Book of Common Prayer
God Wants True Worship
A psalm of Asaph.
50 The God of gods, the Lord, speaks.
He calls the earth from the rising to the setting sun.
2 God shines from Jerusalem,
whose beauty is perfect.
3 Our God comes, and he will not be silent.
A fire burns in front of him,
and a powerful storm surrounds him.
4 He calls to the sky above and to the earth
that he might judge his people.
5 He says, “Gather around, you who worship me,
who have made an agreement with me, using a sacrifice.”
6 God is the judge,
and even the skies say he is right. Selah
7 God says, “My people, listen to me;
Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 I do not scold you for your sacrifices.
You always bring me your burnt offerings.
9 But I do not need bulls from your stalls
or goats from your pens,
10 because every animal of the forest is already mine.
The cattle on a thousand hills are mine.
11 I know every bird on the mountains,
and every living thing in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
because the earth and everything in it are mine.
13 I don’t eat the meat of bulls
or drink the blood of goats.
14 Give an offering to show thanks to God.
Give God Most High what you have promised.
15 Call to me in times of trouble.
I will save you, and you will honor me.”
16 But God says to the wicked,
“Why do you talk about my laws?
Why do you mention my agreement?
17 You hate my teachings
and turn your back on what I say.
18 When you see a thief, you join him.
You take part in adultery.
19 You don’t stop your mouth from speaking evil,
and your tongue makes up lies.
20 You speak against your brother
and lie about your mother’s son.
21 I have kept quiet while you did these things,
so you thought I was just like you.
But I will scold you
and accuse you to your face.
22 “Think about this, you who forget God.
Otherwise, I will tear you apart,
and no one will save you.
23 Those people honor me
who bring me offerings to show thanks.
And I, God, will save those who do that.”
A Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A miktam of David when Saul sent men to watch David’s house to kill him.
59 God, save me from my enemies.
Protect me from those who come against me.
2 Save me from those who do evil
and from murderers.
3 Look, they are waiting to ambush me.
Cruel people attack me,
but I have not sinned or done wrong, Lord.
4 I have done nothing wrong, but they are ready to attack me.
Wake up to help me, and look.
5 You are the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel.
Arise and punish those people.
Do not give those traitors any mercy. Selah
6 They come back at night.
Like dogs they growl and roam around the city.
7 Notice what comes from their mouths.
Insults come from their lips,
because they say, “Who’s listening?”
8 But, Lord, you laugh at them;
you make fun of all of them.
9 God, my strength, I am looking to you,
because God is my defender.
10 My God loves me, and he goes in front of me.
He will help me defeat my enemies.
11 Lord, our protector, do not kill them, or my people will forget.
With your power scatter them and defeat them.
12 They sin by what they say;
they sin with their words.
They curse and tell lies,
so let their pride trap them.
13 Destroy them in your anger;
destroy them completely!
Then they will know
that God rules over Israel
and to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 They come back at night.
Like dogs they growl
and roam around the city.
15 They wander about looking for food,
and they howl if they do not find enough.
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will sing about your love.
You are my defender,
my place of safety in times of trouble.
17 God, my strength, I will sing praises to you.
God, my defender, you are the God who loves me.
A Prayer After a Defeat
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lily of the Agreement.” A miktam of David. For teaching. When David fought the Arameans of Northwest Mesopotamia and Zobah, and when Joab returned and defeated twelve thousand Edomites at the Valley of Salt.
60 God, you have rejected us and scattered us.
You have been angry, but please come back to us.
2 You made the earth shake and crack.
Heal its breaks because it is shaking.
3 You have given your people trouble.
You made us unable to walk straight, like people drunk with wine.
4 You have raised a banner to gather those who fear you.
Now they can stand up against the enemy. Selah
5 Answer us and save us by your power
so the people you love will be rescued.
6 God has said from his Temple,
“When I win, I will divide Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead and Manasseh are mine.
Ephraim is like my helmet.
Judah holds my royal scepter.
8 Moab is like my washbowl.
I throw my sandals at Edom.
I shout at Philistia.”
9 Who will bring me to the strong, walled city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 God, surely you have rejected us;
you do not go out with our armies.
11 Help us fight the enemy.
Human help is useless,
12 but we can win with God’s help.
He will defeat our enemies.
Thanksgiving for Victory
118 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 Let the people of Israel say,
“His love continues forever.”
3 Let the family of Aaron say,
“His love continues forever.”
4 Let those who respect the Lord say,
“His love continues forever.”
5 I was in trouble, so I called to the Lord.
The Lord answered me and set me free.
6 I will not be afraid, because the Lord is with me.
People can’t do anything to me.
7 The Lord is with me to help me,
so I will see my enemies defeated.
8 It is better to trust the Lord
than to trust people.
9 It is better to trust the Lord
than to trust princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but I defeated them in the name of the Lord.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but with the Lord’s power I defeated them.
12 They surrounded me like a swarm of bees,
but they died as quickly as thorns burn.
By the Lord’s power, I defeated them.
13 They chased me until I was almost defeated,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord gives me strength and a song.
He has saved me.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
come from the tents of those who do right:
“The Lord has done powerful things.”
16 The power of the Lord has won the victory;
with his power the Lord has done mighty things.
17 I will not die, but live,
and I will tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has taught me a hard lesson,
but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the Temple gates.
Then I will come in and thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
only those who are good may enter through it.
21 Lord, I thank you for answering me.
You have saved me.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
23 The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad today!
25 Please, Lord, save us;
please, Lord, give us success.
26 God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless all of you from the Temple of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God,
and he has shown kindness to us.
With branches in your hands, join the feast.
Come to the corners of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will thank you;
you are my God, and I will praise your greatness.
29 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
15 Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Proof of the Agreement
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Obey me and do what is right. 2 I will make an agreement between us, and I will make you the ancestor of many people.”
3 Then Abram bowed facedown on the ground. God said to him, 4 “I am making my agreement with you: I will make you the father of many nations. 5 I am changing your name from Abram[a] to Abraham[b] because I am making you a father of many nations. 6 I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. 7 And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. 8 You live in the land of Canaan now as a stranger, but I will give you and your descendants all this land forever. And I will be the God of your descendants.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “You and your descendants must keep this agreement from now on. 10 This is my agreement with you and all your descendants, which you must obey: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 Cut away your foreskin to show that you are prepared to follow the agreement between me and you. 12 From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave, who is not one of your descendants. 13 Circumcise every baby boy whether he is born in your family or bought as a slave. Your bodies will be marked to show that you are part of my agreement that lasts forever. 14 Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my agreement.”
10 The law is only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future; it is not the real thing. The people under the law offer the same sacrifices every year, but these sacrifices can never make perfect those who come near to worship God. 2 If the law could make them perfect, the sacrifices would have already stopped. The worshipers would be made clean, and they would no longer have a sense of sin. 3 But these sacrifices remind them of their sins every year, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 So when Christ came into the world, he said:
“You do not want sacrifices and offerings,
but you have prepared a body for me.
6 You do not ask for burnt offerings
and offerings to take away sins.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come.
It is written about me in the book.
God, I have come to do what you want.’” Psalm 40:6–8
8 In this Scripture he first said, “You do not want sacrifices and offerings. You do not ask for burnt offerings and offerings to take away sins.” (These are all sacrifices that the law commands.) 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do what you want.” God ends the first system of sacrifices so he can set up the new system. 10 And because of this, we are made holy through the sacrifice Christ made in his body once and for all time.
Jesus Is God’s Son
30 “I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told, so my judgment is fair. I don’t try to please myself, but I try to please the One who sent me.
31 “If only I tell people about myself, what I say is not true. 32 But there is another who tells about me, and I know that the things he says about me are true.
33 “You have sent people to John, and he has told you the truth. 34 It is not that I need what humans say; I tell you this so you can be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were happy to enjoy his light for a while.
36 “But I have a proof about myself that is greater than that of John. The things I do, which are the things my Father gave me to do, prove that the Father sent me. 37 And the Father himself who sent me has given proof about me. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like. 38 His teaching does not live in you, because you don’t believe in the One the Father sent. 39 You carefully study the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. They do in fact tell about me, 40 but you refuse to come to me to have that life.
41 “I don’t need praise from people. 42 But I know you—I know that you don’t have God’s love in you. 43 I have come from my Father and speak for him, but you don’t accept me. But when another person comes, speaking only for himself, you will accept him. 44 You try to get praise from each other, but you do not try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe? 45 Don’t think that I will stand before the Father and say you are wrong. The one who says you are wrong is Moses, the one you hoped would save you. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how can you believe what I say?”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.