Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95[a]
A Call to Praise and Obedience
I
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
cry out to the rock of our salvation.(A)
2 Let us come before him with a song of praise,
joyfully sing out our psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great king over all gods,(B)
4 Whose hand holds the depths of the earth;
who owns the tops of the mountains.
5 The sea and dry land belong to God,
who made them, formed them by hand.(C)
II
6 Enter, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 For he is our God,
we are the people he shepherds,
the sheep in his hands.(D)
III
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:(E)
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.[b]
9 There your ancestors tested me;
they tried me though they had seen my works.(F)
10 Forty years I loathed that generation;
I said: “This people’s heart goes astray;
they do not know my ways.”(G)
11 Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”[c]
Psalm 88[a]
A Despairing Lament
1 A song; a psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; according to Mahalath. For singing; a maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
I
2 Lord, the God of my salvation, I call out by day;
at night I cry aloud in your presence.(A)
3 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.(B)
4 [b]For my soul is filled with troubles;(C)
my life draws near to Sheol.
5 I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit;
I am like a warrior without strength.
6 My couch is among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave.
You remember them no more;
they are cut off from your influence.
7 You plunge me into the bottom of the pit,
into the darkness of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves crash over me.(D)
Selah
II
9 Because of you my acquaintances shun me;
you make me loathsome to them;(E)
Caged in, I cannot escape;
10 my eyes grow dim from trouble.
All day I call on you, Lord;
I stretch out my hands to you.
11 [c]Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades arise and praise you?(F)
Selah
III
12 Is your mercy proclaimed in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?[d]
13 Are your marvels declared in the darkness,
your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
IV
14 But I cry out to you, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
15 Why do you reject my soul, Lord,
and hide your face from me?
16 I have been mortally afflicted since youth;
I have borne your terrors and I am made numb.
17 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.(G)
18 All day they surge round like a flood;
from every side they encircle me.
19 Because of you friend and neighbor shun me;(H)
my only friend is darkness.
Psalm 91[a]
Security Under God’s Protection
I
1 You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,[b]
who abide in the shade of the Almighty,
2 Say to the Lord, “My refuge and fortress,
my God in whom I trust.”(A)
3 He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare,
from the destroying plague,
4 He will shelter you with his pinions,
and under his wings you may take refuge;(B)
his faithfulness is a protecting shield.
5 You shall not fear the terror of the night
nor the arrow that flies by day,(C)
6 Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness,
nor the plague that ravages at noon.(D)
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
near you it shall not come.
8 You need simply watch;
the punishment of the wicked you will see.(E)
9 Because you have the Lord for your refuge
and have made the Most High your stronghold,
10 No evil shall befall you,
no affliction come near your tent.(F)
11 [c]For he commands his angels with regard to you,(G)
to guard you wherever you go.(H)
12 With their hands they shall support you,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.(I)
13 You can tread upon the asp and the viper,
trample the lion and the dragon.(J)
II
14 Because he clings to me I will deliver him;
because he knows my name I will set him on high.(K)
15 He will call upon me and I will answer;(L)
I will be with him in distress;(M)
I will deliver him and give him honor.
16 With length of days I will satisfy him,
and fill him with my saving power.(N)
Psalm 92[d]
A Hymn of Thanksgiving for God’s Fidelity
1 A psalm. A sabbath song.
I
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,(O)
3 To proclaim your love at daybreak,
your faithfulness in the night,
4 With the ten-stringed harp,
with melody upon the lyre.(P)
5 For you make me jubilant, Lord, by your deeds;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy.
II
6 How great are your works, Lord!(Q)
How profound your designs!
7 A senseless person cannot know this;
a fool cannot comprehend.
8 Though the wicked flourish like grass(R)
and all sinners thrive,
They are destined for eternal destruction;
9 but you, Lord, are forever on high.
10 Indeed your enemies, Lord,
indeed your enemies shall perish;
all sinners shall be scattered.(S)
III
11 You have given me the strength of a wild ox;(T)
you have poured rich oil upon me.(U)
12 My eyes look with glee on my wicked enemies;
my ears shall hear what happens to my wicked foes.(V)
13 The just shall flourish like the palm tree,
shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon.(W)
14 [e]Planted in the house of the Lord,
they shall flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They shall bear fruit even in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
16 To proclaim: “The Lord is just;
my rock, in whom there is no wrong.”(X)
Chapter 11
Plea for Fidelity to the Covenant. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Speak to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 3 and say to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not observe the words of this covenant,(A) 4 which I commanded your ancestors the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that iron furnace, saying: Listen to my voice and do all that I command you. Then you shall be my people, and I will be your God.(B) 5 Thus I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the one you have today. “Amen, Lord,” I answered.
6 Then the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and obey them. 7 I warned your ancestors unceasingly from the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt even to this day: obey my voice. 8 But they did not listen or obey. They each walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, till I brought upon them all the threats of this covenant which they had failed to observe as I commanded them.(C)
14 Now, you must not intercede for this people; do not raise on their behalf a cry or prayer! I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their disaster.(A)
Sacrifices of No Avail
15 What right has my beloved in my house,
while she devises her plots?
Can vows and sacred meat turn away
your disaster from you?
Will you still be jubilant
16 when you hear the great tumult?
The Lord has named you
“a spreading olive tree, a pleasure to behold”;
Now he sets fire to it,
its branches burn.
17 The Lord of hosts who planted you has decreed disaster for you because of the evil done by the house of Israel and by the house of Judah, who provoked me by sacrificing to Baal.(B)
The Plot Against Jeremiah. 18 I knew it because the Lord informed me: at that time you showed me their doings.
19 Yet I was like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, not knowing that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered.”(C)
20 But, you, Lord of hosts, just Judge,
searcher of mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause!(D)
IV. Justification and the Christian Life
Chapter 6
Freedom from Sin; Life in God. 1 [a]What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!(A) 2 How can we who died to sin yet live in it?(B) 3 Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?(C) 4 We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.(D)
5 For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.(E) 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.(F) 7 For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8 If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.(G) 9 We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.(H) 10 As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.(I) 11 Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.(J)
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.[a] How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”(A) 34 Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.(B) 35 A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son[b] always remains.(C) 36 So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. 38 [c]I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”
39 [d]They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them,(D) “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. 41 You are doing the works of your father!” [So] they said to him, “We are not illegitimate. We have one Father, God.”(E) 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.(F) 43 Why do you not understand what I am saying? Because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.(G) 45 But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Can any of you charge me with sin? If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me?(H) 47 Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not listen, because you do not belong to God.”(I)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.