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 114[a]
114 When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,[b]
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
3 The sea looked and fled;[c]
the Jordan River[d] turned back.[e]
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.[f]
5 Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
like lambs, O hills?
7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord—
before the God of Jacob,
8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,
a hard rock into springs of water.[g]
Psalm 115[h]
115 Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your name bring honor,[i]
for the sake of your loyal love and faithfulness.[j]
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven.
He does whatever he pleases.[k]
4 Their[l] idols are made of silver and gold—
they are man-made.[m]
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
6 ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell,
7 hands, but cannot touch,
feet, but cannot walk.
They cannot even clear their throats.[n]
8 Those who make them will end up[o] like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the Lord.
He is their deliverer[p] and protector.[q]
10 O family[r] of Aaron, trust in the Lord.
He is their deliverer[s] and protector.[t]
11 You loyal followers of the Lord,[u] trust in the Lord.
He is their deliverer[v] and protector.[w]
12 The Lord takes notice of us;[x] he will bless[y]—
he will bless the family[z] of Israel,
he will bless the family of Aaron.
13 He will bless his loyal followers,[aa]
both young and old.[ab]
14 May he increase your numbers,
yours and your children’s.[ac]
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Creator[ad] of heaven and earth.
16 The heavens belong to the Lord,[ae]
but the earth he has given to mankind.[af]
17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death.[ag]
18 But we will praise the Lord
now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
The New Tablets of the Covenant
34 [a] The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out[b] two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write[c] on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed. 2 Be prepared[d] in the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and station yourself[e] for me there on the top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come up with you; do not let anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks or the herds may graze in front of that mountain.” 4 So Moses[f] cut out two tablets of stone like the first;[g] early in the morning he went up[h] to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Lord by name.[i] 6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed:[j] “The Lord, the Lord,[k] the compassionate and gracious[l] God, slow to anger,[m] and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,[n] 7 keeping loyal love for thousands,[o] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression[p] of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses quickly bowed[q] to the ground and worshiped 9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord[r] go among us, for we[s] are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
10 He said, “See, I am going to make[t] a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done[u] in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.[v]
11 “Obey[w] what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out[x] before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Be careful not to make[y] a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare[z] among you. 13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles.[aa] 14 For you must not worship[ab] any other god,[ac] for the Lord, whose name[ad] is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 Be careful[ae] not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when[af] they prostitute themselves[ag] to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you,[ah] you will eat from his sacrifice; 16 and you then take[ai] his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well. 17 You must not make yourselves molten gods.
13 And so[a] we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us,[b] you accepted it not as a human message,[c] but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe. 14 For you became imitators, brothers and sisters,[d] of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets[e] and persecuted us severely.[f] They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people, 16 because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins,[g] but wrath[h] has come upon them completely.[i]
Forced Absence from Thessalonica
17 But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters,[j] for a short time (in presence, not in affection)[k] we became all the more fervent in our great desire[l] to see you in person.[m] 18 For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again)[n] but Satan thwarted us. 19 For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of[o] before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you? 20 For you are our glory and joy!
Anger and Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to an older generation,[a] ‘Do not murder,’[b] and ‘whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.’[c] 22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother[d] will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults[e] a brother will be brought before[f] the council,[g] and whoever says ‘Fool’[h] will be sent[i] to fiery hell.[j] 23 So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift. 25 Reach agreement[k] quickly with your accuser while on the way to court,[l] or he[m] may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth,[n] you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny![o]
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