Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50
The Folly of Formalistic Worship
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.[a]
The Summons
1 God, God the Lord, has spoken.
He calls to the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.
3 Our God comes and he will not be silent.
Fire devours in front of him.
Around him a storm rages.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth
to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my favored ones,
who make a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 So the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
because God himself is judge. Interlude
The Lord’s Charges Against Them
7 Listen, my people, and let me speak, O Israel.
Then I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
Hypocritical Sacrifices Are Useless
8 It is not because of your sacrifices that I rebuke you
or because of your burnt offerings that are always in front of me.
9 I do not need to take a bull from your barn
or goats from your pens,
10 because every animal in the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand mountains.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and everything that moves in the field is with me.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
because the world is mine, and all that fills it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or do I drink the blood of goats?
Sincere Sacrifices Bring Blessing
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of distress.
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Treacherous Deeds Bring Destruction
16 But to the wicked, God says:
What right do you have to recite my statutes
or to take up my covenant with your mouth?
17 As for you—you hate discipline,
and you throw my words behind your back.
18 If you see a thief, you approve of him,
and you cast your lot with adulterers.
19 You devote your mouth to evil,
and your tongue weaves deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother.
You slander your own mother’s son.
The Verdict
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent.
You thought I was just like you.
I will indict you and accuse you to your face.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces,
and there will be no one to rescue you.
The Way to Escape
23 The one who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,
and he sets up the way by which I will show him the salvation of God.
Psalm 59
They Lie in Wait
Heading
For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[a] By David. A miktam.
When Saul had sent men, and they watched the house to kill David.[b]
Opening Plea
1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
You set me high above those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers.
Save me from bloodthirsty men.
The Viciousness of the Enemy
3 Yes, look how they lie in ambush to take my life!
Strong men gather against me,
but it is not because I have rebelled,
not because I have sinned, O Lord.
4 I am not guilty,
yet they run to take up their positions against me.
Rise up to meet me and see!
5 You, O Lord, God of Armies, the God of Israel,
wake up and confront all the nations. Interlude
Do not show mercy to all the wicked traitors.
6 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
7 Look, they gush from their mouths.
Their lips are swords,
so they say, “Who hears?”
Conclusion and Refrain
8 But you laugh at them, Lord.
You scoff at all those nations.
9 O my Strength, I watch for you,
because God is my high fortress.
Confidence
10 My merciful God will go ahead of me.
God will make me look down on those who slander me.
The Judgment on the Enemies
11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget.
In your might make them wander about.
Bring them down, O Lord, our shield.
12 The sin of their mouth is the words of their lips,
so let them be caught in their pride,
because of the curses and lies they proclaim.
13 Consume them in wrath.
Consume them till they are no more.
Then they will know to the ends of the earth Interlude
that God rules over Jacob.
14 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
15 They wander about for food.
If not satisfied, they howl.
Conclusion and Refrain
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will shout about your mercy,
because you are a high fortress for me,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, to you I make music,
because God is my high fortress, my merciful God.
Psalm 60
You Have Rejected Us
(Psalm 60:5-12 parallels Psalm 108:6-13)
Heading
For the choir director. “The Lily of Testimony.”[c] A miktam by David.
For teaching. When he waged war against Aram Naharaim and against Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt.[d]
David’s Prayer
1 God, you have rejected us.
You have broken us down.
You have been angry. Return to us!
2 You have shaken the earth. You have torn it open.
Heal its fractures, for it is about to collapse.
3 You have made your people suffer hardship.
You gave us wine to drink that makes us stagger.
4 You have set up a signal flag for those who fear you, Interlude
to be raised up against the bow.[e]
5 Save us with your right hand and answer us,
so that those you love may be delivered.
God’s Reply
6 God has spoken in his holiness:[f]
“I will triumph. I will distribute Shechem,
and I will measure off the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim is my helmet. Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin. On Edom I toss my sandal.
I shout aloud over Philistia.”[g][h]
David’s Prayer
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 God, is it not you, who have rejected us?
God, is it not you, who no longer go out with our armies?
11 Give us help against the foe,
for human help is worthless.
12 In God we will do mighty deeds.
He is the one who will trample our foes.
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.
15 Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael for him.
The Covenant of Circumcision
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will make your descendants very numerous.”
3 Abram fell on his face. God spoke with him. He said, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. 5 Your name will not be Abram anymore, but your name will be Abraham,[a] for I have made you the father of a large group of nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful, and I will produce nations from you. Kings will come out of you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you as an everlasting covenant throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give the land where you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, to you and to your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, a covenant between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised by cutting the foreskin off your flesh. It will be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Every boy among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether he is born in your house or purchased with money[b] from any foreigner who is not descended from you. 13 Every male who is born in your house or one who is purchased with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked on your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised by removing the foreskin from his flesh, that person must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
Animal Sacrifices Are Not Sufficient
10 In fact, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things. It will never be able to make perfect those who continually offer the same sacrifices year after year. 2 If it could do this, would they not have stopped bringing sacrifices, because the worshippers, once they were cleansed, would no longer have a bad conscience about sins? 3 Instead, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 The fact is that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.
5 Therefore when he entered the world, Christ said:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you prepared a body for me.
6 You were not pleased
with burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, “Here I am.
I have come to do your will, God.
In the scroll of the book it is written about me.”[a]
8 First he said:
Sacrifices and offerings that were offered according to the law,
both burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you did not desire,
and you were not pleased with them.[b]
9 Then he said:
Here I am.
I have come to do your will.[c]
He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.
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.