Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer to Restore Israel
For the music director, according to The Lilies.
A testimony. Of Asaph. A psalm.[a]
80 Give ear, O shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock.
Shine forth, you who sits enthroned above the cherubim.
2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
stir up your power
and come for our salvation.
3 O God, restore us,
and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
4 O Yahweh God of hosts,
how long will you be angry[b]
against the prayer of your people?
5 You have fed them the bread of tears;
you have given them tears to drink in full measure.[c]
6 You have made us an object of strife to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock among themselves.
7 O God of hosts, restore us
and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You prepared a place before it,
and it took deep root[d] and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
and the mighty cedars with its boughs.
11 It spread its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the river.
12 Why have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass on the road pluck fruit from it?
13 Swine from the forests devour[e] it
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 Please return, O God of hosts.
Observe from heaven and see,
and pay attention to this vine,
15 eventhe stalk that your right hand planted,
and concerning the shoot[f] you strengthened for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, cut down.
They perish at the rebuke of your face.
17 Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
on the son of humankind whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn back from you.
Restore us to life, and we will proclaim your name.
19 O Yahweh God of hosts, restore us;
cause your face to shine that we may be saved.
Remembering God’s Help for Israel
For the music director, on Jeduthun.[a]
Of Asaph. A psalm.[b]
77 I cry out with my voice to God;
with my voice to God, that he may hear me.
2 In the day I have trouble, I seek[c] the Lord.
At night my hand stretches out continually;[d]
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I groan loudly;
I meditate and my spirit grows faint.
4 You hold open my eyelids.
I am troubled and cannot speak.
5 I think about the days from long ago,
the years of ancient times.
6 I remember my song in the night.
With my heart I meditate,
and my spirit searches to understand.
7 Will the Lord reject us forever,
and will he never be pleased with us again?
8 Has his loyal love ceased forever?
Is his promise[e] ended throughout generations?
9 Has God forgotten to have compassion?
Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah
10 So I said, “This pierces me—[f]
the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I will remember the deeds of Yah.[g]
Surely I will remember your wonders[h] from long ago.
12 I will also muse on all your work,
and meditate on your deeds.
13 O God, your way is distinctive.[i]
Who is a great god like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;[j]
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 Waters saw you, O God;
waters saw you and they trembled.
Surely the deeps shook.
17 The clouds poured out water.
The skies thundered.[k]
Your arrows also flew about.[l]
18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;[m]
lightnings lit the world;
the earth shook and quaked.
19 Your way was through the sea,
and your path[n] through many waters.
Yet your footprints were not discerned.[o]
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A Lament for Jerusalem after Its Destruction
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
79 O God, the nations have entered your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have reduced Jerusalem to ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the heavens,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was none to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
a derision and a scorn to those around us.
5 How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name,
7 because they[b] have devoured Jacob
and have laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us former iniquities;
let your mercies meet us quickly
because we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
and deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
for the sake of your name.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let it[d] be known among the nations before our eyes,
by the avenging of the blood of your servants
that was poured out.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the greatness of your power,[e]
spare[f] the children appointed to death.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold upon them[g]
their taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord.
13 Then we, your people and the flock of your pasture,
we will give thanks to you forever.
Generation after generation[h]
we will tell of your praise.
8 “All of the commandments[a] that I am commanding you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and multiply, and you may go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors.[b] 2 And you shall remember all of the way that Yahweh your God led you during these forty years in the desert in order to humble you and to test you to know what is in your heart, whether you would diligently keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you go hungry, and then he fed you with that which you did not know nor did your ancestors[c] know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone but by all that goes out[d] of the mouth of Yahweh humankind shall live. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you,[e] and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 And you should know with your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God is disciplining you.[f] 6 So you must keep the commandments of Yahweh your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For Yahweh your God is bringing you to a good land with streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys[g] and in the hills,[h] 8 to a land of wheat and barley and vines[i] and fig trees[j] and pomegranate trees,[k] a land of olive trees,[l] olive oil and honey; 9 to a land where you may eat food in it without scarcity;[m] you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones are iron and from its mountains you can mine copper. 10 And you will eat, and you will be satisfied,[n] and you will bless Yahweh your God because of the good land that he has given to you.
Greeting
1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!
Trials, Testing, and Faith
2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you encounter various trials, 3 because you[a] know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask for it in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Now let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his high position, 10 but the rich person in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. 11 For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries up the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is lost. So also the rich person in his pursuits[b] will wither away.
12 Blessed is the person[c] who endures testing, because when he[d] is approved he will receive the crown of life that he[e] has promised to those who love him. 13 No one who is being tempted should say, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted[f] by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he[g] is dragged away and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then desire, after it[h] has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it[i] is brought to completion, gives birth to death.
Peter’s Confession
18 And it happened that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered and[a] said, “John the Baptist, but others, Elijah, and others, that one of the ancient prophets has risen.” 20 And he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and[b] said, “The Christ of God.”
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
21 But he warned and[c] commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised on the third day.
Taking Up One’s Cross to Follow Jesus
23 And he said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it. 25 For what is a person benefited if he[d] gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of this person when he comes in his glory and the glory[e] of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will never experience death until they see the kingdom of God.”
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