Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97
1 The Eternal reigns powerful over all;
let the earth sing with joy;
let the distant islands celebrate.
2 Clouds and deep darkness encircle Him;
righteousness and justice are the bedrock of His rule.
3 Fire precedes Him;
it burns away His opponents on all sides.
4 With His lightning flashing about, He illuminates the world;
the earth watches and trembles.
5 Like wax before the flame, mountains melt when the Eternal appears,
the Master of the whole earth.
6 The heavens display His order and perfect justice;
all peoples witness His magnificence.
7 Those who worship idols,
who boast in the impotent creations of human hands, will be shamed.
Worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion heard and was glad,
and the daughters of Judah celebrated
because they saw Your justice, O Eternal One.
9 For You are the Eternal, the Most High, over the entire world;
You far exceed all gods.
10 Hate evil, you lovers of the Eternal.
He protects the souls of those who follow Him;
He rescues them from the devices of the wicked.
11 Light is sown in the just;
as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.
12 Celebrate the Eternal God, all you who are faithful;
offer thanks to His holy name.
Psalm 99
1 The Eternal is the king ruling over all;
let all people shake in fear.
He sits on His throne, settled between winged guardians;[a]
let the planet tremble.
2 The Eternal is great in the hearts of His people;
He has made Zion His sacred mountain,
and He reigns majestic over all people.
3 Let them express praise and gratitude to Your amazing and awesome name—
because He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
4 The King who rules with strength also treasures justice.
You created order and established what is right.
You have carried out justice
and done what is right to the people of Jacob.
5 Lift up the Eternal our God in your heart;
bow down to the earth where He rests His feet.
He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
6 Moses and Aaron were two of His priests;
Samuel was among those who called out to Him.
They asked the Eternal for help, and He answered them.
7 He answered them from a column of cloud;
they heeded His testimonies
and lived by the laws He gave them.
8 You answered them, Eternal our God;
You were, to them, a God who forgives,
yet You did not ignore what they did wrong
and punished them fairly as well.
9 Lift up the Eternal our God in your hearts,
and celebrate His goodness at His holy mountain,
for the Eternal our God is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
Psalm 100
A song of thanks.
Psalm 100 is one of the best known and most loved psalms. This hymn of thanksgiving invites the whole world to come to God’s temple in Jerusalem and enter its sacred spaces with unbridled joy and hearts filled with gratitude. And why should we? The psalm provides the answer. Not only has God created us—a gracious act of love in and of itself—but He has made us His own people. He has chosen us and loved us. As with Psalm 23, God’s people are cast in the role as sheep living well in His pasture.
The psalm ends on a high note of confidence and hope. At all times—but perhaps more in times of difficulty—we need to be reminded of what is true. Regardless of what seems to be happening around us, the Eternal is good; His love and faithfulness will endure forever.
1 Raise your voices;
make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
2 Serve the Eternal gladly;
enter into His presence singing songs of joy!
3 Know this: the Eternal One Himself is the True God.
He is the One who made us;
we have not made ourselves;
we are His people, like sheep grazing in His fields.
4 Go through His gates, giving thanks;
walk through His courts, giving praise.
Offer Him your gratitude and praise His holy name.
5 Because the Eternal is good,
His loyal love and mercy will never end,
and His truth will last throughout all generations.
Psalm 94
1 O Eternal God of vengeance,
O God who sets things right, shine upon us.
2 Rise, O Judge who presides over the earth,
and pronounce Your sentence upon the proud.
Give them what they deserve!
3 How long, O Eternal One, how long
will the guilty revel in their prosperity?
4 Arrogance pours from their mouths;
all these troublemakers brag of their exploits.
5 They have broken Your people to pieces, O Eternal One,
and brought ruin to Your future generations.
6 They slay a widow, kill a newcomer,
and murder an orphan.
7 Then they say, “The Eternal can’t see what we’re up to;
the God of Jacob’s people pays no attention to us.”
8 Think, brainless people;
stupid people, when will you get it?
9 Does the God who set the ear in its place not hear?
Does the God who made the eye not see?
10 Does the God who teaches the nations
and guides humanity to knowledge,
not exercise just correction?
11 The Eternal knows the highest thoughts of the wise,
and they are worthless.[a]
12 How fortunate are those You discipline, O Eternal One,
those You train by Your divine law;
13 You relieve them in times of distress,
until a grave is dug for evildoers.
14 The Eternal will not abandon His people;
He will not turn away from those He redeemed
15 Because justice is coming for those who do what is right
and all the good-hearted will pursue it.
16 Who will back me up when evildoers come against me?
Who is willing to take my side against the wicked?
17 If the Eternal had not come to my rescue,
my soul would have descended to the land where death silences every voice.
18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!”
Your unfailing love, O Eternal One, held me up.
19 When anxiety overtakes me and worries are many,
Your comfort lightens my soul.
20 Can wicked tyrants be Your allies?
Will You align with rulers who create havoc with unjust decrees?
21 They have joined forces against the life of the just-living, the right-seeking,
and have sentenced the innocent to death.
22 But the Eternal has been my citadel;
my God, a sure safe haven.
23 He will fold their wickedness back upon them,
and because they are malicious, He will silence them.
The Eternal, our True God, will scatter them.
Psalm 95
1 Come, let us worship in song, a joyful offering to the Eternal.
Shout! Shout with joy to the rock of our liberation.
2 Come face-to-face with God, and give thanks;
with loud and joyful voices, praise Him in songs.
3 For the Eternal is a great God,
and a great King, supreme over all gods.
4 Within His control are the very depths of the earth;
the mountaintops too—they all belong to Him.
5 The sea belongs to Him, for He created it—scooped and filled it—
with His hands He made the dry land—every valley and mountain.
6 Come, let us worship Him. Everyone bow down;
kneel before the Eternal who made us.
7 For He is our God
and we are His people, the flock of His pasture,
His sheep protected and nurtured by His hand.
Today, if He speaks, hear His voice.
8 “Don’t harden your hearts the way they did in the bitter uprising at Meribah
or like that day they complained in the wilderness of Massah.
9 Your ancestors tested Me,
wanted Me to prove Myself though they had seen that nothing was too great for Me.
10 For 40 years I despised that grumbling generation
and said, ‘Their hearts are unfaithful;
they no longer walk in My ways; though I call, they do not listen to My voice.’
11 That is why in My anger I swore,
‘They will never enter into My rest.’”
10 Look, the day is here! It has arrived!
Your doom has erupted.
The rod has budded; conceit has blossomed!
11 The consequence—violence—has grown up into a rod to punish the wicked;
no one will be left, not one of the many!
No wealth, no valuables will be left from this doomsday.
12 The time has arrived; the day is now.
Buyer, don’t celebrate; seller, don’t grieve,
for My anger will come to burn all of you!
13 The seller won’t regain his treasures while they both live;
for the vision has to do with everyone, and no one will escape My wrath!
Because of each person’s iniquity,
no one will be able to hold onto his life.
14 Though the trumpet will sound to get everything ready,
no troops will march into battle
because My wrath is against all the people of Jerusalem.
15 The sword falls on anyone outside the city;
disease and famine ravage those who remain inside.
Those in the open will die by the sword;
those inside the city walls will be consumed by famine and disease.
23 Forge a chain,
for the land is soaked in blood and violence,
And the city is brimming with brutality!
24 I will stir up the very worst of the nations
to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the strong ones’ pride,
and their most sacred sites will be desecrated.
25 When the horror of My wrath comes, they will look for a calm place,
but there will be nothing but torrential terror.
26 One disaster after another will hit them;
one bad report after another will come to them.
Then they will seek a vision from any prophet,
but no instruction in the law from the priest
and no wise counsel from the elders will be found.
27 The king will grieve,
the prince will wrap himself in despair,
and the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will deal with them according to the way they dealt with others;
I will judge them according to way they judged others.
Then they will know I am the Eternal One.
Melchizedek is perhaps one of the most mysterious figures in Scripture. He appears for the first time in Genesis 14:17-20 as Abraham returns from battle against Chedorlaomer and his allies. The name “Melchizedek” shows up again in Psalm 110, a song of David that is widely used to celebrate the coronation of the Davidic kings in Jerusalem. When God installs His king upon the throne of Jerusalem, He promises to vanquish his enemies and establish him as an eternal priest according to the honored order of Melchizedek.
But who was Melchizedek? Here Jesus is often referred to as “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” This mysterious Melchizedek, king of righteousness and peace, is a precursor to the Prince of Peace. In his brief appearances in Genesis and in Psalm 110, he opens a window into the mystery of God and His plan to redeem the world. The tradition about Melchizedek helps the early church understand Jesus’ role as priest and king even if He doesn’t seem to fit the traditional categories.
13 Remember when God made His promise to Abraham? He had to swear by Himself, there being no one greater: 14 “Surely I will bless you and multiply your descendants.”[a] 15 And after Abraham had endured with patience, he obtained the promise he had hoped for. 16 When swearing an oath to confirm what they are saying, humans swear by someone greater than themselves and so bring their arguments to an end. 17 In the same way, when God wanted to confirm His promise as true and unchangeable, He swore an oath to the heirs of that promise. 18 So God has given us two unchanging things: His promise and His oath. These prove that it is impossible for God to lie. As a result, we who come to God for refuge might be encouraged to seize that hope that is set before us. 19 That hope is real and true, an anchor to steady our restless souls, a hope that leads us back behind the curtain to where God is (as the high priests did in the days when reconciliation flowed from sacrifices in the temple) 20 and back into the place where Jesus, who went ahead on our behalf, has entered since He has become a High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
10 The Lord then recruited and deployed 70[a] more disciples. He sent them ahead, in teams of two, to visit all the towns and settlements between them and Jerusalem. 2 This is what He ordered.
Jesus: There’s a great harvest waiting in the fields, but there aren’t many good workers to harvest it. Pray that the Harvest Master will send out good workers to the fields.
3 It’s time for you 70 to go. I’m sending you out armed with vulnerability, like lambs walking into a pack of wolves. 4 Don’t bring a wallet. Don’t carry a backpack. I don’t even want you to wear sandals. Walk along barefoot, quietly, without stopping for small talk. 5 When you enter a house seeking lodging, say, “Peace on this house!” 6 If a child of peace—one who welcomes God’s message of peace—is there, your peace will rest on him. If not, don’t worry; nothing is wasted. 7 Stay where you’re welcomed. Become part of the family, eating and drinking whatever they give you. You’re My workers, and you deserve to be cared for. Again, don’t go from house to house, 8 but settle down in a town and eat whatever they serve you. 9 Heal the sick and say to the townspeople, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
10 Of course, not every town will welcome you. If you’re rejected, walk through the streets and say, 11 “We’re leaving this town. We’ll wipe off the dust that clings to our feet in protest against you. But even so, know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” 12 I tell you the truth, on judgment day, Sodom will have an easier time of it than the town that rejects My messengers.
13 It’s going to be bad for you, Chorazin! It’s going to be bad for you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works done in your streets had been done in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, they would have been moved to turn to God and cry out in sackcloth and ashes. 14 On judgment day, Tyre and Sidon will have an easier time of it than you. 15 It’s going to be bad for you, too, Capernaum! Will you be celebrated to heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead.
16 Listen, disciples: if people give you a hearing, they’re giving Me a hearing. If they reject you, they’re rejecting Me. And if they reject Me, they’re rejecting the One who sent Me. So—go now!
17 When the 70[b] completed their mission and returned to report on their experiences, they were elated.
Seventy: It’s amazing, Lord! When we use Your name, the demons do what we say!
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.