Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50[a]
A psalm by Asaph.
50 El, God, the Lord[b] has spoken,
and summoned the earth to come from the east and west.[c]
2 From Zion, the most beautiful of all places,[d]
God has come in splendor.[e]
3 “May our God come
and not be silent.”
Consuming fire goes ahead of him,
and all around him a storm rages.[f]
4 He summons the heavens above,
as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people.[g]
5 He says:[h]
“Assemble my covenant people before me,[i]
those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice.”[j]
6 The heavens declare his fairness,[k]
for God is judge.[l] (Selah)
7 He says:[m]
“Listen, my people. I am speaking!
Listen, Israel. I am accusing you.[n]
I am God, your God!
8 I am not condemning[o] you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.[p]
9 I do not need to take[q] a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.[r]
11 I keep track of[s] every bird in the hills,
and the insects[t] of the field are mine.
12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?[u]
14 Present to God a thank offering.
Repay your vows to the Most High.[v]
15 Pray to me when you are in trouble.[w]
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”[x]
16 God says this to the evildoer:[y]
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant?[z]
17 For you hate instruction
and reject my words.[aa]
18 When you see a thief, you join him;[ab]
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives.[ac]
19 You do damage with words,[ad]
and use your tongue to deceive.[ae]
20 You plot against your brother;[af]
you slander your own brother.[ag]
21 When you did these things, I was silent,[ah]
so you thought I was exactly like you.[ai]
But now I will condemn[aj] you
and state my case against you.[ak]
22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God.[al]
Otherwise I will rip you to shreds[am]
and no one will be able to rescue you.
23 Whoever presents a thank offering honors me.[an]
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”[ao]
Psalm 59[a]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a prayer[c] of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him.[d]
59 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
Protect me[e] from those who attack me.[f]
2 Deliver me from evildoers.[g]
Rescue me from violent men.[h]
3 For look, they wait to ambush me;[i]
powerful men stalk[j] me,
but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord.[k]
4 Though I have done nothing wrong,[l] they are anxious to attack.[m]
Spring into action and help me. Take notice of me.[n]
5 You, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,[o] the God of Israel,
rouse yourself and punish[p] all the nations.
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers. (Selah)
6 They return in the evening;
they growl[q] like dogs
and prowl around outside[r] the city.
7 Look, they hurl insults at me
and openly threaten to kill me,[s]
for they say,[t]
“Who hears?”
8 But you, O Lord, laugh in disgust at them;[u]
you taunt[v] all the nations.
9 You are my source of strength. I will wait for you.[w]
For God is my refuge.[x]
10 The God who loves me will help me;[y]
God will enable me to triumph over[z] my enemies.[aa]
11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,
because then my people might forget the lesson.[ab]
Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,
O Lord who shields us.[ac]
12 They speak sinful words.[ad]
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak.
13 Angrily wipe them out. Wipe them out so they vanish.
Let them know that God rules
over Jacob and to the ends of the earth. (Selah)
14 They return in the evening;
they growl[ae] like dogs
and prowl around outside[af] the city.
15 They wander around looking for something to eat;
they refuse to sleep until they are full.[ag]
16 As for me, I will sing about your strength;
I will praise your loyal love in the morning.
For you are my refuge[ah]
and my place of shelter when I face trouble.[ai]
17 You are my source of strength. I will sing praises to you.[aj]
For God is my refuge,[ak] the God who loves me.[al]
Psalm 60[am]
For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;[an] a prayer[ao] of David written to instruct others.[ap] It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down[aq] 12,000 Edomites[ar] in the Valley of Salt.[as]
60 O God, you have rejected us.[at]
You suddenly turned on us in your anger.[au]
Please restore us![av]
2 You made the earth quake; you split it open.[aw]
Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall.[ax]
3 You have made your people experience hard times;[ay]
you have made us drink intoxicating wine.[az]
4 You have given your loyal followers[ba] a rallying flag,
so that they might seek safety from the bow.[bb] (Selah)
5 Deliver by your power[bc] and answer me,[bd]
so that the ones you love may be safe.[be]
6 God has spoken in his sanctuary:[bf]
“I will triumph. I will parcel out Shechem;
the Valley of Sukkoth I will measure off.[bg]
7 Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh.[bh]
Ephraim is my helmet,[bi]
Judah my royal scepter.[bj]
8 Moab is my washbasin.[bk]
I will make Edom serve me.[bl]
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”[bm]
9 Who will lead me into the fortified city?
Who will bring me to Edom?[bn]
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.
11 Give us help against the enemy,
for any help men might offer is futile.[bo]
12 By God’s power we will conquer;[bp]
he will trample down[bq] our enemies.
Psalm 118[a]
118 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.[b]
2 Let Israel say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
3 Let the family[c] of Aaron say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
4 Let the loyal followers of the Lord[d] say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
5 In my distress[e] I cried out to the Lord.
The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place.[f]
6 The Lord is on my side;[g] I am not afraid.
What can people do to me?[h]
7 The Lord is on my side[i] as my helper.[j]
I look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take shelter[k] in the Lord
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take shelter in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me.[l]
Indeed, in the name of the Lord[m] I pushed them away.[n]
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
12 They surrounded me like bees.
But they disappeared as quickly[o] as a fire among thorns.[p]
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
13 “You aggressively attacked me[q] and tried to knock me down,[r]
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me;[s]
he has become my deliverer.”[t]
15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly.[u]
The Lord’s right hand conquers.[v]
16 The Lord’s right hand gives victory;[w]
the Lord’s right hand conquers.
17 I will not die, but live,
and I will proclaim what the Lord has done.[x]
18 The Lord severely[y] punished me,
but he did not hand me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple.[z]
I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate—
the godly enter through it.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me,
and have become my deliverer.
22 The stone that the builders discarded[aa]
has become the cornerstone.[ab]
23 This is the Lord’s work.
We consider it amazing![ac]
24 This is the day the Lord has brought about.[ad]
We will be happy and rejoice in it.
25 Please, Lord, deliver!
Please, Lord, grant us success![ae]
26 May the one who comes in the name of the Lord[af] be blessed.
We will pronounce blessings on you[ag] in the Lord’s temple.[ah]
27 The Lord is God, and he has delivered us.[ai]
Tie the offering[aj] with ropes
to the horns of the altar.[ak]
28 You are my[al] God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God and I will praise you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good
and his loyal love endures.[am]
15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael.[a] 16 (Now[b] Abram was 86 years old[c] when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.)[d]
The Sign of the Covenant
17 When Abram was 99 years old,[e] the Lord appeared to him and said,[f] “I am the Sovereign God.[g] Walk[h] before me[i] and be blameless.[j] 2 Then I will confirm my covenant[k] between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.”[l]
3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground,[m] and God said to him,[n] 4 “As for me,[o] this[p] is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be[q] Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham[r] because I will make you[s] the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you[t] extremely[u] fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.[v] 7 I will confirm[w] my covenant as a perpetual[x] covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.[y] 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan—the land where you are now residing[z]—to you and your descendants after you as a permanent[aa] possession. I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep[ab] the covenantal requirement[ac] I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep:[ad] Every male among you must be circumcised.[ae] 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder[af] of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old[ag] must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 13 They must indeed be circumcised,[ah] whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant[ai] will be visible in your flesh as a permanent[aj] reminder. 14 Any uncircumcised male[ak] who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off[al] from his people—he has failed to carry out my requirement.”[am]
Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted
10 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.[a] 2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have[b] no further consciousness of sin? 3 But in those sacrifices[c] there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am:[d] I have come—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’”[e]
8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them”[f] (which are offered according to the law), 9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.”[g] He does away with[h] the first to establish the second. 10 By his will[i] we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
30 I can do nothing on my own initiative.[a] Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just,[b] because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.[c]
More Testimony About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another[d] who testifies about me, and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true. 33 You have sent to John,[e] and he has testified to the truth. 34 (I do not accept[f] human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.) 35 He was a lamp that was burning and shining,[g] and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time[h] in his light.
36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds[i] that the Father has assigned me to complete—the deeds[j] I am now doing—testify about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people[k] have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time,[l] 38 nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. 39 You study the scriptures thoroughly[m] because you think in them you possess eternal life,[n] and it is these same scriptures[o] that testify about me, 40 but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
41 “I do not accept[p] praise[q] from people,[r] 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God[s] within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept[t] me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept[u] him. 44 How can you believe, if you accept praise[v] from one another and don’t seek the praise[w] that comes from the only God?[x]
45 “Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.[y] 46 If[z] you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what Moses[aa] wrote, how will you believe my words?”
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