Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 87
The Glorious City
Heading
By the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
The Holy City
1 The city he founded is on the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Interlude
3 Glorious things are spoken about you, O City of God.
Its Citizens
4 I will register Rahab[a] and Babylon among those who know me.
Look! Philistia and Tyre are there, along with Cush!
Of them I say, “This one was born there in Zion.”[b]
5 And about Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 When he registers the peoples,
the Lord will write: Interlude
“This one was born there.”
7 Then the singers, as they dance, will sing,
“All my springs are in you.”
Book IV
Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90
Teach Us to Number Our Days
Heading
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
God Is Eternal
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity you are God.
Man Is Mortal
3 You grind people to dust,
and you say, “Return, children of Adam.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day,
like yesterday that has gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away like a flood.
They are like sleep in the morning,
like grass which changes quickly.
6 In the morning it sprouts and grows.
By evening it is cut down, and it withers.
7 Surely, we are consumed by your anger,
and by your wrath we are terrified.
8 You have laid out our guilty deeds in front of you.
Our hidden sins are revealed in the light of your face.
9 For all our days pass away under your fury.
We finish our years like a sigh.
10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years,
or eighty years if we are strong.
Yet the best of them are trouble and sorrow,
for they disappear quickly, and we fly away.
11 Who can understand the power of your anger?
But your fury is consistent with the fear that is owed to you.
Mortal Man Needs God’s Grace
12 Teach us to number our days in such a way
that we bring a heart of wisdom.
13 Turn, O Lord! How long!
Change your mind toward your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy,
so that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 Let your deeds be seen by your servants
and your majesty by their children.
17 May the kindness of the Lord our God rest upon us.
Establish the work of our hands for us.
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalm 136
His Mercy Endures Forever
Introduction
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
For his mercy endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of Gods.
For his mercy endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords.
For his mercy endures forever.
His Creating Love
4 To him who alone does great wonders—[a]
For his mercy endures forever.
5 To him who by his understanding made the heavens—
For his mercy endures forever.
6 To him who spread out the earth on the waters—
For his mercy endures forever.
7 To him who made the great lights,
For his mercy endures forever.
8 the sun to rule by day,
For his mercy endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to rule by night—
For his mercy endures forever.
His Redeeming Love
10 To him who struck Egypt by killing their firstborn,
For his mercy endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from their midst,
For his mercy endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm—
For his mercy endures forever.
13 To him who cut the Red Sea in two,
For his mercy endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the middle of it,
For his mercy endures forever.
15 but brushed off Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea—
For his mercy endures forever.
16 To him who made his people travel through the wilderness—
For his mercy endures forever.
17 To him who struck down great kings,
For his mercy endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings,
For his mercy endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites,
For his mercy endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan,
For his mercy endures forever.
21 and gave their land as a possession,
For his mercy endures forever.
22 a possession to his servant Israel.
For his mercy endures forever.
His Continuing Love
23 Who remembered us in our low condition,
For his mercy endures forever.
24 and tore us out of the hands of our oppressors.
For his mercy endures forever.
25 He gives food to all living creatures.[b]
For his mercy endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of the heavens.
For his mercy endures forever.
27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they acquired possessions for themselves there. They were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. 29 The time drew near that Israel must die, so he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truthfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fathers, you are to carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”
He said, “I will do as you have said.”
31 He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the head post of the bed.[a]
Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
48 Sometime after these things Joseph was told, “Come right away. Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. 2 Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you,” so Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you into a community of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’ 5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, will be counted as mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will count as my sons the same as Reuben and Simeon. 6 Your sons that you father after them will count as your own. For receiving their inheritance they will be registered under the name of their brothers. 7 As for me, when I came back from Paddan, to my loss[b] Rachel died on the journey in the land of Canaan when we were still some distance from Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”
A Lesson From Sacred History: Be Careful Not to Fall
10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ! 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. He had them die in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did. 7 Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.”[a] 8 And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9 Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 All[b] these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.
12 So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. 13 No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.
Commandments and Traditions
7 The Pharisees and some of the experts in the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands. 3 In fact, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they scrub their hands with a fist,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions they adhere to, such as the washing[c] of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.[d] 5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead they eat bread with unclean hands.”
6 He answered them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written:
These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they
were doctrines.[e]
8 “You abandon God’s commandment but hold to human tradition like the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”[f] 9 He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside God’s commandment to keep[g] your own tradition. 10 For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[h] and ‘Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother must be put to death.’[i] 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you might have received from me is corban”’[j] (which means an offering), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. You do many things like that.”
14 He called the crowd to him again and said, “Everyone, listen to me and understand. 15 There is nothing outside of a man that can make him unclean by going into him. But the things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”[k]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered a house, his disciples asked him about this illustration. 18 He said, “Are you lacking in understanding too? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unclean? 19 For it does not enter his heart but goes into his stomach and goes out of him into the latrine—in this way all foods are purified.”[l]
20 He continued, “What comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean. 21 In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.