Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88[a]
A song, a psalm written by the Korahites, for the music director, according to the machalath-leannoth style;[b] a well-written song[c] by Heman the Ezrahite.
88 O Lord God who delivers me,[d]
by day I cry out
and at night I pray before you.[e]
2 Listen to my prayer.[f]
Pay attention[g] to my cry for help.
3 For my life[h] is filled with troubles,
and I am ready to enter Sheol.[i]
4 They treat me like[j] those who descend into the grave.[k]
I am like a helpless man,[l]
5 adrift[m] among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power.[n]
6 You place me in the lowest regions of the Pit,[o]
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free.[p]
9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you.[q]
10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits[r] rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?[s]
12 Are your amazing deeds experienced[t] in the dark region,[u]
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?[v]
13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me?[w]
15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.[x]
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.[y]
16 Your anger overwhelms me;[z]
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me.[aa]
18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;[ab]
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.[ac]
Psalm 91[a]
91 As for you, the one who lives[b] in the shelter of the Most High,[c]
and resides in the protective shadow[d] of the Sovereign One[e]—
2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,
my God in whom I trust—
3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter[f]
and from the destructive plague.
4 He will shelter you[g] with his wings;[h]
you will find safety under his wings.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.[i]
5 You need not fear the terrors of the night,[j]
the arrow that flies by day,
6 the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the disease that ravages at noon.[k]
7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,
and a multitude on your right side,
it[l] will not reach you.
8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes—
you will see the wicked paid back.[m]
9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,
my shelter, the Most High.
10 No harm will overtake[n] you;
no illness[o] will come near your home.[p]
11 For he will order his angels[q]
to protect you in all you do.[r]
12 They will lift you up in their hands,
so you will not slip and fall on a stone.[s]
13 You will subdue[t] a lion and a snake;[u]
you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.
14 The Lord says,[v]
“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him[w] because he is loyal to me.[x]
15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,[y]
and will let him see my salvation.”
Psalm 92[z]
A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is fitting[aa] to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High.[ab]
2 It is fitting[ac] to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done.[ad]
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate![ae]
6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this.[af]
7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten,[ag]
it is so that they may be annihilated.[ah]
8 But you, O Lord, reign[ai] forever.
9 Indeed,[aj] look at your enemies, O Lord.
Indeed,[ak] look at how your enemies perish.
All the evildoers are scattered.
10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox.[al]
I am covered[am] with fresh oil.
11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me;[an]
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.[ao]
12 The godly[ap] grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon.[aq]
13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.[ar]
15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my Protector,
is just and never unfair.[as]
Spies Sent Out
13 [a] The Lord spoke[b] to Moses: 2 “Send out men to investigate[c] the land of Canaan, which I am giving[d] to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe,[e] each one a leader among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command[f] of the Lord. All of them were leaders[g] of the Israelites.
The Spies’ Activities
21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob,[a] at Lebo Hamath. 22 When they went up through the Negev, they[b] came[c] to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai,[d] descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan[e] in Egypt.) 23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff[f] between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24 That place was called[g] the Eshcol Valley,[h] because of the cluster[i] of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. 25 They returned from investigating the land after forty days.
The Spies’ Reports
26 They came back[j] to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh.[k] They reported[l] to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 27 They told Moses,[m] “We went to the land where you sent us.[n] It is indeed flowing with milk and honey,[o] and this is its fruit. 28 But[p] the inhabitants[q] are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks[r] of the Jordan.”[s]
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up[t] and occupy it,[u] for we are well able to conquer it.”[v]
25 For circumcision[a] has its value if you practice the law, but[b] if you break the law,[c] your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys[d] the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And the physically uncircumcised man,[e] by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though[f] you have the letter[g] and circumcision! 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart[h] by the Spirit[i] and not by the letter.[j] This person’s[k] praise is not from people but from God.
3 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Actually, there are many advantages.[l] First of all,[m] the Jews[n] were entrusted with the oracles of God.[o] 3 What then? If some were unfaithful, their unfaithfulness will not nullify God’s faithfulness, will it? 4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being[p] shown up as a liar,[q] just as it is written: “so that you will be justified[r] in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”[s]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates[t] the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.)[u] 6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances[v] his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”?—as some who slander us allege that we say.[w] (Their[x] condemnation is deserved!)
21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother[a] who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times![b]
The Parable of the Unforgiving Slave
23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.[c] 24 As[d] he began settling his accounts, a man who owed 10,000 talents[e] was brought to him. 25 Because[f] he was not able to repay it,[g] the lord ordered him to be sold, along with[h] his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. 26 Then the slave threw himself to the ground[i] before him, saying,[j] ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 After[k] he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 silver coins.[l] So[m] he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him,[n] saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’[o] 29 Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him,[p] ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. 31 When[q] his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. 32 Then his lord called the first slave[r] and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! 33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ 34 And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him[s] until he repaid all he owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your[t] brother[u] from your heart.”
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