Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
The Covenant With David
Heading
A maskil by Ethan the Ezrahite.
Opening Praise
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 Yes, I have said, “Your mercy is built to last forever.
In the heavens you establish your faithfulness.”
The Statement of the Covenant
3 The Lord said,[a]
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one.
I have sworn to David my servant.
4 I will establish your seed[b] forever, Interlude
and I will build your throne through all generations.”
God’s Power Upholds the Covenant
5 The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
also your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of God?
7 God is revered in the council of the holy ones.
He is to be feared more than all who surround him.
8 O Lord God of Armies, who is like you?
You are mighty, O Lord,[c]
and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the majestic sea.
When its waves rise up, you quiet them.
10 You crushed Rahab[d] like one of the slain.
With your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also is the earth.
You founded the world and everything that fills it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.
13 Your arm works for you with power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is raised high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Mercy and truth are right in front of you.
The Security of God’s People
15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful cry.
Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
16 In your name they celebrate all day long.
In your righteousness they are lifted up.
17 For you are the beauty of their strength,
and by your favor you exalt our Horn.[e]
18 Indeed, our Shield belongs to the Lord,
our King to the Holy One of Israel.
The Promise to David
19 Once you spoke in a vision to your favored ones.
You said:
I have granted help to a warrior.
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I found David my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him.
21 He is the one whom my hand will sustain.
Surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will subject him to tribute.
No violent man will oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and mercy will be with him,
and through my name his horn[f] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, “You are my Father,
my God and the Rock that saves me.”
27 I will also make him the Firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him forever,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
29 I will establish his seed forever.
His throne will endure like the days of the heavens.
The Terms of the Covenant
30 If his sons forsake my law,
and they do not walk according to my judgments,
31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commands,
32 I will punish their rebellion with the rod, their guilt with whipping.
33 But I will not break off my mercy from him.
I will not let my truth become false.
34 I will not violate my covenant.
I will not alter what comes out of my lips.
35 Once and for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
surely I will not lie to David—
36 that his seed will continue forever,
and his throne will endure before me like the sun.
37 It will be established forever like the moon. Interlude
This witness in the sky is faithful.
The Covenant Abandoned?
38 But you have rejected, you have cast off,
you have been very angry with your anointed one,
39 and you have renounced the covenant with your servant,
and you have thrown his crown on the ground.
40 You have broken down all his walls
and reduced his fortresses to rubble.
41 All who pass by on the road have plundered him.
He is despised by his neighbors.
42 You have raised up the right hand of his foes.
You have made all his enemies happy.
43 Indeed, you have deflected the edge of his sword,
and you have not let him stand up in battle.
44 You have put an end to his majesty,
and you have hurled his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth. Interlude
You have clothed him with shame.
46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember me! What is my life!
For you have created such futility for all the children of Adam!
48 Can anyone live and not see death, Interlude
or save his life from the power of the grave?
49 Where are your former mercies, O Lord,
which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the scorn your servants have[g] endured.
(I carry on my heart all the many peoples!)[h]
51 Remember the scorn
with which your enemies have been scornful, O Lord,
with which they have scorned the steps of your Anointed One.
Closing Doxology
52 Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
Jephthah’s Battle With Ephraim
12 At that time the men of Ephraim were called to arms. They crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to wage war against the Ammonites, but you did not invite us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you in it.”
2 Jephthah said to them, “I was a man involved in a bitter dispute—I and my people against the Ammonites. I called you out to arms, but you did not rescue me from their hand. 3 When I saw that you were not coming to rescue me, I took my life into my hands. I crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. So why have you come up against me this day to wage war against me?”
4 So Jephthah summoned all the men of Gilead and waged war against Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck down Ephraim, because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are nothing but renegades[a] from Ephraim and Manasseh.”
5 The men of Gilead captured the fords across the Jordan that led to Ephraim. Whenever an Ephraimite fleeing from the battle said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 they said to him, “Please say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But if he instead said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly,[b] they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.
7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.
Many Miracles
12 Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. With one mind, they all continued meeting in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared to join them, but the people held them in high regard. 14 More and more believers in the Lord were added to their group, large numbers of both men and women. 15 As a result, people were even carrying the sick into the streets and laying them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem,[a] bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
On Trial Before the Sanhedrin
17 The high priest rose up, along with his associates (that is, the party of the Sadducees), because they were filled with envy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, brought them out, and said, 20 “Go, stand in the temple and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life.” 21 After they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began to teach.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin (that is, the whole council of elders of the people of Israel). Then they sent orders to the jail to have the apostles brought in. 22 But when the officers arrived, they did not find them in the prison. They returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” 24 When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were puzzled about them, wondering what could have happened.
25 Then someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people.”
26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles in without force, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above.[b] 8 The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
10 “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11 Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.[c]
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but[d] have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. 21 But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.