Book of Common Prayer
Mem: Sweeter Than Honey
97 How I love your laws!
I meditate on them all day long.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
because it is always with me.
99 I have more wisdom than all my teachers,
because your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
because I guard your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet off every evil path
in order to keep your words.
102 I have not turned from your judgments,
because you yourself have instructed me.
103 How sweet are your sayings to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 From your precepts I gain understanding.
Therefore, I hate every false road.
Nun: A Lamp for My Feet
105 Your words are a lamp for my feet
and a light for my path.
106 I have sworn and affirmed
that I will keep your righteous judgments.
107 I have suffered much.
Lord, give me life according to your words.
108 Lord, please accept the willing praise from my mouth,
and teach me your judgments.
109 I take my life in my hands constantly,
but I will not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a snare for me,
but I have not wandered from your precepts.
111 I have inherited your testimonies forever.
Yes, they are the joy of my heart.
112 I turn my heart to do your statutes,
forever, right to the end.
Samekh: Get Away From Me, You Evildoers
113 I hate the doubleminded, but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield.
I wait confidently for your word.
115 Get away from me, you evildoers,
so that I may guard the commandments of my God!
116 Sustain me according to your sayings, and I will live.
Do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
117 Hold me up, and I will be saved.
Then I will always have regard for your statutes.
118 You reject all who stray from your statutes,
because their deceitfulness is built on a lie.[a]
119 You discard all the wicked of the earth like slag.
Therefore, I love your testimonies.
120 My flesh trembles because I am afraid of you,
because I fear your judgments.
Psalm 81
If Only
Heading
For the choir director. According to gittith.[a] By Asaph.
Invitation to Worship
1 Sing a loud song to God, our strength.
Shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, and play the hand drum.
Play the sweet-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon
and at the full moon for our festival day.
4 Yes, this is an order for Israel,
a regulation from the God of Jacob.
5 God established it as a testimony for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
There I heard a language I did not know.[b]
A Warning From the Lord
6 The Lord says:
I relieved Israel’s shoulders from the burden.
His hands were set free from carrying buckets.
7 In distress you called and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder. Interlude
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
If only you would listen to me, Israel!
9 There shall be no foreign god among you!
You shall not bow down to a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not listen to my voice,
and Israel was not willing to obey me.
12 So I sent them off in the stubbornness of their hearts.
They walked according to their own plans.
13 If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,
14 I would subdue their enemies quickly.
I would turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cower before him,
and their time of punishment would last forever.
16 But he would feed Israel with the best wheat.
With honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
Psalm 82
Woe to Corrupt Rulers
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.
Judgment on Corrupt Rulers
1 God is standing in the assembly of God.
In the midst of the gods[c] he renders judgment.
God’s Verdict
2 How long will you judge unjustly Interlude
and show favoritism to the wicked?
3 Judge in favor of the weak and the fatherless.
Acquit the oppressed and the poor.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know. They do not understand.
They walk around in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I myself said, “You are ‘gods,’
and you are all ‘sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like men.
You will fall like any other ruler.”
Prayer
8 Rise up, O God. Judge the earth,
for you will take possession of all the nations.
16 This report was heard in Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” This pleased Pharaoh and his officials.
17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Load your animals. Travel quickly to the land of Canaan. 18 Get your father and your households, and return to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the rich food of the land. 19 Now I command you to do this: Take carts[a] from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father here. 20 Also, do not worry about your belongings, for the best of the whole land of Egypt is yours.’”
21 So that is what the sons of Israel did. Joseph gave them carts as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them supplies for the journey. 22 He gave each one of them a change of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. 23 He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and supplies for his father on the journey. 24 So he dismissed his brothers, and they departed. He said to them, “See to it that you do not quarrel on the way.”
25 They went up from Egypt and came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned[b] because he did not believe them. 27 They told Jacob every word that Joseph had said to them. When he saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
28 Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Love Builds Up
8 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows something, he does not yet know the way he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this person has been known[a] by him.
4 So, concerning the eating of food from idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is not anything real in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 Indeed, even if there are so-called “gods,” whether in the heavens or on earth (as in fact there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 nevertheless for us there is one God—the Father, from whom all things exist and we exist for him—and one Lord—Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist and we exist through him.
7 However, that knowledge is not in everyone. Instead some, who are still affected by their former habit with the idol, eat the food as something sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 Food will not bring us closer to God. We do not lack anything if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. 9 And be careful that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, a person who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of this man, weak as he is, be emboldened to eat food from an idol sacrifice? 11 You see, the weak person is being destroyed by your knowledge—the brother for whose sake Christ died! 12 And when you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I do not cause my brother to sin.
13 They also drove out many demons. They anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Recalling the Death of John the Baptizer
14 King Herod heard about this because Jesus’ name had become well known. Herod was saying, “John the Baptizer has been raised from the dead! That is why these powers are at work in him.”
15 But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
16 When Herod heard this, he said, “This is John, the man I beheaded. He was raised.” 17 For it was Herod who had sent men to arrest John. He had him bound in prison because Herod had married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 18 Indeed, John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19 Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to put him to death, but she could not, 20 because Herod feared John. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man, so he kept him safe. When Herod listened to John, he was perplexed in many ways, yet he gladly kept listening to him.
21 An opportune day came when it was Herod’s birthday. He gave a banquet for his nobles, the military officers, and the prominent men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” 23 With an oath he promised her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.”
24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”
Herodias said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”
25 The girl hurried right back to the king and made her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter right now.”
26 The king was very sad. But because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 The king sent an executioner at once and ordered him to bring John’s head. He went, beheaded John in prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.
29 When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.