Book of Common Prayer
Mem.
97
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.(A)
98
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For Your words are always with me.
99
I have better understanding and deeper insight than all my teachers [because of Your word],
For Your testimonies are my meditation.(B)
100
I understand more than the aged [who have not observed Your precepts],
Because I have observed and kept Your precepts.
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.(C)
102
I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!(D)
104
From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Nun.
105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.(E)
106
I have sworn [an oath] and have confirmed it,
That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.(F)
107
I am greatly afflicted;
Renew and revive me [giving me life], O Lord, according to Your word.
108
Accept and take pleasure in the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me Your ordinances.(G)
109
My life is continually [a]in my hand,
Yet I do not forget Your law.
110
The wicked have laid a snare for me,
Yet I do not wander from Your precepts.
111
I have taken Your testimonies as a heritage forever,
For they are the joy of my heart.(H)
112
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, even to the end.
Samekh.
113
I hate those who are double-minded,
But I love and treasure Your law.
114
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I wait for Your word.(I)
115
Leave me, you evildoers,
That I may keep the commandments of my God [honoring and obeying them].(J)
116
Uphold me according to Your word [of promise], so that I may live;
And do not let me be ashamed of my hope [in Your great goodness].(K)
117
Uphold me that I may be safe,
That I may have regard for Your statutes continually.
118
You have turned Your back on all those who wander from Your statutes,
For their deceitfulness is useless.
119
You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross [for they have no value];
Therefore I love Your testimonies.
120
My flesh trembles in [reverent] fear of You,
And I am afraid and in awe of Your judgments.
God’s Goodness and Israel’s Waywardness.
To the Chief Musician; set to the [a]Philistine lute. A Psalm of Asaph.
81 Sing aloud to God our strength;
Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).
2
Raise a song, sound the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.
3
Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
At the [b]full moon, on our feast day.
4
For this is a statute for Israel,
An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5
He established it for a testimony in [c]Joseph
When He went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard the language [of One whom] I did not know, saying,
6
“I removed the burden from his shoulder;
His hands were freed from the basket.
7
“You called in [the time of] trouble and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.(A) Selah.
8
“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you—
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
9
“Let there be no strange god among you,
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10
“I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11
“But My people would not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not [consent to] obey Me.
12
“So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in [the path of] their own counsel.(B)
13
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
14
“Then I would quickly subdue and humble their enemies
And turn My hand against their adversaries;
15
Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him and cringe before Him,
And their time of punishment would be forever.
16
“But I would feed Israel with the finest of the wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Unjust Judgments Rebuked.
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God stands in the divine assembly;
He judges among the gods (divine beings).
2
How long will you judge unjustly
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
3
Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.
4
Rescue the weak and needy;
Rescue them from the hand of the wicked.
5
The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.
6
I said, “You are [d]gods;
Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.(C)
7
“Nevertheless you will die like men
And fall like any one of the princes.”
8
Arise, O God, judge the earth!
For to You belong all the nations.(D)
The King Plans to Honor Mordecai
6 On that night [a]the king could not sleep; so he ordered that the book of records and memorable deeds, the chronicles, be brought, and they were read before the king. 2 It was found written there how Mordecai had reported that Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, had planned to [b]attack King Ahasuerus (Xerxes). 3 The king said, “What honor or distinction has been given Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to ask the king about [c]hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, “Look, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” Now Haman thought [d]to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?” 7 So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; 9 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let him dress the man whom the king delights to honor [in the royal robe] and lead him on horseback through the open square of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.’”
Haman Must Honor Mordecai
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Quickly take the royal robe and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing of all that you have said.” 11 So Haman took the royal robe and the horse and dressed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him, “This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.”
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his [own] house, mourning and with his head covered [in sorrow]. 13 Then Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise counselors and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall in status, is of Jewish heritage, you will not overcome him, but will certainly fall before him.”
14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs (attendants) arrived and hurriedly brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
Paul at Ephesus
19 It happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the upper [inland] districts and came down to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed [in Jesus as the Christ]?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he asked, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John performed a baptism of repentance, continually telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, [to confidently accept and joyfully believe] in Jesus [the Messiah and Savior].” 5 After hearing this, they were baptized [again, this time] in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in [unknown] tongues (languages) and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
8 And he went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient [to the word of God], discrediting and speaking evil of [a]the Way (Jesus, Christianity) before the congregation, Paul left them, taking the disciples with him, and went on holding [b]daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus [instead of in the synagogue]. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the inhabitants of [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], Jews as well as Greeks, heard the word of the Lord [concerning eternal salvation through faith in Christ].
The Devil Tempts Jesus
4 Now Jesus, full of [and in perfect communication with] the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness(A) 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, He was hungry.(B) 3 Then the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to turn into bread.” 4 Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone[a].’”(C)
5 Then he led Jesus up [to a high mountain] and displayed before Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth [and their magnificence] in the twinkling of an eye. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this realm and its glory [its power, its renown]; because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore if You worship before me, it will all be Yours.” 8 Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’”(D)
9 Then he led Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle (highest point) of the temple, and said [mockingly] to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; 10 for it is written and forever remains written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard and protect You,’
11 and,
‘they will lift You up on their hands,
So that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’”(E)
12 Jesus replied to him, “It is said [in Scripture], ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God [to prove Himself to you].’”(F)
13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time.
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