Book of Common Prayer
מ (Mem)
97 O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
98 Your commandments[a] make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
100 I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
101 I stay away[b] from every evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions.[c]
102 I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
103 Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey![d]
104 Your precepts give me discernment.
Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.[e]
נ (Nun)
105 Your word[f] is a lamp to walk by,
and a light to illumine my path.[g]
106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn
to keep your just regulations.
107 I am suffering terribly.
O Lord, revive me with your word.[h]
108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise.[i]
Teach me your regulations.
109 My life is in continual danger,[j]
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked lay a trap for me,
but I do not wander from your precepts.
111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,
for they give me joy.[k]
112 I am determined to obey[l] your statutes
at all times, to the very end.
ס (Samek)
113 I hate people with divided loyalties,[m]
but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield.
I find hope in your word.
115 Turn away from me, you evil men,
so that I can observe[n] the commands of my God.[o]
116 Sustain me as you promised,[p] so that I will live.[q]
Do not disappoint me.[r]
117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.
Then I will focus[s] on your statutes continually.
118 You despise[t] all who stray from your statutes,
for such people are deceptive and unreliable.[u]
119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag.[v]
Therefore I love your rules.[w]
120 My body[x] trembles[y] because I fear you;[z]
I am afraid of your judgments.
Psalm 81[a]
For the music director, according to the gittith style;[b] by Asaph.
81 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!
Shout out to the God of Jacob!
2 Sing[c] a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon,[d]
and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins.[e]
4 For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel;[f]
it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.
5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt.[g]
I heard a voice I did not recognize.[h]
6 It said:[i] “I removed the burden from his shoulder;
his hands were released from holding the basket.[j]
7 In your distress you called out and I rescued you.
I answered you from a dark thundercloud.[k]
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.[l] (Selah)
8 I said,[m] ‘Listen, my people!
I will warn[n] you.
O Israel, if only you would obey me![o]
9 There must be[p] no other[q] god among you.
You must not worship a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord, your God,
the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.’
11 But my people did not obey me;[r]
Israel did not submit to me.[s]
12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires;[t]
they did what seemed right to them.[u]
13 If only my people would obey me![v]
If only Israel would keep my commands![w]
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack[x] their adversaries.”
15 (May those who hate the Lord[y] cower in fear[z] before him.
May they be permanently humiliated.)[aa]
16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat,[ab]
and would satisfy your appetite[ac] with honey from the rocky cliffs.”[ad]
Psalm 82[ae]
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God stands in[af] the assembly of El;[ag]
in the midst of the gods[ah] he renders judgment.[ai]
2 He says,[aj] “How long will you make unjust legal decisions
and show favoritism to the wicked?[ak] (Selah)
3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless.[al]
Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.
4 Rescue the poor and needy.
Deliver them from the power[am] of the wicked.
5 They[an] neither know nor understand.
They stumble around[ao] in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble.[ap]
6 I thought,[aq] ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’[ar]
7 Yet you will die like mortals;[as]
you will fall like all the other rulers.”[at]
8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!
For you own[au] all the nations.
18 Then I said,[a]
“There is no cure[b] for my grief!
I am sick at heart!
19 I hear my dear people[c] crying out[d]
throughout the length and breadth of the land.[e]
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King[f] no longer there?’”
The Lord answers,[g]
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?[h]
20 They cry,[i] ‘Harvest time has come and gone and the summer is over,[j]
and still we have not been delivered.’
21 My heart is crushed because my dear people[k] are being crushed.[l]
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.[m]
22 There is still medicinal ointment[n] available in Gilead!
There is still a physician there![o]
Why then have my dear people[p]
not been restored to health?[q]
9 (8:23)[r] I wish that my head were a well full of water[s]
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people[t] who have been killed.
2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the wilderness
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.[u]
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation[v] of people that has been disloyal to him.”[w]
The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them
3 The Lord says,[x]
“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies.[y]
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means.[z]
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another[aa]
and do not pay attention to me.[ab]
4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.
He must not even trust any of his relatives.[ac]
For every one of them will find some way to cheat him.[ad]
And all his friends will tell lies about him.
5 One friend deceives another
and no one tells the truth.
These people have trained themselves[ae] to tell lies.
They do wrong and are unable to repent.
6 They do one act of violence after another,
and one deceitful thing after another.[af]
They refuse to pay attention to me,”[ag]
says the Lord.
The Expectation of Justification
5 [a] Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have[b] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also obtained access[c] into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice[d] in the hope of God’s glory. 3 Not[e] only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God[f] has been poured out[g] in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)[h] 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous[i] by his blood,[j] we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.[k] 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not[l] only this, but we also rejoice[m] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
Jesus as the Light of the World
12 Then Jesus spoke out again,[a] “I am the light of the world![b] The one who follows me will never[c] walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees[d] objected,[e] “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!”[f] 14 Jesus answered,[g] “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people[h] do not know where I came from or where I am going.[i] 15 You people[j] judge by outward appearances;[k] I do not judge anyone.[l] 16 But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate,[m] because I am not alone when I judge,[n] but I and the Father who sent me do so together.[o] 17 It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.[p] 18 I testify about myself[q] and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
19 Then they began asking[r] him, “Who is your father?” Jesus answered, “You do not know either me or my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father too.”[s] 20 (Jesus[t] spoke these words near the offering box[u] while he was teaching in the temple courts.[v] No one seized him because his time[w] had not yet come.)[x]
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