Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89[a]
Prayer for the Fulfillment of God’s Promise
1 A maskil[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
2 [c]I will sing forever of the Lord’s kindness;
with my lips I will proclaim your faithfulness[d]
throughout the generations.
3 You said, “My kindness lasts forever;
my faithfulness is as firmly established as the heavens.
4 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
5 ‘I will establish your descendants forever
and allow your throne to endure for all generations.’ ”[e] Selah
6 [f]Let the heavens[g] praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of your holy ones.
7 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Is there any heavenly being[h] who is like the Lord,
8 a God who is feared in the council of the holy ones,
greater and more awesome than any who stand in his presence?
9 O Lord, God of hosts,[i] who is like you?
Almighty Lord, your faithfulness is never absent.
10 You control the raging sea,
calming its surging waves.
11 You crushed Rahab[j] with a deadly blow;
you scattered your foes with your mighty arm.
12 Yours are the heavens and yours is the earth;
you founded the world[k] and all that is in it.
13 You created the north and the south;[l]
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
14 Mighty is your arm and strong is your hand;
your right hand is forever raised high.
15 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
kindness and faithfulness go before your face.[m]
16 Blessed[n] are the people who know how to acclaim you, O Lord,
who walk in the light of your countenance.
17 In your name they rejoice all day long,
and they exult in your righteousness.
18 [o]You are the strength in which they glory,
and by your kindness our horn[p] is exalted.
19 For the Lord is our shield,
the Holy One of Israel, our King.
20 [q]On one occasion you spoke in a vision[r]
and said to your faithful servants:
“I have appointed as leader one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
21 I have found David, my servant,
and with my holy oil I have anointed him.
22 “My hand will sustain him;
my arm will make him strong.
23 No enemy will overcome him;
no one who is wicked will oppress him.
24 “I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
25 My faithfulness and my kindness will be with him;
through my name his horn will be exalted.
26 “I will stretch his hand as far as the sea
and his right hand as far as the rivers.[s]
27 He will cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation.’
28 [t]“I will designate him as my firstborn,
the highest of all earthly kings.
29 Forever I will maintain my kindness for him,
and my covenant with him will never end.
30 I will establish his dynasty forever
and his throne as long as the heavens.
31 [u]“If his descendants forsake my law
and refuse to conform to my decrees,
32 if they break my statutes
and do not keep my precepts,
33 I will punish their disobedience with the rod
and their iniquity with scourges.
34 “But I will not deprive him of my kindness
or fail to observe my faithfulness.[v]
35 [w]I will not violate my covenant
or alter the promise I have spoken.
36 “By my holiness I have sworn once and for all:
never will I break faith with David.
37 His dynasty will last forever,
and his throne will endure before me like the sun.
38 It will endure forever like the moon,
a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
39 [x]But now you have spurned and rejected him,
you have become filled with wrath against your anointed one.[y]
40 You have repudiated your covenant with your servant
and dishonored his crown in the dust.
41 You have breached all his walls
and turned his strongholds into ruins.
42 Every passer-by has despoiled him;
he has become a laughingstock to his neighbors.
43 [z]You have exalted the right hand of his foes
and caused all his enemies to rejoice.
44 You have driven back his drawn sword
and left him to fight without your support.
45 You have put an end to his glory
and toppled his throne to the ground.
46 You have curtailed the time of his youth[aa]
and enveloped him in shame. Selah
47 [ab]How long, O Lord? Will you remain hidden forever?
How long[ac] will your wrath blaze like a fire?
48 Remember how brief is my span of life
and how weak you have made all mortals.
49 Who can live and never experience death?
Who can save himself from the power of the netherworld? Selah
50 [ad]Where is your kindness of old, O Lord,
which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
51 Remember, O Lord, the insults hurled at your servant;
recall how I have borne in my heart the slanders of all the peoples.
52 Your enemies have leveled insults at us, O Lord;
they have taunted the footsteps of your anointed one.
53 Blessed be the Lord forever.
Amen! Amen![ae]
14 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
about which she said,
“These are the payment
I have received from my lovers.”
I shall allow them to grow wild,
and ferocious beasts will devour them.
15 I will inflict punishment on her
for the festival days of the Baals,
when she burned incense to them,
and adorned herself with her rings and jewels
and ran after her lovers
while she forgot me, says the Lord.
I Intend To Allure Her . . . and Speak Tenderly to Her[a]
16 As a result, now I intend to allure her,
lead her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
17 From there I will restore her vineyards to her
and make the Valley of Achor[b] a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.
18 On that day, says the Lord,
she will call me “My husband,”
and never again call me “My Baal.”
19 I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth;
never again shall their names be invoked.
20 On that day I will make for you
a covenant with the wild animals,
with the birds of the air,
and the things that creep on the ground.
I will destroy bows and swords and warfare
and banish them from the land
so that you may lie down in security.
21 I will betroth you to myself forever;
I will espouse you in righteousness and in justice,
in steadfast love and in mercy.
22 I will take you for my wife in fidelity,
and you will know the Lord.
23 On that day I will respond,
says the Lord.
I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth,
17 Paul’s Farewell Speech at Miletus.[a] From Miletus, he sent a message to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Church. 18 When they came to him, he addressed them as follows:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that befell me as a result of the intrigues of the Jews. 20 I did not hesitate to tell you what was for your benefit as I proclaimed the word to you and taught you publicly as well as from house to house. 21 I have attested to Jews and Gentiles alike about repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that I will face imprisonment and hardships. 24 As for me, I do not regard my life as of any value, only that I finish the race and complete the mission that I received from the Lord Jesus—to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.
25 “I have gone among you proclaiming the kingdom, but now I realize that none of you will ever see my face again. 26 Therefore, I solemnly declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, and be shepherds of the Church of God that he purchased with the price of his own blood.
29 “I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own ranks men will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. 31 Therefore, be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never ceased night and day to warn every one of you with tears.
32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that is able to build you up and give you your inheritance among all who are sanctified. 33 I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You are aware that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. 35 In all this, I have shown you that by such hard work we must help the weak, keeping in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”[b]
36 When he had finished speaking, he knelt down and prayed with them. 37 They were all weeping loudly as they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 for they were deeply distressed at his words that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.
Chapter 5
Jesus Calls the First Disciples.[a] 1 One day, as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with people crowding around him to hear the word of God, 2 he caught sight of two boats at the water’s edge. The fishermen had gotten out of the boats and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard throughout the night and caught nothing; but if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught such a great number of fish that their nets were beginning to tear. 7 Therefore, they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats to the point that they were in danger of sinking.
8 When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell at the knees of Jesus, saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9 For he and all of his companions were amazed at the catch they had made. 10 So too were Simon’s partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
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