Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 138[a]
Thanksgiving for God’s Favor
1 Of David.
I offer you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart;[b]
before the “gods” I sing your praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and I praise your name[c]
for your kindness and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
3 On the day I cried out, you answered me
and granted strength to my spirit.
4 [d]All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord,
when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways of the Lord:
“How great is the Lord’s glory!”
6 For though the Lord is exalted, he cares for the lowly,[e]
but he remains far distant from the proud.
7 Although I walk in the midst of hostility,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and with your right hand[f] you deliver me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his plan for me.
Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever;
do not forsake the work of your hands.[g]
Psalm 139[h]
God’s Infinite Knowledge and Universal Power
1 For the director.[i] A psalm of David.
[j]O Lord, you have examined me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand;[k]
you perceive my thoughts from a distance.
3 You mark when I go out and when I lie down;
all my ways are open to you.
4 A word is not even on my tongue
and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it.
5 You enfold me from in front and from behind,
and you place your hand upon me.[l]
6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension,
far too sublime for me to attain.
7 [m]Where can I go to hide from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn[n]
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your right hand will hold me fast.
11 [o]If I say, “Surely the darkness will conceal me
and the day around me will turn to night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for to you darkness and light are the same.
13 [p]You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am wonderfully made;
awesome are your works,
as I know very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
you saw me in the womb.[q]
16 [r]The sum total of my days
were all recorded in your book.[s]
My life was fashioned
before it had come into being.
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I were to attempt to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,[t]
I am still with you.
19 [u]If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
and the bloodthirsty would leave me![v]
20 They blaspheme your name
and treacherously rise up against you.[w]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and loathe those who rise up against you?
22 My hatred for them is unlimited;
I regard them as my personal enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart;[x]
test me and understand my thoughts.
Psalm 147[a]
Hymn to the City of God
1 [b]Alleluia.
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
how pleasant it is to give him fitting praise.[c]
2 The Lord restores Jerusalem
and gathers together the dispersed people of Israel.[d]
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.[e]
4 He fixes the number of the stars
and assigns a name to each.[f]
5 Great is our Lord and awesome in power;
his wisdom is without limit.[g]
6 The Lord sustains the poor
but humbles the wicked in the dust.[h]
7 [i]Offer songs of thanksgiving to the Lord;
play the lyre in honor of our God.
8 He veils the heavens with clouds,
supplies the earth with rain,
and makes the hills sprout with grass.[j]
9 He provides food for the animals
and for the young ravens when they call.[k]
10 [l]He takes no pleasure in the strength of the horse,
or delight in the fleetness of a runner.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
those who place their hope in his kindness.
12 [m]Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Glorify your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your children within you.[n]
14 He brings peace to your borders
and fills you with the finest of wheat.[o]
15 He sends a command to the earth;
his word runs with utmost speed.
16 He gives the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.[p]
17 He hurls down his hail like crumbs;
who can withstand his cold?[q]
18 He sends his word, and the ice melts;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 [r]He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his decrees and his judgments to Israel.
20 He has not done this for the other nations;
they are not aware of his judgments.
Alleluia.
Chapter 23
Messianic Oracles. 1 Woe to the shepherds who lead astray and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. 2 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has to say in regard to the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you showed not the slightest concern about taking care of them. Therefore, I will not hesitate to punish you for your evil deeds, says the Lord.
3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their meadows where they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will appoint shepherds for them who will treat them kindly, so that they will no longer fear or experience terror, nor will any be discovered missing, says the Lord.
5 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will raise up a righteous branch
from the line of David.
He will reign as king and rule wisely
and ensure justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah will live in safety,
and Israel will dwell in security.
And this is the name that will be given to him:
“The Lord Our Righteousness.”
7 Therefore, the days are coming, says the Lord, when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,” 8 but rather, “As the Lord lives who brought forth the offspring of the house of Israel up from the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had dispersed them.” Then they will again inhabit their own land.
8 Make sure that no one leads you astray with an empty and deceitful philosophy that depends on human tradition[a] and worldly principles, and not on Christ.
God Has Given You Life in Christ. 9 For it is in him that the entire fullness of deity dwells in bodily form,[b] 10 and you share this fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and power. 11 In him also you were circumcised, not with a physical circumcision but with a spiritual stripping away of the old nature with the circumcision of Christ.
12 When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. 13 And even when you were dead in your sins and your flesh was uncircumcised, God gave you new life along with him. He has forgiven us all our sins, 14 erasing the record against us[c] with its decrees that are hostile to us. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 Disarming the rulers and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, parading them in his triumphal procession.
16 The Reality Is Christ.[d] Therefore, do not allow anyone to pass judgment on you in regard to what you eat or drink, or about the observance of Festivals, New Moons, or Sabbaths.[e] 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come. The reality is Christ.
18 Do not allow yourself to be declared disqualified by those who revel in false humility and worship angels and visions, their vanity foolishly inflated by a human way of thinking. 19 They are not united with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, achieves the growth that comes from God.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental principles of this world, why are you living in the world as if you were subject to it? 21 “Do not handle!” “Do not taste!” “Do not touch!” 22 All this refers to things that perish as they are used. They are simply human commands and teachings. 23 Rules of this type indeed appear to be wise in promoting self-imposed piety, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they are of no value in combating the flesh.
7 Therefore, Jesus spoke to them again,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
8 All who came before me
were thieves and bandits,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 “I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me
will be saved.
He will go in and out
and will find pasture.
10 “A thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come
that they may have life,
and have it in abundance.
11 “I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired hand,
who is not the shepherd
nor the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf approaching,
and he leaves the sheep and runs away,
while the wolf catches and scatters them.
13 He runs away
because he is only a hired hand
and he has no concern for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd.
I know my own,
and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father.
And I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 “I have other sheep too
that do not belong to this fold.
I must lead them as well,
and they will hear my voice.
Thus, there will only be one flock,
one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
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