Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97
1 The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness are all around Him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 A fire goes before Him
and burns up His enemies all around.
4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and shakes.
5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the Lord of the earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
and all the peoples see His glory.
7 All who serve graven images are ashamed,
who boast in worthless idols;
worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of Your judgments, O Lord.
9 For You, O Lord, are Most High above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of His devoted ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light goes out for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,
and give thanks at the memory of His holy name.
Psalm 99
1 The Lord reigns;
let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned between the cherubim;
let the earth shake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
He is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name—
He is holy!
4 The King’s strength loves justice;
You establish righteousness,
and You execute judgment
and fairness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His footstool—
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
even Samuel was among them who called upon His name;
they called upon the Lord,
and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept His statues and the ordinance that He gave them.
8 You answered them,
O Lord our God;
You were a God who forgave them,
though You took vengeance on their wrongdoing.
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at His holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!
Psalm 100
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise;
be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 94
1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs;
O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
render to the proud what they deserve.
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They spew forth their arrogant words;
all those who do iniquity boast.
5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord,
and afflict Your inheritance.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
neither does the God of Jacob regard it.”
8 Understand, you brutish among the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who made the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 He who chastises the nations, shall He not correct?
He teaches people knowledge!
11 The Lord, He knows the thoughts of people,
that they are a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach from Your law,
13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake His people;
neither will He abandon His inheritance.
15 But justice shall return to those who are righteous,
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against those who do iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul would have lived in the land of silent death.
18 When I said, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, held me up.
19 When there is a multitude of worries within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall wicked rulers, who make oppressive laws,
align with You?
21 They conspire together against the life of the righteous
and condemn innocent blood to death.
22 But the Lord is my defense,
and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 He shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall cut them off for their own wickedness;
yes, the Lord our God shall destroy them.
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are also His.
5 The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture
and the sheep of His hand.
Today if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
and as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tested Me and tried Me,
though they had seen My deeds.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter into My rest.”
The Ark Returned to Israel
6 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”
3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. But return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
4 Then said they, “What will be the guilt offering which we will return to Him?”
They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5 Therefore you will make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land. And you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from off you, even from off your gods and from off your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He dealt severely with them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
7 “Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke. Then tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart. And put the images of gold, which you return to Him for a guilt offering, in a box by the side. And send it away, that it may go. 9 See, if it goes up by the way of His own territory to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it is not His hand that struck us; it was by chance that it happened to us.”
10 The men did so. And they took two milk cows, tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, as well as the box with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows took the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left with the lords of the Philistines walking after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now Beth Shemesh was reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they split the wood of the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, where the articles of gold were, and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. 16 When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the Sanhedrin. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? Yet now you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring on us this Man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree. 31 God exalted this Man to His right hand to be a Ruler and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 We are His witnesses to these words, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
33 When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law honored by all the people, stood and ordered the apostles to be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he said to them, “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do concerning these men. 36 For in previous days Theudas rose up, boasting to be somebody, to whom a number of about four hundred men joined themselves. He was killed, and all who obeyed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After Theudas, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away many people after him. This man also perished, and all who obeyed him were scattered. 38 Now I tell you, keep away from these men and leave them alone, because if this intention or this activity is of men, it will come to nothing. 39 But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, lest perhaps you be found even fighting against God.”
40 They agreed with him. When they had called in the apostles, they beat them, and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
41 Then they departed from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 Daily, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
37 Each day He was teaching in the temple, and each night He went out and stayed on the mountain called the Mount of Olives. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to hear Him in the temple.
The Plot to Kill Jesus(A)
22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, drew near. 2 And the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to kill Jesus, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. 4 He went and discussed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him to them. 5 They were glad and agreed to give him money. 6 He fully consented and searched for an opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowds.
The Preparation of the Passover(B)
7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came, when the Passover lamb must be killed. 8 He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat it.”
9 They said to Him, “Where will You have us prepare it?”
10 He said to them, “Now, as you enter the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you there. Follow him into the house which he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ 12 He will show you a large furnished upper room. Prepare there.”
13 They went and found it as He had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.