Book of Common Prayer
I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord
A Maskil[a] of (A)Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 (B)I will sing of (C)the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your (D)faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, (E)“Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens (F)you will establish your (G)faithfulness.”
3 You have said, “I have made (H)a covenant with my (I)chosen one;
I have (J)sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your (K)offspring forever,
and build your (L)throne for all generations.’” Selah
5 Let (M)the heavens praise your (N)wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of (O)the holy ones!
6 For (P)who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
(Q)Who among the heavenly beings[b] is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly (R)to be feared in the council of (S)the holy ones,
and awesome above all (T)who are around him?
8 O Lord God of hosts,
(U)who is mighty as you are, O (V)Lord,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you (W)still them.
10 You (X)crushed (Y)Rahab like a carcass;
you (Z)scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 (AA)The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
(AB)the world and all that is in it, you have (AC)founded them.
12 (AD)The north and the south, you have created them;
(AE)Tabor and (AF)Hermon (AG)joyously praise your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14 (AH)Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
(AI)steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are the people who know (AJ)the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in (AK)the light of your face,
16 who exult in your (AL)name all the day
and in your righteousness are (AM)exalted.
17 For you are (AN)the glory of their strength;
by your favor our (AO)horn is exalted.
18 For our (AP)shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to (AQ)the Holy One of Israel.
19 (AR)Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,[c] and said:
“I have (AS)granted help to one who is (AT)mighty;
I have exalted one (AU)chosen from the people.
20 (AV)I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have (AW)anointed him,
21 so that my (AX)hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him;
(AY)the wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will (AZ)crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My (BA)faithfulness and my (BB)steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his (BC)horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on (BD)the sea
and his right hand on (BE)the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my (BF)Father,
my God, and (BG)the Rock of my salvation.’
27 And I will make him the (BH)firstborn,
(BI)the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my (BJ)covenant will stand firm[d] for him.
29 I will establish his (BK)offspring forever
and his (BL)throne as (BM)the days of the heavens.
30 (BN)If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,[e]
31 if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with (BO)the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my (BP)covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn (BQ)by my holiness;
I will not (BR)lie to David.
36 His (BS)offspring shall endure forever,
(BT)his (BU)throne as long as (BV)the sun before me.
37 Like (BW)the moon it shall be established forever,
(BX)a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
38 But now you have (BY)cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your (BZ)anointed.
39 You have (CA)renounced (CB)the covenant with your servant;
you have (CC)defiled his (CD)crown in the dust.
40 You have (CE)breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41 (CF)All who pass by plunder him;
he has become (CG)the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
44 You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short (CH)the days of his youth;
you have (CI)covered him with shame. Selah
46 (CJ)How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath (CK)burn like fire?
47 (CL)Remember (CM)how short my (CN)time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48 (CO)What man can live and never (CP)see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of (CQ)Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where is your (CR)steadfast love of old,
which by your (CS)faithfulness you swore to David?
50 (CT)Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my (CU)heart the insults[f] of all the many nations,
51 with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
with which they mock (CV)the footsteps of your (CW)anointed.
52 (CX)Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
The Lord's Mercy on Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and (A)bring her into the wilderness,
and (B)speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer (C)as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And (D)in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For (E)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And (F)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And (G)I will abolish[b] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in (H)safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me (I)forever. (J)I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 (K)I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And (L)you shall know the Lord.
21 “And (M)in that day (N)I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer (O)Jezreel,[c]
23 and (P)I will sow her for myself in the land.
And (Q)I (R)will have mercy on No Mercy,[d]
and (S)I will say to Not My People,[e] (T)‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called (A)the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:
(B)“You yourselves know (C)how I lived among you the whole time (D)from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 (E)serving the Lord (F)with all humility and with (G)tears and with trials that happened to me through (H)the plots of the Jews; 20 how I (I)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and (J)teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 (K)testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of (L)repentance toward God and of (M)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.[a] 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained (N)by[b] the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that (O)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that (P)imprisonment and (Q)afflictions await me. 24 But (R)I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only (S)I may finish my course and (T)the ministry (U)that I received from the Lord Jesus, (V)to testify to (W)the gospel of (X)the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, (Y)I know that none of you among whom I have gone about (Z)proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore (AA)I testify to you this day that (AB)I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for (AC)I did not shrink from declaring to you (AD)the whole counsel of God. 28 (AE)Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all (AF)the flock, in which (AG)the Holy Spirit has made you (AH)overseers, (AI)to care for (AJ)the church of God,[c] which he (AK)obtained (AL)with his own blood.[d] 29 I (AM)know that after my departure (AN)fierce wolves will come in among you, (AO)not sparing the flock; 30 and (AP)from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore (AQ)be alert, remembering that (AR)for three years I did not cease night or day (AS)to admonish every one (AT)with tears. 32 And now (AU)I commend you to God and to (AV)the word of his grace, which is able to (AW)build you up and to give you (AX)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 (AY)I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 (AZ)You yourselves know that (BA)these hands ministered to my necessities and (BB)to those who were with me. 35 In all things (BC)I have shown you that (BD)by working hard in this way we must (BE)help the weak and (BF)remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed (BG)to give than to receive.’”
36 And when he had said these things, (BH)he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And (BI)there was much weeping on the part of all; (BJ)they embraced Paul and (BK)kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of (BL)the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And (BM)they accompanied him to the ship.
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by (A)the lake of Gennesaret, 2 (B)and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were (C)washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And (D)he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, (E)“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, (F)we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, (G)they enclosed a large number of fish, and (H)their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. (I)And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, (J)“Depart from me, for (K)I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, (L)they left everything and followed him.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.