Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 75
The God of History
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For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[a] A psalm by Asaph. A song.
Opening Praise
1 We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks.
Your wonderful deeds reveal that your name is near.
God’s Declaration
2 Yes, I choose the appointed time.
I am the one who judges rightly.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking.
I am the one who holds its pillars firm. Interlude
4 I say to the boasters, “Do not boast,”
and to the wicked, “Do not raise a horn.[b]
5 Do not raise your horns to the heights.
Do not speak insolently with an outstretched neck.”
His People’s Response
6 Indeed, power to promote someone does not come
from the east or from the west or from the wilderness.
7 No, it is God who makes the decision.
He brings down one. He raises up another.
8 Indeed, a cup is in the hand of the Lord.
The wine foams. It is fully mixed.
He pours this out.
Yes, they drain its dregs.
All the wicked of the earth drink.
Closing Praise
9 As for me, I will proclaim this forever.
I will make music for the God of Jacob.
10 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked.
The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
Psalm 76
The God of Victory
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For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A psalm by Asaph. A song.
God’s Fame
1 God is known in Judah. In Israel his name is great.
2 His shelter is in Salem. His dwelling place is in Zion.
God’s Victory
3 There he broke the flaming arrows, Interlude
the shield and the sword, and the weapons for battle.
4 You shine brightly as the Mighty One from the mountains full of prey.
5 The strong-hearted are plundered.
They have fallen into their final sleep.
Not one of the strong men can lift his hands.
6 At your rebuke,[c] O God of Jacob, both chariot and horses sleep.
7 You are to be feared, yes, you.
Who can stand before you at the time of your wrath?
8 From heaven you announced judgment.
The earth feared and was quiet
9 when you rose up to judge, O God, Interlude
and to save all the afflicted of the earth.
God’s Fame
10 Even the wrath of mankind[d] will bring you praise.
You wear what remains of your wrath like a belt.
11 Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them.
Let all who are around him bring tribute to the one who is fearsome.
12 He restrains the spirit of nobles.
He is fearsome against the kings of the earth.
Psalm 23
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
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A psalm by David.
The Shepherd Provides for His People
1 The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
2 He causes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
The Shepherd Protects His People
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
The Royal Host Provides for His People
Psalm 27
The Stronghold of My Life
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By David.
Safe in God’s Stronghold
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers advance against me to eat my flesh,
when my foes and my enemies come against me,
it is they who will stumble and fall.
3 If an army lines up against me, my heart will not fear.
If war rises against me, even then I will keep trusting.
Happy in God’s Temple
4 One thing I ask from the Lord. This is what I seek:
that I live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord,
and to seek him in his temple.[a]
5 Yes, he will hide me in his shelter on the day of trouble.
He will hide me in his tent.
He will set me high on a rock.
6 Then my head will be lifted up above the enemies who surround me.
I will offer sacrifices at his tent with a joyful shout.
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Confident in Prayer
7 Hear me, O Lord. With my voice I call.
Be merciful to me and answer me.
8 When you say, “Seek my face,” my heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my help.
Do not reject me or forsake me, O God who saves me.
10 If my father and my mother abandoned me,
the Lord would take me in.
Walking in God’s Path
11 Lord, teach me your way,
and lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.
12 Do not give me up to the desire of my foes,
because false witnesses rise up against me,
and so do those who breathe out violence.
At Home in God’s Land
13 Unless I was confident to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living—[b]
14 Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart,
and wait for the Lord!
28 The young lady ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the spring to meet the man. 30 When he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and after he heard the words from Rebekah his sister, who said, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to find the man. And there he was, standing next to the camels by the spring. 31 Laban said, “Come with me, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing outside when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”
32 The man came to the house and unloaded the camels. Laban gave him straw and feed for the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have delivered my message.”
Laban said, “Tell us.”
34 He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. The Lord has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. 36 Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son for my master when she was old. My master has given him everything that he owns. 37 My master made me take an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I am living. 38 Instead, you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives and acquire a wife for my son.’
49 Now if you will show mercy and faithfulness to my master here, tell me. If not, tell me, so that I may know whether to turn to the right or to the left.”
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “This matter has been determined by the Lord. We cannot say anything to you either bad or good. 51 Look, Rebekah is right here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
12 Therefore strengthen your weak hands and feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed.
14 Pursue peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15 Take care so that no one falls short of God’s grace and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and so defile many. 16 Take care that no one becomes sexually immoral or worldly, like Esau, who gave away his right as firstborn for a single meal. 17 Certainly you know that afterward he was rejected when he wanted to inherit the blessing, for he found no chance to change his father’s mind, even though he sought it with tears.
You Have Come to Mount Zion
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched[a] and to burning fire, to darkness, to gloom, to a raging storm, 19 to the sound of a trumpet, and to a voice that spoke. Those who heard the voice asked that not one more word be added, 20 because they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”[b] 21 The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[c]
22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God; to the heavenly Jerusalem; to tens of thousands of angels in joyful assembly; 23 to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven; to God, who is the judge of all; to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect; 24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new testament;[d] and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse to listen to the one who is speaking. For if those people did not escape when they refused to listen to the one who spoke God’s message on earth, how much less likely is it that we will escape, if we turn away from the one who spoke God’s message to us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”[e]
27 The words “once more” clearly indicate the removal of the things that are being shaken, that is, the things that have been made, so that the things that cannot be shaken remain permanently. 28 Therefore, since we are going to receive an unshakeable kingdom, let us be thankful. This is how we serve God in an acceptable way, with reverence and awe. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
14 When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, “How does this man know what is written without being instructed?”
16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but it comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or if I speak on my own. 18 The one who speaks on his own is seeking his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—that is the one who is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you does what the law tells you. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you are all amazed. 22 Consider this: Because Moses has given you circumcision (not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers), you circumcise a man even on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by outward appearance. Instead make a right judgment.”
25 Some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? 26 Yet, look! He’s speaking openly, and they don’t say a thing to him. Certainly the rulers have not concluded that he is the Christ, have they? 27 But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then Jesus called out as he was teaching in the temple courts, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is real. You do not know him. 29 I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”
30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31 But many in the crowd believed in him and asked, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more miraculous signs than this man, will he?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.
33 Then Jesus said, “I am going to be with you only a little while longer. Then I am going away to the one who sent me. 34 You will be looking for me and will not find me, and where I am going to be, you cannot come.”
35 Then the Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He does not intend to go to the Jews scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will be looking for me and will not find me, and where I am going to be, you cannot come’?”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.