Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 118
The Stone the Builders Rejected
Introduction
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel say now: Yes, his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron say now: Yes, his mercy endures forever.
4 Let those who fear the Lord say now: Yes, his mercy endures forever.
Trust During Distress
5 Under pressure I cried to the Lord.[a]
The Lord answered me.
He set me in a wide-open space.
6 The Lord is with me.
I will not be afraid.
What can people do to me?
7 The Lord, who is with me, is my helper,
so I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in human benefactors.[b]
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them off.[c]
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them off.
12 They surrounded me like bees,
but they were extinguished as quickly as a fire of thorns.
In the name of the Lord I cut them off.
13 You pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.
The Messiah’s Joy in Victory
14 My strength and song is the Lord,
and he has become salvation for me.
15 Loud shouts of victory are heard in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord has done a mighty deed!
16 The right hand of the Lord is lifted high!
The right hand of the Lord has done a mighty deed!”
17 I will not die. No, I will live,
and I will proclaim the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not handed me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of righteousness.
I will enter them. I will give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate to the Lord.
The righteous enter it.
21 I will give you thanks,
because you answered me,
and you have become salvation for me.
The Joy in Victory of Messiah’s Followers
22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.[d]
23 This is from the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 O Lord, please save us now.[e]
O Lord, grant us success.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God,
and he makes light shine on us.
Bind the festival with branches as far as the horns of the altar.[f]
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God, and I will exalt you.
Conclusion
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Psalm 145
The Lord Is Worthy of Praise
Heading
A song of praise. By David.
Praise
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Proclamation of His Greatness
3 Great is the Lord and worthy of great praise,
and there are no limits to the extent of his greatness.
Praise
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and they will declare your mighty acts.
5 I will contemplate the glorious splendor of your majesty
and the accounts of your wonderful works.
6 Then they will speak about the power of your awesome works,
and I will tell about your great deeds.
7 They will pour forth the memory of your abundant goodness
and sing loudly about your righteousness.
Proclamation of His Grace
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all.
His compassion extends over all he has made.
Praise
10 Everyone you have made will thank you, O Lord,
and the ones you favor will bless you.
11 They will tell about the glory of your kingdom,
and they will speak about your might,
12 to make known his might to the children of Adam,
to make known the glorious splendor of his kingdom.
Proclamation of His Kingdom
13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is faithful to all his words
and merciful toward all he has made.[a]
14 The Lord lifts up all who fall,
and he supports all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look eagerly to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 He opens his hand,
and he satisfies the desire of every living thing.[b]
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and merciful toward all that he has made.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He grants the desire of those who fear him.
He hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but he will destroy all the wicked.
Praise
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord.
Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men. I will set out to pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him when he is tired and weak and cause him to panic. All the people with him will flee. Then I will strike down only the king. 3 I will bring back the rest of the people to you. The life of the man whom you are seeking will gain the return of all of them.[a] All the rest of the people will be safe.” 4 Ahithophel’s plan seemed good to all the elders of Israel.
5 But Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Arkite. We should also hear what he has to say.” 6 So Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Shall we do it? If you disagree, speak up.”
7 Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the advice Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are fierce warriors, like an enraged bear in the open country who has lost her cubs. Your father is a fighter. He will not spend the night with the people. 9 Certainly, by now he has hidden himself in one of the caves or in some other place. What if he attacks and some of our men fall first? Whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the followers of Absalom.’ 10 Even the very brave, whose hearts are like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, because all Israel knows that your father is a fierce warrior, and that those who are with him are brave men. 11 So, I advise you to gather all Israel to you from Dan to Beersheba, as many as the sand beside the sea, and that you personally lead them into battle. 12 We should attack the king in whatever place he is found. We will come down on him like the dew that falls upon the ground. There will not even be one survivor from him and from all the men with him. 13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel should bring ropes to that city. We will drag it into the valley until there will not be even one pebble found there.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.”
The Lord had arranged to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster upon Absalom.
15 Then Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel. But this is what I have advised. 16 Now send a message quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords in the wilderness. Also, be sure to cross over the river, or the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’”
17 Jonathan and Ahima’az were to wait at En Rogel because they could not risk being seen going into the city. A female servant was to go out and inform them. Then they could go and tell King David. 18 However, a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them quickly went to the house of a man at Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19 His wife took a cover, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain on it. Nobody knew that she did it.
20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahima’az and Jonathan?”
The woman said to them, “They have passed by toward the river.”[b] Absalom’s servants pursued them but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
21 When they left, Ahima’az and Jonathan climbed out of the well. They went and reported to King David, and they said to him, “Get up and cross over the river quickly because this is what Ahithophel advised against you.” 22 So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan, beginning at the first light of day and continuing until everyone had crossed over the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey, set out, went to his house in his hometown, and set his household in order. Then he hanged himself. He died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father.
6 in the same way as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”?[a]
7 Understand, then, that those who believe are the children of Abraham. 8 Foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, Scripture proclaimed the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying, “In you, all nations will be blessed.”[b] 9 So then, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
The Difference Between Law and Gospel
10 In fact, those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.”[c] 11 Clearly no one is declared righteous before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”[d] 12 The law does not say “by faith.” Instead it says, “The one who does these things will live by them.”[e]
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”[f] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.
30 I can do nothing at all on my own. I judge only as I hear. And my judgment is just, for I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
31 “If I were to testify about myself, my testimony would not be valid. 32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. 33 You sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 34 The testimony I receive is not from man, but I am saying these things so that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that was shining brightly, and for a while you wanted to enjoy his light. 36 But I have testimony greater than John’s. For the works that the Father gave me to carry out, the very works that I am doing, these testify about me that the Father has sent me. 37 The Father who sent me—he is the one who has testified about me. You have never heard his voice or seen his form. 38 And you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them. They testify about me! 40 And yet you do not want to come to me in order to have life.
41 “I do not accept honor from people. 42 But I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, yet you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe while you continue to accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe what I say?”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.