Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89[a]
A well-written song[b] by Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing continually[c] about the Lord’s faithful deeds;
to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness.[d]
2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established;[e]
in the skies you set up your faithfulness.”[f]
3 The Lord said,[g]
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:
4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty[h]
and establish your throne throughout future generations.’”[i] (Selah)
5 O Lord, the heavens[j] praise your amazing deeds,
as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly.[k]
6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings,[l]
7 a God who is honored[m] in the great angelic assembly,[n]
and more awesome than[o] all who surround him?
8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies![p]
Who is strong like you, O Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the proud sea.[q]
When its waves surge,[r] you calm them.
10 You crushed the Proud One[s] and killed it;[t]
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens belong to you, as does the earth.
You made the world and all it contains.[u]
12 You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon[v] rejoice in your name.
13 Your arm is powerful,
your hand strong,
your right hand[w] victorious.[x]
14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne.[y]
Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule.[z]
15 How blessed are the people who worship you![aa]
O Lord, they experience your favor.[ab]
16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and are vindicated[ac] by your justice.
17 For you give them splendor and strength.[ad]
By your favor we are victorious.[ae]
18 For our shield[af] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.[ag]
19 Then you[ah] spoke through a vision to your faithful followers[ai] and said:
“I have placed a young hero[aj] over a warrior;
I have raised up a young man[ak] from the people.
20 I have discovered David, my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him as king.[al]
21 My hand will support him,[am]
and my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will be able to exact tribute[an] from him;[ao]
a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him.[ap]
23 I will crush his enemies before him;
I will strike down those who hate him.
24 He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love,[aq]
and by my name he will win victories.[ar]
25 I will place his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.[as]
26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father,[at] my God, and the protector who delivers me.’[au]
27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son,[av]
the most exalted of the earth’s kings.
28 I will always extend my loyal love to him,
and my covenant with him is secure.[aw]
29 I will give him an eternal dynasty,[ax]
and make his throne as enduring as the skies above.[ay]
30 If his sons reject my law
and disobey my regulations,
31 if they break[az] my rules
and do not keep my commandments,
32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club,[ba]
their sin by inflicting them with bruises.[bb]
33 But I will not remove[bc] my loyal love from him,
nor be unfaithful to my promise.[bd]
34 I will not break[be] my covenant
or go back on what I promised.[bf]
35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive[bg] David.
36 His dynasty will last forever.[bh]
His throne will endure before me, like the sun;[bi]
37 it will remain stable, like the moon.[bj]
His throne will endure like the skies.”[bk] (Selah)
38 But you have spurned[bl] and rejected him;
you are angry with your chosen king.[bm]
39 You have repudiated[bn] your covenant with your servant;[bo]
you have thrown his crown to the ground.[bp]
40 You have broken down all his[bq] walls;
you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.
41 All who pass by[br] have robbed him;
he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors.
42 You have allowed his adversaries to be victorious,[bs]
and all his enemies to rejoice.
43 You turn back[bt] his sword from the adversary,[bu]
and have not sustained him in battle.[bv]
44 You have brought to an end his splendor,[bw]
and have knocked[bx] his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short his youth,[by]
and have covered him with shame. (Selah)
46 How long, O Lord, will this last?
Will you remain hidden forever?[bz]
Will your anger continue to burn like fire?
47 Take note of my brief lifespan.[ca]
Why do you make all people so mortal?[cb]
48 No man can live on without experiencing death,
or deliver his life from the power of Sheol.[cc] (Selah)
49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds,[cd] O Lord,[ce]
the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David?[cf]
50 Take note, O Lord,[cg] of the way your servants are taunted,[ch]
and of how I must bear so many insults from people.[ci]
51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults;
they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps.[cj]
52 [ck] The Lord deserves praise[cl] forevermore!
We agree! We agree![cm]
Future Repentance and Restoration of Israel
14 “However, in the future I will allure her;[a]
I will lead[b] her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the ‘Valley of Trouble’[c] into an ‘Opportunity[d] for Hope.’
There she will sing as she did when she was young,[e]
when[f] she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 At that time,”[g] declares the Lord,
“you will call,[h] ‘My husband’;[i]
you will never again call me,[j] ‘My master.’[k]
17 For[l] I will remove the names of the Baal idols[m] from your lips,[n]
so that you will never again utter their names![o]
New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel
18 “At that time[p] I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,
the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will abolish[q] the warrior’s bow and sword—
that is, every weapon of warfare[r]—from the land,
and I will allow them to live securely.[s]
19 I will commit myself to you[t] forever;
I will commit myself to you in[u] righteousness and justice,
in steadfast love and tender compassion.
20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;
then[v] you will acknowledge[w] the Lord.[x]
Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation
21 “At that time,[y] I will willingly respond,”[z] declares the Lord.
“I will respond to the sky,
and the sky[aa] will respond to the ground;
22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)![ab]
23 Then I will plant her as my own[ac] in the land.
I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).
I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’
And he[ad] will say, ‘You are[ae] my God!’”
17 From Miletus[a] he sent a message[b] to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him.[c]
18 When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived[d] the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot[e] in the province of Asia,[f] 19 serving the Lord with all humility[g] and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots[h] of the Jews. 20 You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming[i] to you anything that would be helpful,[j] and from teaching you publicly[k] and from house to house, 21 testifying[l] to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.[m] 22 And now,[n] compelled[o] by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem[p] without knowing what will happen to me there,[q] 23 except[r] that the Holy Spirit warns[s] me in town after town[t] that[u] imprisonment[v] and persecutions[w] are waiting for me. 24 But I do not consider my life[x] worth anything[y] to myself, so that[z] I may finish my task[aa] and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news[ab] of God’s grace.
25 “And now[ac] I know that none[ad] of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom[ae] will see me[af] again. 26 Therefore I declare[ag] to you today that I am innocent[ah] of the blood of you all.[ai] 27 For I did not hold back from[aj] announcing[ak] to you the whole purpose[al] of God. 28 Watch out for[am] yourselves and for all the flock of which[an] the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,[ao] to shepherd the church of God[ap] that he obtained[aq] with the blood of his own Son.[ar] 29 I know that after I am gone[as] fierce wolves[at] will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Even from among your own group[au] men[av] will arise, teaching perversions of the truth[aw] to draw the disciples away after them. 31 Therefore be alert,[ax] remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning[ay] each one of you with tears. 32 And now I entrust[az] you to God and to the message[ba] of his grace. This message[bb] is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have desired[bc] no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine[bd] provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. 35 By all these things,[be] I have shown you that by working in this way we must help[bf] the weak,[bg] and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”[bh]
36 When[bi] he had said these things, he knelt down[bj] with them all and prayed. 37 They all began to weep loudly,[bk] and hugged[bl] Paul and kissed him,[bm] 38 especially saddened[bn] by what[bo] he had said, that they were not going to see him[bp] again. Then they accompanied[bq] him to the ship.
The Call of the Disciples
5 Now[a] Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[b] and the crowd was pressing around him[c] to hear the word of God. 2 He[d] saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into[e] one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then[f] Jesus[g] sat down[h] and taught the crowds from the boat.[i] 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower[j] your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon[k] answered,[l] “Master,[m] we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word[n] I will lower[o] the nets.” 6 When[p] they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear.[q] 7 So[r] they motioned[s] to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink.[t] 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord,[u] for I am a sinful man!”[v] 9 For[w] Peter[x] and all who were with him were astonished[y] at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners.[z] Then[aa] Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on[ab] you will be catching people!”[ac] 11 So[ad] when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed[ae] him.
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