Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
A Call To Praise and Obey God
1 [b]Come, let us sing with jubilation to the Lord;
let us cry out to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with our songs.
3 [c]For the Lord is the great God,
the King who surpasses all other gods.[d]
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5 To him belongs the sea, for he created it,
and also the dry land[e] that his hands have molded.
6 Come forth! Let us bow down to worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.[f]
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,[g]
the flock he protects.
If only you would listen to his voice today:
8 “Harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah,[h]
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness.
9 It was there that your ancestors sought to tempt me;
they put me to the test
even though they had witnessed my works.[i]
10 “For forty years[j] I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, in my anger I swore,
‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”[k]
Psalm 88[a]
Prayer in Affliction
1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[b] For the director. According to Mahalath. For singing. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 [c]O Lord, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out to you.
3 Let my prayer come before you;
give ear to my cry for help.
4 [d]For my soul[e] is filled with misery,
and my life draws near to the netherworld.
5 I am numbered among those who go down to the pit;[f]
all strength has failed me.
6 I have been abandoned among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no longer
and whom your hand has abandoned.[g]
7 [h]You have lowered me into the depths of the pit,
into the darkest regions of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves engulf me. Selah
9 You have caused my closest friends to shun me
and made me hateful in their sight.
I am shut in with no means of escape,[i]
10 and my eyes grow dim[j] with my suffering.
[k]Every day I call out to you, O Lord,
and spread out my hands to you.
11 Do you perform wonders[l] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[m] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[n]
14 [o]But for my part, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer rises before you.
15 Why do you cast me away, O Lord?[p]
Why do you hide your face from me?
16 Since infancy I have been wretched and close to death;
I have borne your terrors
and have now reached the point of exhaustion.
17 Your wrath has weighed down upon me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
18 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they encircle me completely.
19 You have caused my friends and neighbors to shun me;
my sole companion now is darkness.[q]
Psalm 91[a]
Security under God’s Protection
1 You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,[b]
who rest in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I place my trust.”
3 He will rescue you from the snare of the fowler[c]
and from virulent pestilence.
4 With his feathers he will shelter you,[d]
and you will take refuge under his wings;
his faithfulness serves as a protective shield.
5 You will not fear the terror by night[e]
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the plague[f] that lays waste at midday.
7 Even though a thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
such evils will not afflict you.
8 Rather, your own eyes will behold[g]
the punishment inflicted on the wicked.
9 You have made the Lord your refuge
and chosen the Most High to be your dwelling.
10 Therefore, no evil will threaten you,
no calamity will come near your dwelling.
11 [h]For he will command his angels[i] about you—
to guard you wherever you go.
12 They will lift you up with their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.[j]
13 You will tread upon the asp and the viper;
you will trample the lion and the dragon.[k]
14 [l]“Because he loves me, I will deliver him,
I will raise high[m] the one who acknowledges my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer,
and I will be with him in time of distress;
I will rescue him and cause him to be honored.[n]
16 I will reward him with a long life
and show him my salvation.”[o]
Psalm 92[p]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[q]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[r] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[s] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [t]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [u]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[v] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[w]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[x]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [y]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [z]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[aa]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
Chapter 11
Plea to Observe the Covenant.[a][b] 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Listen to the terms of this covenant, and then relate them to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 Say to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not observe the terms of this covenant 4 which I enjoined upon your ancestors when I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, from that iron foundry, saying: If you listen to my voice and do everything I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God. 5 I will thus fulfill the oath that I swore to your ancestors, when I pledged to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you now possess. Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”
6 Then the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and follow them. 7 When I brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt, I solemnly warned them, and continued even to this day to do so persistently, urging them to obey my commands. 8 But they refused to listen and did not pay attention to what I said. Rather, each one followed the inclinations of his stubborn and wicked heart. As a result, I inflicted upon them all the curses I had threatened if they did not obey the covenant in accordance with my commands.
14 Do not intercede for this people or offer a prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen to their cries for help that they will raise during the time of their misfortune.
The Lord Rebukes Judah
15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house
when she perpetrates such vile deeds?
Can vows and sacrificial meat
turn away the disaster that threatens you
and allow you to exult?
16 The Lord once called you a green olive tree
that was filled with leaves and fruit.
But now, with the roar of a mighty storm,
he will set it ablaze,
and its branches will be consumed.
17 The Lord of hosts who planted you has decreed that misfortune will befall you because of the evil done by the house of Israel and the house of Judah, having provoked me to anger by offering sacrifices to Baal.
Jeremiah’s Persecution[a]
18 I was aware of this, O Lord,
because you had made it known to me
then you revealed to me their evil deeds.
19 I had been like a trusting lamb
that was being led to the slaughter.
And I was not aware about the schemes
that they were plotting against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living
so that his name will no longer be remembered.”
20 O Lord of hosts, you who judge righteously
and test the heart and the mind,
allow me to behold your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Death and Life with Christ[a]
Chapter 6
Baptized in Christ Jesus.[b] 1 What then shall we say? Should we persist in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 Of course not! We have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Through that baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,[c] so we too might begin to live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 We know that our old[d] self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died has been freed from sin.
8 However, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.[e] 9 We know that Christ, once raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has power over him. 10 When he died, he died to sin once and for all. However, the life he lives, he lives for God. 11 In the same way, you must regard yourselves as being dead to sin and alive for God in Christ Jesus.
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?” 34 Jesus replied,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who sins
is a slave of sin.
35 A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son remains in it forever.
36 Therefore, if the Son sets you free,
you then will truly be free.
37 “I know that you are descendants of Abraham,
but you seek to kill me
because my word has no place in your heart.
38 I speak of what I have seen
in my Father’s presence,
whereas you do what you have heard
from your father.”
39 The Jews said to him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them,
“If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works that Abraham did.
40 But now you seek to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth
that I heard from God.
This is not what Abraham did.
41 You are doing the works of your father!”
They retorted, “We are not illegitimate children. We have one father—God.” 42 Jesus said to them,
“If God were your father,
you would love me,
for I came from God;
neither did I come of my own will,
but he was the one who sent me.
43 Why do you not understand
what I am saying?
It is because you cannot bear
to hear my words.
44 “You are from your father, the devil,
and you choose to carry out your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning,
and he does not abide by the truth,
for there is no truth in him.
When he lies,
he speaks in accord with his own nature,
for he is a liar
and the father of lies.
45 But because I speak the truth
you refuse to believe me.
46 “Which of you can convict me of sin?
If I say what is true,
why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever comes from God
listens to the words of God.
The reason why you refuse to listen
is that you do not belong to God.”
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