Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 72[a]
The Kingdom of the Messiah
1 Of Solomon.
O God, endow the king with your judgment,
the son of kings with your righteousness.
2 [b]He will govern your people fairly
and deal justly with your poor ones.
3 The mountains will yield peace for the people,
and the hills, righteousness.
4 He will defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor,
and overwhelm the oppressor.
5 He will reign as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 He will descend like rain on the meadow,
like showers that water the earth.
7 Justice will reign in his days,
and peace will abound
until the moon is no more.
8 His rule will extend from sea to sea,[c]
and from the river to the ends of the earth.
9 His foes[d] will bow down before him,
and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish[e] and the Islands
will offer him tribute;
the kings of Sheba and Seba
will present him with gifts.
11 All kings will pay him homage,
and all nations will serve him.
12 For he will save the poor who cry out
and the needy who have no one to help them.
13 He will have pity on the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the needy he will save.
14 He will free them from oppression and violence,
for their blood is precious in his sight.
15 [f]Long may he live!
May the gold of Sheba be given to him.
May people pray for him unceasingly
and invoke blessings[g] on him all day long.
16 May grain abound throughout the land,
even growing abundantly on the mountain tops.
May its crops[h] be as plenteous as those of Lebanon,
and may its people flourish like the grass of the field.
17 May his name[i] be blessed forever;
may it endure as long as the sun.
May all peoples be blessed in him;
may all the nations proclaim his greatness.
18 [j]Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone can perform such wondrous deeds.
19 May his glorious name be blessed forever,
and may the whole world be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.
20 The end of the psalms of David, son of Jesse.[k]
73 [a]Your hands have created and formed me;[b]
grant me understanding so that I may learn your precepts.
74 Those who fear you will rejoice when they see me
because I place my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your judgments are righteous
and in your fidelity you have humbled me.
76 May your kindness[c] bring consolation to me
as you have promised your servant.
77 Grant me your compassion so that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
78 May the arrogant[d] who oppress me without cause be put to shame;
I will meditate on your commands.
79 May those turn to me who fear you,
those who understand your statutes.
80 May my heart[e] be without blame toward your decrees
so that I may not be put to shame.
Kaph
81 [f]My soul[g] pines for your salvation without ceasing;
I place my hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail,[h] looking for your word,
and I cry out, “When will you comfort me?”
83 I am shriveled like a smoke-filled wineskin,[i]
but I do not forget your decrees.
84 How long must your servant wait?[j]
When will you pass judgment on my persecutors?
85 The arrogant[k] dig pits to entrap me,
which is not in keeping with your law.
86 All of your precepts are true;
come to my aid, for I am persecuted unjustly.
87 My enemies almost took away my life,
but I have not forsaken your commands.
88 In your kindness[l] spare my life,
and I will obey the statutes of your mouth.
Lamedh
89 [m]Your word, O Lord, is everlasting;
it is firmly fixed in the heavens.[n]
90 Your faithfulness lasts through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.
91 By your judgments all creatures continue to exist,
for they are all your servants.
92 [o]If your law had not been my delight,
I would have already perished in my misery.
93 Never will I forget your commands,
for through them you have given me life.
94 I am yours; save me,
for I seek your commandments.
95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
but I continue to ponder your decrees.
96 I have seen that every perfection is limited,
but your precept is unlimited.[p]
Mem
Judah and Israel. 6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me: Have you seen what that faithless Israel has done, how she went to the top of every high hill and under every green tree and there played the harlot? 7 But I truly believed that after she had done all this, she would return to me. However, she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. 8 She also saw that I had sent that faithless Israel away with a decree of divorce because of all of her acts of adultery.
However that faithless sister Judah was not frightened; she too went off and played the harlot. 9 In her eagerness to sin, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stones and pieces of wood. 10 Despite all this, her faithless sister Judah did not return to me with sincerity of heart but only as a show of pretense, says the Lord.
11 Promises of Restoration. Then the Lord said to me: Compared with the traitorous Judah, faithless Israel has proved to be less guilty. 12 Go forth and proclaim these words toward the north, saying:
Return, rebel Israel, says the Lord.
I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am merciful, says the Lord;
my wrath will not continue forever.
13 Simply acknowledge your guilt
and your rebellion against the Lord, your God,
how you prostituted yourself with strangers
under every green tree
and refused to listen to my voice,
says the Lord.
14 [a]Return, rebellious children, says the Lord, for I am your Master. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 Over you I will appoint shepherds after my own heart, and they will direct you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and grown numerous in the land, says the Lord, they will no longer say in those days, “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.” They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or realize that it is gone, or make another.
17 When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they stubbornly follow their own evil inclinations. 18 In those days the house of Judah will unite with the house of Israel, and together they will come from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as a heritage.
28 Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior. 29 As a result, they are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice. Reveling in envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful, as they devise new ways of doing evil and rebel against their parents. 31 They are senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. 32 Although they are fully cognizant of God’s decree that those who behave in this way deserve to die, they not only do these things themselves but also praise all those who engage in such conduct.
Chapter 2
Judging Is Inexcusable. 1 Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you may be, when you pass judgment on others. For in judging others you condemn yourself, since you are doing the same things. 2 We are all aware that God’s judgment on those who commit such deeds is just. 3 How can you then suppose that you will escape the judgment of God for doing such things when you are condemning those who perform the same things?
4 How can you despise the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience? How can you fail to realize that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 By your obstinate refusal to repent you are storing up retribution for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 For God will repay everyone in accordance with what his deeds deserve.[a] 7 To those who seek after glory and honor and immortality by persevering in good works, he will grant eternal life. 8 But for those who are slaves to selfish ambition and follow the path of wickedness and not of truth, wrath and fury will be their lot.
9 There will be affliction and distress for everyone who does evil—Jews first and then Gentiles. 10 However, glory, honor, and peace await everyone who does good—Jews first, and then Gentiles. 11 For God shows no partiality.[b]
Jesus Restores the Work of God[a]
Chapter 5
The Sign Given on a Sabbath.[b] 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. 2 Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool that in Hebrew is called Bethesda.[c] It has five porticos, 3 and in these a large number of invalids used to lie, people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the movement of the water.[d] [ 4 For occasionally an angel of the Lord would come down into the pool and stir up the water. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.][e]
5 A man who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and was aware that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 The invalid answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am still on my way, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise! Take up your mat and walk!” 9 Immediately, the man was cured, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a Sabbath. 10 Therefore, the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “Today is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who cured me said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk!’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to take it up and walk?” 13 But the man who had been cured did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that was there.
14 Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that Jesus was the man who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began to harass Jesus because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. 17 However, Jesus responded to them, saying,
“My Father is still working,
and I am at work as well.”
18 For this reason, the Jews became even more determined to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
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