Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18[a]
For the choir director; by David, the servant of Yahweh. He sang this song to Yahweh when Yahweh rescued him from all his enemies, especially from Saul. He said,
1 I love you, O Yahweh, my strength.
2 Yahweh is my rock and my Metsuda and my Savior,
my El, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my Magen, and the strength of my salvation,
my stronghold.
3 Yahweh should be praised.
I called on him, and I was saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death had become tangled around me.
The torrents of destruction had overwhelmed me.
5 The ropes of the grave had surrounded me.
The clutches of death had confronted me.
6 I called on Yahweh in my distress.
I cried to my Elohim for help.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help reached his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked.
Even the foundations of the mountains trembled.
They shook violently because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and a raging fire came out of his mouth.
Glowing coals flared up from it.
9 He spread apart the heavens
and came down with a dark cloud under his feet.
10 He rode on one of the angels[b] as he flew,
and he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made the darkness his hiding place,
the dark rain clouds his covering.
12 Out of the brightness in front of him,
those rain clouds passed by with hailstones and lightning.
13 Yahweh thundered in the heavens.
Elyon made his voice heard with hailstones and lightning.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them.
He flashed streaks of lightning and threw them into confusion.
15 Then the ocean floor could be seen.
The foundations of the earth were laid bare
at your stern warning, O Yahweh,
at the blast of the breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from high above and took hold of me.
He pulled me out of the raging water.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
because they were too strong for me.
18 On the day when I faced disaster, they confronted me,
but Yahweh came to my defense.
19 He brought me out to a wide-open place.
He rescued me because he was pleased with me.
20 Yahweh rewarded me
because of my righteousness,
because my hands are clean.
He paid me back
21 because I have kept the ways of Yahweh
and I have not wickedly turned away from my Elohim,
22 because all his judgments are in front of me
and I have not turned away from his laws.
23 I was innocent as far as he was concerned.
I have kept myself from guilt.
24 Yahweh paid me back
because of my righteousness,
because he can see that my hands are clean.
25 In dealing with faithful people you are faithful,
with innocent people you are innocent,
26 with pure people you are pure.
In dealing with devious people you are clever.
27 You save humble people,
but you bring down a conceited look.
28 O Yahweh, you light my lamp.
My Elohim turns my darkness into light.
29 With you I can attack a line of soldiers.
With my Elohim I can break through barricades.
30 El’s way is perfect!
The promise of Yahweh has proven to be true.
He is a Magen to all those who take refuge in him.
31 Who is Eloah but Yahweh?
Who is a rock except our Elohim?
32 El arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like those of a deer
and gives me sure footing on high places.
34 He trains my hands for battle
so that my arms can bend an archer’s bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation.
Your right hand supports me.
Your gentleness makes me great.
36 You make a wide path for me to walk on
so that my feet do not slip.
37 I chased my enemies and caught up with them.
I did not return until I had ended their lives.
38 I wounded them so badly that they were unable to get up.
They fell under my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle.
You made my opponents bow at my feet.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out for help, but there was no one to save them.
They cried out to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them into a powder as fine as the dust blown by the wind.
I threw them out as though they were dirt on the streets.
43 You rescued me from my conflicts with the people.
You made me the leader of nations.
A people I did not know will serve me:
44 As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.
Foreigners will cringe in front of me.
45 Foreigners will lose heart,
and they will tremble when they come out of their fortifications.
46 Yahweh lives!
Thanks be to my rock!
May Elohim my Savior be honored.
47 El gives me vengeance!
He brings people under my authority.
48 He saves me from my enemies.
You lift me up above my opponents.
You rescue me from violent people.
49 That is why I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the nations
and make music to praise your name.
50 He gives great victories to his king.
He shows mercy to his anointed,
to David, and to his descendant[c] forever.
31 “Your Majesty, you had a vision. You saw a large statue. This statue was very bright. It stood in front of you, and it looked terrifying. 32 The head of this statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and hips were made of bronze. 33 Its legs were made of iron. Its feet were made partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by humans. It struck the statue’s iron-and-clay feet and smashed them. 35 Then all at once, the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were smashed. They became like husks on a threshing floor[a] in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain which filled the whole world. 36 This is the dream. Now we’ll tell you its meaning.
37 “Your Majesty, you are the greatest king. The Elah of heaven has given you a kingdom. He has given you power, strength, and honor. 38 He has given you control over people, wild animals, and birds, wherever they live. He has made you ruler of them all. You are the head of gold. 39 Another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to power after you. Then there will be a third kingdom, a kingdom of bronze, that will rule the whole world. 40 There will also be a fourth kingdom. It will be as strong as iron. (Iron smashes and shatters everything.) As iron crushes things, this fourth kingdom will smash and crush all the other kingdoms. 41 You also saw the feet and toes. They were partly potters’ clay and partly iron. This means that there will be a divided kingdom which has some of the firmness of iron. As you saw, iron was mixed with clay. 42 The toes were partly iron and partly clay. Part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 As you saw, iron was mixed with clay. So the two parts of the kingdom will mix by intermarrying, but they will not hold together any more than iron can mix with clay.
44 “At the time of those kings, the Elah of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed. No other people will be permitted to rule it. It will smash all the other kingdoms and put an end to them. But it will be established forever. 45 This is the stone that you saw cut out from a mountain, but not by humans. It smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great Elah has told you what will happen in the future, Your Majesty. The dream is true, and you can trust that this is its meaning.”
46 King Nebuchadnezzar immediately bowed down on the ground in front of Daniel. He ordered that gifts and offerings be given to Daniel. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Your Elah is truly the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings. He can reveal secrets because you were able to reveal this secret.”
48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many wonderful gifts. Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel governor of the whole province of Babylon and head of all Babylon’s wise advisers. 49 With the king’s permission, Daniel appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to govern the province of Babylon. But Daniel stayed at the king’s court.
Live in Christ
18 Children, it’s the end of time. You’ve heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That’s how we know it’s the end of time. 19 They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.
20 The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge. 21 I’m writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don’t know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.
22 Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Yeshua as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23 Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father. 24 Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25 Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.
26 I’m writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.
We Are God’s Children
28 Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame. 29 If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.
John Prepares the Way(A)
3 It was the fifteenth year in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Herod ruled Galilee, and his brother Philip ruled Iturea and Trachonitis. Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. 2 It was at the time when Annas and Caiaphas were chief priests that God spoke to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert. 3 John traveled throughout the region around the Jordan River. He told people about a baptism of repentance[a] for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As the prophet Isaiah wrote in his book,
“A voice cries out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord!
Make his paths straight!
5 Every valley will be filled.
Every mountain and hill will be leveled.
The crooked ways will be made straight.
The rough roads will be made smooth.
6 All people will see the salvation that God gives.’”
7 Crowds of people were coming to be baptized by John. He would say to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God’s coming anger? 8 Do those things that prove that you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. Don’t say, ‘Abraham is our ancestor.’ I guarantee that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones. 9 The ax is now ready to cut the roots of the trees. Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”
10 The crowds asked him, “What should we do?”
11 He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who doesn’t have any. Whoever has food should share it too.”
12 Some tax collectors came to be baptized. They asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Don’t collect more money than you are ordered to collect.”
14 Some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Be satisfied with your pay, and never use threats or blackmail to get money from anyone.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.