Book of Common Prayer
33 He (A)turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 (B)a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He (C)turns a desert into pools of water,
(D)a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish (E)a city to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.
38 (F)By his blessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40 (G)he pours contempt on princes
and (H)makes them wander (I)in trackless wastes;
41 but (J)he raises up the needy out of affliction
and (K)makes their families like flocks.
42 (L)The upright see it and are glad,
and (M)all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 (N)Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
With God We Shall Do Valiantly
A Song. A Psalm of David.
108 (O)My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being![a]
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is great (P)above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 (Q)That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer me!
7 God has promised in his holiness:[b]
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
(R)over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
The Steadfast Love of the Lord
33 (A)Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
(B)Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the (C)lyre;
make melody to him with (D)the harp of (E)ten strings!
3 Sing to him (F)a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in (G)faithfulness.
5 He (H)loves righteousness and justice;
(I)the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By (J)the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by (K)the breath of his mouth all (L)their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as (M)a heap;
he (N)puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For (O)he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord (P)brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 (Q)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 (R)Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has (S)chosen as his heritage!
13 The Lord (T)looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from (U)where he sits enthroned he (V)looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 (W)The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 (X)The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
13 (A)“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. (B)But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, (C)‘It is vain to serve God. (D)What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call (E)the arrogant blessed. (F)Evildoers not only prosper but (G)they put God to the test and they escape.’”
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the Lord (H)spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and (I)a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, (J)in the day when I make up (K)my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall (L)see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
The Great Day of the Lord
4 [a] “For behold, (M)the day is coming, (N)burning like an oven, when (O)all the arrogant and (P)all evildoers (Q)will be stubble. The day that is coming (R)shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you (S)who fear my name, (T)the sun (U)of righteousness shall rise (V)with healing in its wings. You shall go out (W)leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, (X)on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
4 (Y)“Remember (Z)the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules[b] that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 (AA)“Behold, I will send you (AB)Elijah the prophet (AC)before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will (AD)turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and (AE)strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”[c]
The Prayer of Faith
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him (A)sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, (B)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And (C)if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, (D)confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, (E)that you may be healed. (F)The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.[a] 17 Elijah was a man (G)with a nature like ours, and (H)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for (I)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 (J)Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, (K)if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone (L)brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering (M)will save his soul from death and (N)will cover a multitude of sins.
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some (A)who trusted (B)in themselves that they were righteous, (C)and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men (D)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, (E)standing by himself, prayed[a] (F)thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 (G)I fast twice a week; (H)I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, (I)standing far off, (J)would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but (K)beat his breast, saying, ‘God, (L)be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For (M)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.