Book of Common Prayer
מ (Mem)
97 O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
98 Your commandments[a] make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
100 I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
101 I stay away[b] from every evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions.[c]
102 I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
103 Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey![d]
104 Your precepts give me discernment.
Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.[e]
נ (Nun)
105 Your word[f] is a lamp to walk by,
and a light to illumine my path.[g]
106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn
to keep your just regulations.
107 I am suffering terribly.
O Lord, revive me with your word.[h]
108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise.[i]
Teach me your regulations.
109 My life is in continual danger,[j]
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked lay a trap for me,
but I do not wander from your precepts.
111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,
for they give me joy.[k]
112 I am determined to obey[l] your statutes
at all times, to the very end.
ס (Samek)
113 I hate people with divided loyalties,[m]
but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield.
I find hope in your word.
115 Turn away from me, you evil men,
so that I can observe[n] the commands of my God.[o]
116 Sustain me as you promised,[p] so that I will live.[q]
Do not disappoint me.[r]
117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.
Then I will focus[s] on your statutes continually.
118 You despise[t] all who stray from your statutes,
for such people are deceptive and unreliable.[u]
119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag.[v]
Therefore I love your rules.[w]
120 My body[x] trembles[y] because I fear you;[z]
I am afraid of your judgments.
Psalm 81[a]
For the music director, according to the gittith style;[b] by Asaph.
81 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!
Shout out to the God of Jacob!
2 Sing[c] a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon,[d]
and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins.[e]
4 For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel;[f]
it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.
5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt.[g]
I heard a voice I did not recognize.[h]
6 It said:[i] “I removed the burden from his shoulder;
his hands were released from holding the basket.[j]
7 In your distress you called out and I rescued you.
I answered you from a dark thundercloud.[k]
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.[l] (Selah)
8 I said,[m] ‘Listen, my people!
I will warn[n] you.
O Israel, if only you would obey me![o]
9 There must be[p] no other[q] god among you.
You must not worship a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord, your God,
the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.’
11 But my people did not obey me;[r]
Israel did not submit to me.[s]
12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires;[t]
they did what seemed right to them.[u]
13 If only my people would obey me![v]
If only Israel would keep my commands![w]
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack[x] their adversaries.”
15 (May those who hate the Lord[y] cower in fear[z] before him.
May they be permanently humiliated.)[aa]
16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat,[ab]
and would satisfy your appetite[ac] with honey from the rocky cliffs.”[ad]
Psalm 82[ae]
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God stands in[af] the assembly of El;[ag]
in the midst of the gods[ah] he renders judgment.[ai]
2 He says,[aj] “How long will you make unjust legal decisions
and show favoritism to the wicked?[ak] (Selah)
3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless.[al]
Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.
4 Rescue the poor and needy.
Deliver them from the power[am] of the wicked.
5 They[an] neither know nor understand.
They stumble around[ao] in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble.[ap]
6 I thought,[aq] ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’[ar]
7 Yet you will die like mortals;[as]
you will fall like all the other rulers.”[at]
8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!
For you own[au] all the nations.
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle. 25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses[a] and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them,[b] they prophesied,[c] but did not do so again.[d]
Eldad and Medad
26 But two men remained in the camp; one’s name was Eldad, and the other’s name was Medad. And the Spirit rested on them. (Now they were among those in the registration,[e] but had not gone to the tabernacle.) So they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a[f] young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” 28 Joshua son of Nun, the servant[g] of Moses, one of his choice young men,[h] said,[i] “My lord Moses, stop them!”[j] 29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me?[k] I wish that[l] all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.
Provision of Quail
31 Now a wind[m] went out[n] from the Lord and brought quail[o] from the sea, and let them fall[p] near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet[q] high on the surface of the ground. 32 And the people stayed up[r] all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. The one who gathered the least gathered ten homers,[s] and they spread them out[t] for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before they chewed it,[u] the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.
34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah,[v] because there they buried the people that craved different food.[w] 35 The people traveled from Kibroth Hattaavah to Hazeroth, and they stayed at Hazeroth.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,[a] God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.[b] 29 They are filled[c] with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with[d] envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers,[e] heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know[f] God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,[g] they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.[h]
The Condemnation of the Moralist
2 [i] Therefore[j] you are without excuse,[k] whoever you are,[l] when you judge someone else.[m] For on whatever grounds[n] you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth[o] against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think,[p] whoever you are, when you judge[q] those who practice such things and yet do them yourself,[r] that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know[s] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness[t] and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed![u] 6 He[v] will reward[w] each one according to his works:[x] 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 8 but[y] wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition[z] and do not obey the truth but follow[aa] unrighteousness. 9 There will be[ab] affliction and distress on everyone[ac] who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,[ad] 10 but[ae] glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
Questions About the Greatest
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, had him stand among them, 3 and said, “I tell you the truth,[a] unless you turn around and become like little children,[b] you will never[c] enter the kingdom of heaven! 4 Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes[d] a child like this in my name welcomes me.
6 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[e] it would be better for him to have a huge millstone[f] hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea.[g] 7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It[h] is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come. 8 If[i] your hand or your foot causes you to sin,[j] cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have[k] two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have[l] two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell.[m]
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