Book of Common Prayer
My Soul Thirsts for You
A Psalm of David, (A)when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
63 O God, you are my God; (B)earnestly I seek you;
(C)my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in (D)a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding (E)your power and glory.
3 Because your (F)steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you (G)as long as I live;
in your (H)name I will (I)lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be (J)satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you (K)upon my bed,
and meditate on you in (L)the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in (M)the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul (N)clings to you;
your right hand (O)upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
(P)shall go down into (Q)the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But (R)the king shall rejoice in God;
all who (S)swear by him shall exult,
(T)for the mouths of (U)liars will be stopped.
Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord
A Psalm.
98 Oh sing to the Lord (A)a new song,
for he has done (B)marvelous things!
His (C)right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has (D)made known his salvation;
he has (E)revealed his righteousness in (F)the sight of the nations.
3 He has (G)remembered his (H)steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All (I)the ends of the earth have seen
(J)the salvation of our God.
Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Of David.
103 (A)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 (B)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and (C)forget not all his benefits,
3 who (D)forgives all your iniquity,
who (E)heals all your diseases,
4 who (F)redeems your life from the pit,
who (G)crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who (H)satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like (I)the eagle's.
6 The Lord works (J)righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his (K)ways to Moses,
his (L)acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is (M)merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 (N)He will not always chide,
nor will he (O)keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us (P)according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For (Q)as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his (R)steadfast love toward (S)those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he (T)remove our transgressions from us.
13 As (U)a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion (V)to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;[a]
he (W)remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like (X)grass;
he flourishes like (Y)a flower of the field;
16 for (Z)the wind passes over it, and (AA)it is gone,
and (AB)its place knows it no more.
17 But (AC)the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on (AD)those who fear him,
and his righteousness to (AE)children's children,
18 to those who (AF)keep his covenant
and (AG)remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has (AH)established his throne in the heavens,
and his (AI)kingdom rules over all.
Remember the Lord Your God
8 “The whole commandment that I command you today (A)you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you (B)these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, (C)testing you (D)to know what was in your heart, (E)whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and (F)let you hunger and (G)fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that (H)man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word[a] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 (I)Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, (J)as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, (K)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, (L)of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and (A)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18 For the word of the cross is (B)folly to (C)those who are perishing, but to us (D)who are being saved it is (E)the power of God. 19 For it is written,
(F)“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 (G)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? (H)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach[a] to save those who believe. 22 For (I)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ (J)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (K)the power of God and (L)the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: (M)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,[b] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But (N)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; (O)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even (P)things that are not, to (Q)bring to nothing things that are, 29 so (R)that no human being[c] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us (S)wisdom from God, (T)righteousness and (U)sanctification and (V)redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, (W)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
A Question About Fasting
18 Now (A)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, (B)“Why do John's disciples and (C)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, (D)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 (E)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and (F)then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old (G)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”[a]
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.