Book of Common Prayer
God the Sovereign Savior(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David (B)the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of (C)this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
18 I (D)will love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my [a]strength, (E)in whom I will trust;
My shield and the [b]horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, (F)who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
4 (G)The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of [c]ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
7 (H)Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
9 (I)He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
10 (J)And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
(K)He flew upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place;
(L)His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
12 (M)From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered (N)His voice,
[d]Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 (O)He sent out His arrows and scattered [e]the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 (P)He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
19 (Q)He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 (R)The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also blameless [f]before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 (S)Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25 (T)With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And (U)with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
27 For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down (V)haughty looks.
28 (W)For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can [g]run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, (X)His way is perfect;
(Y)The word of the Lord is [h]proven;
He is a shield (Z)to all who trust in Him.
31 (AA)For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
32 It is God who (AB)arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
33 (AC)He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And (AD)sets me on my high places.
34 (AE)He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You enlarged my path under me,
(AF)So my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
38 I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have [i]subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save;
(AG)Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I (AH)cast them out like dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
(AI)You have made me the head of the [j]nations;
(AJ)A people I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners [k]submit to me.
45 (AK)The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me,
(AL)And subdues the peoples under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
(AM)You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 (AN)Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the [l]Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.
31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 (A)This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and [a]thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of [b]clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out (B)without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 (C)Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became (D)like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that (E)no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image (F)became a great mountain (G)and filled the whole earth.
36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 (H)You, O king, are a king of kings. (I)For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 (J)and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—(K)you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise (L)another kingdom (M)inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And (N)the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, (O)so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly [c]fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings (P)the God of heaven will set up a kingdom (Q)which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; (R)it shall [d]break in pieces and [e]consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 (S)Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”
Daniel and His Friends Promoted
46 (T)Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering (U)and incense to him. 47 The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly (V)your God is the God of (W)gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” 48 (X)Then the king promoted Daniel (Y)and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and (Z)chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Also Daniel petitioned the king, (AA)and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel (AB)sat in [f]the gate of the king.
Deceptions of the Last Hour
18 (A)Little children, (B)it is the last hour; and as you have heard that (C)the[a] Antichrist is coming, (D)even now many antichrists have come, by which we know (E)that it is the last hour. 19 (F)They went out from us, but they were not of us; for (G)if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out (H)that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
20 But (I)you have an anointing (J)from the Holy One, and (K)you[b] know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 (L)Who is a liar but he who denies that (M)Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 (N)Whoever denies the Son does not have the (O)Father either; (P)he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Let Truth Abide in You
24 Therefore let that abide in you (Q)which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, (R)you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 (S)And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to [c]deceive you. 27 But the (T)anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and (U)you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing (V)teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you [d]will abide in Him.
The Children of God
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that [e]when He appears, we may have (W)confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 (X)If you know that He is righteous, you know that (Y)everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way(A)
3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, (B)Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 [a]while (C)Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to (D)John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 (E)And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance (F)for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
(G)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
6 And (H)all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
John Preaches to the People(I)
7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, (J)“Brood[b] of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits (K)worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore (L)every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 So the people asked him, saying, (M)“What shall we do then?”
11 He answered and said to them, (N)“He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, (O)let him do likewise.”
12 Then (P)tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13 And he said to them, (Q)“Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”
So he said to them, “Do not [c]intimidate anyone (R)or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.