Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Do not keep Your silence, O God;
do not hold Your peace or be still, O God.
2 For, look, Your enemies make an uproar,
and those who hate You have lifted up their heads.
3 They have given crafty counsel against Your people,
and have consulted against Your treasured ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
that the name of Israel may be no more remembered.”
5 For they have conspired together;
they make a covenant against You—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
even Moab and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also is joined with them,
they are the strength of the descendants of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as You did to the Midianites,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon,
10 who perished at Endor;
they became as dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb;
yes, all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take for ourselves
the pastures of God as a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like a tumbleweed,
as stubble before the wind.
14 As fire burns a forest,
and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with Your storm,
and make them afraid with Your hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be confounded and troubled forever;
yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 34
A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he departed.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise will continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and became radiant,
and their faces are not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints;
for the ones who fear Him will not be in need.
10 The young lions are in want and suffer hunger,
but the ones who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
and loves a long life in order to see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against the ones doing evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the contrite of spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 A righteous one keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of His servants,
and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished.
Psalm 85
For the Music Director. A Psalm of the songs of Korah.
1 Lord, You have been favorable to Your land;
You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people;
You have covered all their sin. Selah
3 You have withdrawn all Your wrath;
You have turned from the fierceness of Your anger.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation,
and put away Your indignation toward us.
5 Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
6 Will You not revive us again,
that Your people may rejoice in You?
7 Show us Your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us Your deliverance.
8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak,
for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints,
but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to them who fear Him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed.
11 Truth springs from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord gives that which is good,
and our land shall yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before Him
and prepare a way for His footsteps.
Psalm 86
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am oppressed and needy.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly;
You are my God; save Your servant
who trusts in You.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to You I cry all day long.
4 Gladden the soul of Your servant,
for to You, O Lord,
I lift my soul.
5 For You, Lord, are good, and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call on You.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer,
and attend to my plea for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,
for You will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord;
neither are there any works like Your works.
9 All nations whom You have made
shall come and worship before You, O Lord,
and shall glorify Your name.
10 For You are great and do wondrous deeds;
You are God alone.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,
that I will walk in Your truth;
bind my heart
to fear Your name.
12 I will give You thanks, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and I will glorify Your name forever.
13 For great is Your mercy toward me,
and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, insolent men have risen against me,
and bands of violent men have sought my life;
they have not set You before them.
15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in mercy and truth.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
give Your strength to Your servant,
and save the humble son of Your female servant.
17 Show me a sign of Your favor,
that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed
because You, Lord, have helped and comforted me.
Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
12 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us?” And the Lord heard it.
3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men on the face of the earth.)
4 And the Lord spoke at once to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And those three came out. 5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood in the opening of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 He said, “Hear now My word.
If there is a prophet among you,
I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision,
and I will speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses;
he is entrusted with all My house.
8 Face to face I speak with him clearly,
and not in riddles,
and the likeness of the Lord will he behold.
Then why were you not afraid
to speak against My servant, against Moses?”
9 And the anger of the Lord burned against them, and He set out.
10 When the cloud went away from over the tabernacle, Miriam became leprous as snow, and Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw that she was leprous. 11 Aaron said to Moses, “Alas, my lord, do not lay the sin on us, which we have done foolishly, and which we have sinned. 12 Do not let her be as dead, who when he goes out of his mother’s womb half his flesh is eaten.”
13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”
14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought in again.
16 Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
12 As many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, 13 for the hearers of the law are not justified before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, while their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them, 16 in the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.
The Jews and the Law
17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest in the law, and make your boast in God. 18 You know His will and approve the things that are more excellent, because you are instructed in the law. 19 You are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of babes, who have the full content of knowledge and truth in the law: 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach not to steal, do you steal? 22 You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 As it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[a]
The Parable of the Lost Sheep(A)
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search for the one which went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine which never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
The Brother Who Sins(B)
15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, then take with you one or two others, that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every word may be established.[a] 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are assembled in My name, there I am in their midst.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.