8 the birds, the fish,
whatever swims in the currents of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
For the choir director; on the gittith; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
84 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Lord of Armies!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for the Lord’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Lord of Armies, my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah
5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[a]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[b]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.
8 O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
10 One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
11 The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.
12 O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.
The Lord Speaks: Who Is Able to Challenge Me?
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
18 Have you ⌞even⌟ considered how wide the earth is?
Tell me, if you know all of this!
19 “What is the way to the place where light lives?
Where is the home of darkness
20 so that you may lead it to its territory,
so that you may know the path to its home?
21 You must know because you were born then
and have lived such a long time!
22 Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored
or seen the warehouses for hail
23 that I have stored up for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 Which is the way to the place where light is scattered
and the east wind is spread across the earth?
25 “Who made a channel for the flooding rains
and a path for the thunderstorms
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on a desert where there are no humans,
27 to saturate the desolate wasteland
in order to make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who gave birth to the dewdrops?
29 From whose womb came the ice,
and who has given birth to the frost in the air?
30 The water hardens like a stone,
and the surface of the ocean freezes over.
31 “Can you connect the chains of the ⌞constellation⌟ Pleiades
or untie the ropes of Orion?
32 Can you bring out the constellations at the right time
or guide Ursa Major with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the sky
or make them rule the earth?
34 Can you call to the clouds
and have a flood of water cover you?
35 Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you,
‘Here we are’?
36 Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave understanding to the mind?
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds
or pour out the water jars of heaven
38 when the dirt hardens into clumps
and the soil clings together?
The Lioness
39 “Can you hunt prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of her cubs
40 as they crouch in their dens
and lie ready to ambush from their lairs?
The Crow
41 “Who provides food for the crow
when its young ones cry to God
and wander around in need of food?
Babylon’s Fall
18 After these things I saw another angel come from heaven. He had tremendous power, and his glory lit up the earth. 2 He cried out in a powerful voice, “Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every evil spirit, every unclean [a] bird, and every unclean and hated beast. 3 All the nations fell because of the wine of her sexual sins. The kings of the earth had sex with her. Her luxurious wealth has made the merchants of the earth rich.”
4 I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of Babylon, my people, so that you do not participate in her sins and suffer from any of her plagues. 5 Her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Do to her what she has done. Give her twice as much as she gave. Serve her a drink in her own cup twice as large as the drink she served others. 7 She gave herself glory and luxury. Now give her just as much torture and misery. She says to herself, ‘I’m a queen on a throne, not a widow. I’ll never be miserable.’ 8 For this reason her plagues of death, misery, and starvation will come in a single day. She will be burned up in a fire, because the Lord God, who judges her, is powerful.
Jesus Talks about Anger
21 “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Never murder. Whoever murders will answer for it in court.’ 22 But I can guarantee that whoever is angry with another believer [a] will answer for it in court. Whoever calls another believer an insulting name will answer for it in the highest court. Whoever calls another believer a fool will answer for it in hellfire.
23 “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember there that another believer has something against you, 24 leave your gift at the altar. First go away and make peace with that person. Then come back and offer your gift.
25 “Make peace quickly with your opponent while you are on the way to court with him. Otherwise, he will hand you over to the judge. Then the judge will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. 26 I can guarantee this truth: You will never get out until you pay every penny of your fine.
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