Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 101
A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of mercy and loving-kindness and justice; to You, O Lord, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely and give heed to the blameless way—O when will You come to me? I will walk within my house in integrity and with a blameless heart.
3 I will set no base or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them who turn aside [from the right path]; it shall not grasp hold of me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil person or thing.
5 Whoso privily slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off [from me]; he who has a haughty look and a proud and arrogant heart I cannot and I will not tolerate.
6 My eyes shall [look with favor] upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks blamelessly, he shall minister to me.
7 He who works deceit shall not dwell in my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.
8 Morning after morning I will root up all the wicked in the land, that I may eliminate all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.
Psalm 109
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 O God of my praise! Keep not silence,
2 For the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues.
3 They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I resort to prayer.
5 And they have rewarded and laid upon me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him [as a judge], and let [a malicious] accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When [the wicked] is judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer [for leniency] be turned into a sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office and charge.(A)
9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continual vagabonds [as was Cain] and beg; let them seek their bread and be driven far from their ruined homes.(B)
11 Let the creditor and extortioner seize all that he has; and let strangers (barbarians and foreigners) plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend or continue mercy and kindness to him, neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their names be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth!—
16 Because the man did not [earnestly] remember to show mercy, but pursued and persecuted the poor and needy man, and the broken in heart [he was ready] to slay.
17 Yes, he loved cursing, and it came [back] upon him; he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment, and it seeped into his inward [life] like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him as the raiment with which he covers himself and as the girdle with which he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my life.
21 But You deal with me and act for me, O God the Lord, for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy and loving-kindness are good, O deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded and stricken within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it lengthens and declines; I toss up and down and am shaken off as the locust.
24 My knees are weak and totter from fasting; and my body is gaunt and has no fatness.
25 I have become also a reproach and a taunt to others; when they see me, they shake their heads.(C)
26 Help me, O Lord my God; O save me according to Your mercy and loving-kindness!—
27 That they may know that this is Your hand, that You, Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but do You bless. When adversaries arise, let them be put to shame, but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame and dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace and confusion as with a robe.
30 I will give great praise and thanks to the Lord with my mouth; yes, and I will praise Him among the multitude.
121 I have done justice and righteousness; leave me not to those who would oppress me.
122 Be surety for Your servant for good [as Judah was surety for the safety of Benjamin]; let not the proud oppress me.(A)
123 My eyes fail, watching for Your salvation and for the fulfillment of Your righteous promise.
124 Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy and loving-kindness, and teach me Your statutes.
125 I am Your servant; give me understanding (discernment and comprehension), that I may know (discern and be familiar with the character of) Your testimonies.
126 It is time for the Lord to act; they have frustrated Your law.
127 Therefore I love Your commandments more than [resplendent] gold, yes, more than [perfectly] refined gold.
128 Therefore I esteem as right all, yes, all Your precepts; I hate every false way.
129 Your testimonies are wonderful [far exceeding anything conceived by man]; therefore my [penitent] self keeps them [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
130 The entrance and unfolding of Your words give light; their unfolding gives understanding (discernment and comprehension) to the simple.
131 I opened my mouth and panted [with eager desire], for I longed for Your commandments.
132 Look upon me, be merciful unto me, and show me favor, as is Your way to those who love Your name.
133 Establish my steps and direct them by [means of] Your word; let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
134 Deliver me from the oppression of man; so will I keep Your precepts [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].(B)
135 Make Your face shine [with pleasure] upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.(C)
136 Streams of water run down my eyes, because men do not keep Your law [they hear it not, nor receive it, love it, or obey it].
137 [Rigidly] righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments and all expressions of Your will.
138 You have commanded and appointed Your testimonies in righteousness and in great faithfulness.
139 My zeal has consumed me and cut me off, because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.
140 Your word is very pure (tried and well refined); therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small (insignificant) and despised, but I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.(D)
143 Trouble and anguish have found and taken hold on me, yet Your commandments are my delight.
144 Your righteous testimonies are everlasting and Your decrees are binding to eternity; give me understanding and I shall live [give me discernment and comprehension and I shall not die].
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was working at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 At one time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it;
8 And if [the people of] that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the evil that I thought to do to them.
9 At another time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will build up and plant it;
10 And if they do evil in My sight, obeying not My voice, then I will regret and reverse My decision concerning the good with which I said I would benefit them.
11 Now therefore say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return now each one from his evil way; reform your [accustomed] ways and make your [individual] actions good and right.
8 Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.(A)
2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a]the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],(B)
4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and [d]pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and [e]seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that [f]comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
9 But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].(C)
10 But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
27 Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and decomposes [in the using], but strive and work and produce rather for the [lasting] food which endures [continually] unto life eternal; the Son of Man will give (furnish) you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him.
28 They then said, What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]
29 Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].
30 Therefore they said to Him, What sign (miracle, wonderwork) will [a]You perform then, so that we may see it and believe and rely on and adhere to You? What [supernatural] work have You [to show what You can do]?
31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.(A)
32 Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.
33 For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.
34 Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always (all the time)!
35 Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).
36 But [as] I told you, although you have seen Me, still you do not believe and trust and have faith.
37 All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me].
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will and purpose but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me.
39 And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [them all] up at the last day.
40 For this is My Father’s will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day.
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