Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
95 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
Let us shout out praises to our Protector who delivers us.[b]
2 Let us enter his presence[c] with thanksgiving.
Let us shout out to him in celebration.[d]
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great king who is superior to[e] all gods.
4 The depths of the earth are in his hand,[f]
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship.[g]
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Creator.
7 For he is our God;
we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep he owns.[h]
Today, if only you would obey him.[i]
8 He says,[j] “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah,[k]
like they were that day at Massah[l] in the wilderness,[m]
9 where your ancestors challenged my authority,[n]
and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I was continually disgusted[o] with that generation,
and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;[p]
they do not obey my commands.’[q]
11 So I made a vow in my anger,
‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’”[r]
Psalm 88[a]
A song, a psalm written by the Korahites, for the music director, according to the machalath-leannoth style;[b] a well-written song[c] by Heman the Ezrahite.
88 O Lord God who delivers me,[d]
by day I cry out
and at night I pray before you.[e]
2 Listen to my prayer.[f]
Pay attention[g] to my cry for help.
3 For my life[h] is filled with troubles,
and I am ready to enter Sheol.[i]
4 They treat me like[j] those who descend into the grave.[k]
I am like a helpless man,[l]
5 adrift[m] among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power.[n]
6 You place me in the lowest regions of the Pit,[o]
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free.[p]
9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you.[q]
10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits[r] rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?[s]
12 Are your amazing deeds experienced[t] in the dark region,[u]
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?[v]
13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me?[w]
15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.[x]
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.[y]
16 Your anger overwhelms me;[z]
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me.[aa]
18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;[ab]
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.[ac]
Psalm 91[a]
91 As for you, the one who lives[b] in the shelter of the Most High,[c]
and resides in the protective shadow[d] of the Sovereign One[e]—
2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,
my God in whom I trust—
3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter[f]
and from the destructive plague.
4 He will shelter you[g] with his wings;[h]
you will find safety under his wings.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.[i]
5 You need not fear the terrors of the night,[j]
the arrow that flies by day,
6 the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the disease that ravages at noon.[k]
7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,
and a multitude on your right side,
it[l] will not reach you.
8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes—
you will see the wicked paid back.[m]
9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,
my shelter, the Most High.
10 No harm will overtake[n] you;
no illness[o] will come near your home.[p]
11 For he will order his angels[q]
to protect you in all you do.[r]
12 They will lift you up in their hands,
so you will not slip and fall on a stone.[s]
13 You will subdue[t] a lion and a snake;[u]
you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.
14 The Lord says,[v]
“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him[w] because he is loyal to me.[x]
15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,[y]
and will let him see my salvation.”
Psalm 92[z]
A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is fitting[aa] to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High.[ab]
2 It is fitting[ac] to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done.[ad]
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate![ae]
6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this.[af]
7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten,[ag]
it is so that they may be annihilated.[ah]
8 But you, O Lord, reign[ai] forever.
9 Indeed,[aj] look at your enemies, O Lord.
Indeed,[ak] look at how your enemies perish.
All the evildoers are scattered.
10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox.[al]
I am covered[am] with fresh oil.
11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me;[an]
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.[ao]
12 The godly[ap] grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon.[aq]
13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.[ar]
15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my Protector,
is just and never unfair.[as]
The People Have Violated Their Covenant with God
11 The Lord said to Jeremiah:[a] 2 “Hear[b] the terms of the covenant[c] I made with Israel[d] and pass them on[e] to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.[f] 3 Tell them that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse.[g] 4 Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors[h] to keep[i] when I brought them out of Egypt, that place that was like an iron-smelting furnace.[j] I said at that time,[k] “Obey me and carry out the terms of the covenant[l] exactly as I commanded you. If you do,[m] you will be my people and I will be your God.[n] 5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.”[o] That is the very land that you still live in today.’”[p] And I responded, “Amen. Let it be so,[q] Lord.”
6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you[r] and carry them out! 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me.[s] I warned them again and again,[t] ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”[u]
14 But as for you, Jeremiah,[a] do not pray for these people. Do not raise a cry of prayer for them.[b] For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.”[c]
15 The Lord says to the people of Judah,[d]
“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?[e]
Many of you have done wicked things.[f]
Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings[g]
that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?[h]
16 I, the Lord, once called[i] you a thriving olive tree,
one that produced beautiful fruit.
But I will set you[j] on fire,
fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.[k]
Then all your branches will be good for nothing.[l]
17 For though I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[m] planted you in the land,[n]
I now decree that disaster will come on you[o]
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.”[p]
A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice
18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding.[q]
Then he showed me what the people were doing.[r]
19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me.[s]
I did not know they were saying,[t]
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit![u]
Let’s remove Jeremiah[v] from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him anymore.”[w]
20 So I said,[x]
The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination
6 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.[a]
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.[b] 6 We know that[c] our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us,[d] so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)[e]
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know[f] that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die[g] again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you too consider yourselves[h] dead to sin, but[i] alive to God in Christ Jesus.
33 “We are descendants[a] of Abraham,” they replied,[b] “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say,[c] ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth,[d] everyone who practices[e] sin is a slave[f] of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the family[g] forever, but the son remains forever.[h] 36 So if the son[i] sets you free, you will be really free. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants.[j] But you want[k] to kill me, because my teaching[l] makes no progress among you.[m] 38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the[n] Father;[o] as for you,[p] practice the things you have heard from the[q] Father!”
39 They answered him,[r] “Abraham is our father!”[s] Jesus replied,[t] “If you are[u] Abraham’s children, you would be doing[v] the deeds of Abraham. 40 But now you are trying[w] to kill me, a man who has told you[x] the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this![y] 41 You people[z] are doing the deeds of your father.”
Then[aa] they said to Jesus,[ab] “We were not born as a result of immorality![ac] We have only one Father, God himself.” 42 Jesus replied,[ad] “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here.[ae] I[af] have not come on my own initiative,[ag] but he[ah] sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept[ai] my teaching.[aj] 44 You people[ak] are from[al] your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires.[am] He[an] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth,[ao] because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies,[ap] he speaks according to his own nature,[aq] because he is a liar and the father of lies.[ar] 45 But because I am telling you[as] the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you can prove me guilty[at] of any sin?[au] If I am telling you[av] the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who belongs to[aw] God listens and responds[ax] to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond,[ay] because you don’t belong to God.”[az]
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