Book of Common Prayer
A psalm by Asaph.
50 The Lord, the only true God, has spoken.
He has summoned the earth
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
2 God shines from Zion,
the perfection of beauty.
3 Our God will come and will not remain silent.
A devouring fire is in front of him
and a raging storm around him.
4 He summons heaven and earth to judge his people:
5 “Gather around me, my godly people
who have made a pledge to me through sacrifices.”
6 The heavens announce his righteousness
because God is the judge. Selah
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak.
Listen, Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God!
8 I am not criticizing you for your sacrifices or burnt offerings,
which are always in front of me.
9 ⌞But⌟ I will not accept ⌞another⌟ young bull from your household
or a single male goat from your pens.
10 Every creature in the forest,
⌞even⌟ the cattle on a thousand hills, is mine.
11 I know every bird in the mountains.
Everything that moves in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
because the world and all that it contains are mine.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 Bring ⌞your⌟ thanks to God as a sacrifice,
and keep your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in times of trouble.
I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
16 But God says to wicked people,
“How dare you quote my decrees
and mouth my promises! [a]
17 You hate discipline.
You toss my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you want to make friends with him.
You keep company with people who commit adultery.
19 You let your mouth say anything evil.
Your tongue plans deceit.
20 You sit and talk against your own brother.
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things, I remained silent.
⌞That⌟ made you think I was like you.
I will argue my point with you
and lay it all out for you to see.
22 Consider this, you people who forget God.
Otherwise, I will tear you to pieces,
and there will be no one left to rescue you.
23 Whoever offers thanks as a sacrifice honors me.
I will let everyone who continues in my way
see the salvation that comes from God.”
For the choir director; al tashcheth; a miktam by David when Saul sent men to watch David’s home and kill him.
59 Rescue me from my enemies, O my God.
Protect me from those who attack me.
2 Rescue me from troublemakers.
Save me from bloodthirsty people.
3 They lie in ambush for me right here!
Fierce men attack me, O Lord,
but not because of any disobedience,
4 or any sin, or any guilt on my part.
They hurry to take positions against me.
Wake up, and help me; see ⌞for yourself⌟.
5 O Lord God of Armies, God of Israel,
arise to punish all the nations.
Have no pity on any traitors. Selah
6 They return in the evening.
They howl like dogs.
They prowl the city.
7 See what pours out of their mouths—
swords from their lips!
⌞They think,⌟ “Who will hear us?”
8 O Lord, you laugh at them.
You make fun of all the nations.
9 O my strength, I watch for you!
God is my stronghold, my merciful God!
10 God will come to meet me.
He will let me gloat over those who spy on me.
11 Do not kill them.
Otherwise, my people may forget.
Make them wander aimlessly by your power.
Bring them down, O Lord, our shield,
12 ⌞because of⌟ the sins from their mouths
and the words on their lips.
Let them be trapped by their own arrogance
because they speak curses and lies.
13 Destroy them in your rage.
Destroy them until not one of them is left.
Then they will know that God rules Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 They return in the evening.
They howl like dogs.
They prowl the city.
15 They wander around to find something to eat.
If they are not full enough,
they will stay all night.
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will joyfully sing about your mercy.
You have been my stronghold
and a place of safety in times of trouble.
17 O my strength, I will make music to praise you!
God is my stronghold, my merciful God!
For the choir director; according to shushan eduth; [a] a miktam by David; for teaching. When David fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and ⌞when⌟ Joab came back and killed 12,000 men from Edom in the Dead Sea region.
60 O God, you have rejected us.
You have broken down our defenses.
You have been angry.
Restore us!
2 You made the land quake.
You split it wide open.
Heal the cracks in it
because it is falling apart.
3 You have made your people experience hardships.
You have given us wine that makes us stagger.
4 Yet, you have raised a flag for those who fear you
so that they can rally to it
when attacked by bows ⌞and arrows⌟. Selah
5 Save ⌞us⌟ with your powerful hand, and answer us
so that those who are dear to you may be rescued.[b]
6 God has promised the following through his holiness:
“I will triumph!
I will divide Shechem.
I will measure the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine.
Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim is the helmet on my head.
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washtub.
I will throw my shoe over Edom.
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Isn’t it you, O God, who rejected us?
Isn’t it you, O God, who refused to accompany our armies?
11 Give us help against the enemy
because human assistance is worthless.
12 With God we will display great strength.
He will trample our enemies.
For the choir director; on the gittith; [a] a psalm by David.
8 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
Your glory is sung above the heavens.
2 From the mouths of little children and infants,
you have built a fortress against your opponents
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens,
the creation of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
4 what is a mortal that you remember him
or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
5 You have made him a little lower than yourself.
You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him rule what your hands created.
You have put everything under his control:
7 all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals,
8 the birds, the fish,
whatever swims in the currents of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!
For the choir director; on the gittith; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
84 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Lord of Armies!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for the Lord’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Lord of Armies, my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah
5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[a]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[b]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.
8 O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
10 One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
11 The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.
12 O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.
Humans and Animals Meet the Same End
16 I saw something else under the sun:
There is wickedness where justice should be found.
There is wickedness where righteousness should be found.
17 I thought to myself, “God will judge righteous people as well as wicked people, because there is a specific time for every activity and every work that is done.” 18 I thought to myself, “God is going to test humans in order to show them that they are ⌞like⌟ animals.” 19 Humans and animals have the same destiny. One dies just like the other. All of them have the same breath ⌞of life⌟. Humans have no advantage over animals. All ⌞of life⌟ is pointless. 20 All ⌞life⌟ goes to the same place. All ⌞life⌟ comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground. 21 Who knows whether a human spirit goes upward or whether an animal spirit goes downward to the earth?
22 I saw that there’s nothing better for people to do than to enjoy their work because that is their lot ⌞in life⌟. Who will allow them to see what will happen after them?
Better Not to Have Been Born
4 Next, I turned to look at all the acts of oppression that make people suffer under the sun. Look at the tears of those who suffer! No one can comfort them. Their oppressors have ⌞all⌟ the power. No one can comfort those who suffer. 2 I congratulate the dead, who have already died, rather than the living, who still have to carry on. 3 But the person who hasn’t been born yet is better off than both of them. He hasn’t seen the evil that is done under the sun.
God Approves of Those Who Believe
3 You stupid people of Galatia! Who put you under an evil spell? Wasn’t Christ Jesus’ crucifixion clearly described to you? 2 I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to follow the laws in the Scriptures or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? ⌞I doubt⌟ that it was for nothing! 5 Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you through your own efforts or through believing what you heard?
6 Abraham serves as an example. He believed God, and that faith was regarded as the basis of Abraham’s approval by God. 7 You must understand that people who have faith are Abraham’s descendants. 8 Scripture saw ahead of time that God would give his approval to non-Jewish people who have faith. So Scripture announced the Good News to Abraham ahead of time when it said, “Through you all the people of the world will be blessed.” 9 So people who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 Certainly, there is a curse on all who rely on their own efforts because Scripture says, “Whoever doesn’t obey everything that is written in Moses’ Teachings is cursed.” 11 No one receives God’s approval by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings since, “The person who has God’s approval will live by faith.” 12 These laws have nothing to do with faith, but, “Whoever obeys laws will live because he obeys them.”
13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that the laws in Moses’ Teachings bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.” 14 ⌞Christ paid the price⌟ so that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to all the people of the world through Jesus Christ and we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand(A)
13 When Jesus heard about John, he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities. 14 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and cured their sick people.
15 In the evening the disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. Send the crowds to the villages to buy food for themselves.”
16 Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 They told him, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”
19 Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people. 20 All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.
21 About five thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)
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