Book of Common Prayer
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
50 (A)The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken,
And called the earth (B)from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, (C)the perfection of beauty,
God (D)has shone forth.
3 May our God (E)come and not be silent;
(F)Fire devours before Him,
And (G)a storm whirls around Him.
4 He (H)calls the heavens above,
And the earth, to render justice to His people:
5 “Gather My (I)holy ones to Me,
Those who have cut a (J)covenant with Me by (K)sacrifice.”
6 And the (L)heavens declare His righteousness,
For (M)God Himself is judge. [b]Selah.
7 “(N)Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify [c]against you;
I am God, (O)your God.
8 I do (P)not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 I shall take no (Q)young bull out of your house
Nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For (R)every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every (S)bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [d]Mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the (T)world is Mine, as well as its fullness.
13 Shall I eat the flesh of [e](U)bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14 Offer to God (V)a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And (W)pay your vows to the Most High;
15 (X)Call upon Me in the day of distress;
I shall (Y)rescue you, and you will (Z)glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recount My statutes
And to take (AA)My covenant in your mouth?
17 For you (AB)hate discipline,
And you (AC)cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you [f](AD)are pleased with him,
And [g]you (AE)associate with adulterers.
19 You [h](AF)let your mouth loose in evil
And you harness your (AG)tongue for deceit.
20 You sit and (AH)speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done and (AI)I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will (AJ)reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.
Deliver Me from My Enemies
For the choir director. [a]Al-tashheth. Of David. A [b]Mikhtam. [c]When Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to put him to death.
59 (A)Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
[d](B)Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from (C)workers of iniquity
And save me from (D)men of bloodshed.
3 For behold, they (E)have lain in wait for my soul;
[e]Fierce men [f](F)launch an attack against me,
(G)Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Yahweh,
4 [g](H)For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me.
(I)Arouse Yourself to meet me, and see!
5 You, (J)O Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to [h](K)punish all the nations;
(L)Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in [i]iniquity. [j]Selah.
6 They (M)return at evening, they howl like a (N)dog,
And go around the city.
7 Behold, they (O)pour forth speech with their mouth;
(P)Swords are in their lips,
For, they say, “(Q)Who hears?”
8 But You, O Yahweh, (R)laugh at them;
You (S)mock all the nations.
9 Because of [k]his (T)strength I will watch for You,
For God is my (U)stronghold.
10 [l]My God (V)in His lovingkindness will approach me;
God will let me (W)look triumphantly upon [m]my foes.
11 Do not slay them, (X)or my people will forget;
(Y)Make them wander about by Your power, and bring them down,
O Lord, (Z)our shield.
12 [n]On account of the (AA)sin of their mouth and the word of their lips,
Let them even be (AB)caught in their pride,
And on account of (AC)curses and [o]lies which they utter.
13 [p](AD)Destroy them in wrath, [q]destroy them that they may be no more;
That men may (AE)know that God [r]rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 They (AF)return at evening, they howl like a dog,
And go around the city.
15 They (AG)wander about [s]for food
And [t]growl if they are not satisfied.
16 But as for me, I shall (AH)sing of Your strength;
And I shall (AI)joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the (AJ)morning,
For You have been my (AK)stronghold
And a (AL)refuge in the day of my distress.
17 (AM)O my strength, I will sing praises to You;
For God is my (AN)stronghold, the [u]God who shows me lovingkindness.
Through God We Shall Do Valiantly
For the choir director. According to [v]Shushan Eduth. A [w]Mikhtam of David. For teaching. [x]When he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
60 O God, (AO)You have rejected us. You have [y](AP)broken us;
You have been (AQ)angry; Oh, (AR)restore us.
2 You have made the [z](AS)land quake, You have split it open;
(AT)Heal its breaches, for it shakes.
3 You have (AU)caused Your people to see hardship;
You have given us [aa]wine to (AV)drink that causes reeling.
4 You have given a (AW)banner to those who fear You,
[ab]In order to flee to it from the bow. [ac]Selah.
5 (AX)That Your (AY)beloved may be rescued,
(AZ)Save with Your right hand, and answer [ad]us!
6 God has spoken in His [ae](BA)holiness:
“I will exult, I will portion out (BB)Shechem and measure out the valley of (BC)Succoth.
7 (BD)Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
(BE)Ephraim also is the [af]helmet of My head;
Judah is My [ag](BF)scepter.
8 (BG)Moab is My washbowl;
Over (BH)Edom I shall throw My shoe;
Make a loud shout, O (BI)Philistia, because of Me!”
9 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who [ah]will lead me to Edom?
10 Have You Yourself, O God, not (BJ)rejected us?
And (BK)will You, O God, not go forth with our armies?
11 Oh give us help against the adversary,
For (BL)salvation [ai]by man is worthless.
12 [aj]Through God we shall (BM)do valiantly,
And it is He who will (BN)tread down our adversaries.
How Majestic Is Your Name
For the choir director. According to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
8 O Yahweh, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who [a](A)displays Your splendor above the heavens!
2 (B)From the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have established [b](C)strength
Because of Your adversaries,
To make (D)the enemy and the revengeful cease.
3 When I (E)see (F)Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The (G)moon and the stars, which You have established;
4 (H)What is man that You remember him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a (I)little lower than the [c]angels,
And (J)You crown him with (K)glory and majesty!
6 You make him to (L)rule over the works of Your hands;
You have (M)put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen,
And also the animals of the field,
8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 (N)O Yahweh, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
Blessed Is the Man Who Trusts in You
For the choir director. According to the [a]Gittith. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.
84 How lovely are Your (A)dwelling places,
O Yahweh of hosts!
2 My (B)soul has longed and even [b]fainted for the courts of Yahweh;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the (C)living God.
3 Even the bird has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she sets her young,
At Your (D)altars, O Yahweh of hosts,
(E)My King and my God.
4 How (F)blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are (G)ever praising You. [c]Selah.
5 How blessed is the man whose (H)strength is in You,
In [d]whose heart are the (I)highways to Zion!
6 Passing through the valley of [e]Baca they make it a [f]spring;
The (J)early rain also wraps it up with blessings.
7 They (K)go from strength to strength,
[g]Each one of them (L)appears before God in Zion.
8 O (M)Yahweh God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O (N)God of Jacob! Selah.
9 See our (O)shield, O God,
And look upon the face of (P)Your anointed.
10 For (Q)better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For Yahweh God is (R)a sun and (S)shield;
Yahweh gives grace and (T)glory;
(U)No good thing does He withhold [h]from those who walk blamelessly.
12 O Yahweh of hosts,
How (V)blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Do Not Distort Justice
18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your gates of the towns which Yahweh your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (A)You shall not distort justice; (B)you shall not [a]be partial, and (C)you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 Righteousness! Righteousness, you shall pursue, that (D)you may live and possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving you.
Statutes for the King
14 “When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you (A)possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘(B)I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one (C)from among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother. 16 (D)Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he (E)cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. (F)Yahweh has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 (G)And he shall not multiply wives for himself, [a]or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
18 “Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll [b](H)in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it (I)all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, [c]to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers (J)and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.
Generosity and Grace
8 Now brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been (A)given in the churches of (B)Macedonia, 2 that in a great testing by affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the (C)richness of their [a]generosity. 3 For I testify that (D)according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the (E)grace [b]of sharing in the (F)ministry to the saints, 5 and this, not as we had [c]expected, but they first (G)gave themselves to the Lord and to us by (H)the will of God. 6 So we (I)encouraged (J)Titus that as he had previously (K)made a beginning, so he would also complete in you (L)this gracious work as well.
7 But just as you (M)abound (N)in everything, in faith and word and knowledge and in all earnestness and in [d]the love we inspired in you, see that you (O)abound in this gracious work also. 8 I (P)am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. 9 For you know (Q)the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that (R)though being rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 10 And I (S)give my opinion in this matter, for this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin (T)a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. 11 But now complete [e]doing it also, so that just as there was the (U)readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have. 12 For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable (V)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— 14 at this present time your abundance being a supply for (W)their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for (X)your need, that there may be equality. 15 As it is written, “(Y)He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
16 But [f](Z)thanks be to God who (AA)puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of (AB)Titus.
Parables on Prayer
18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they (A)ought to pray and not to (B)lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and did not (C)respect man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my opponent.’ 4 And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor (D)respect man, 5 yet (E)because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice, lest by continually coming she [a](F)wears me out.’” 6 And (G)the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge *said. 7 Now, will God not (H)bring about justice for His (I)elect who cry to Him day and night, [b]and will He (J)delay long over them? 8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, (K)will He find that faith on the earth?”
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