Book of Common Prayer
For the Chief Musician. For a stringed instrument. By David.
61 Hear my cry, God.
Listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been a refuge for me,
a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will dwell in your tent forever.
I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.
5 For you, God, have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 You will prolong the king’s life.
His years will be for generations.
7 He shall be enthroned in God’s presence forever.
Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.
8 So I will sing praise to your name forever,
that I may fulfill my vows daily.
For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.
62 My soul rests in God alone.
My salvation is from him.
2 He alone is my rock, my salvation, and my fortress.
I will never be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down,
like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place.
They delight in lies.
They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
5 My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
for my expectation is from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor is with God.
The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people.
Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us. Selah.
9 Surely men of low degree are just a breath,
and men of high degree are a lie.
In the balances they will go up.
They are together lighter than a breath.
10 Don’t trust in oppression.
Don’t become vain in robbery.
If riches increase,
don’t set your heart on them.
11 God has spoken once;
twice I have heard this,
that power belongs to God.
12 Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness,
for you reward every man according to his work.
112 Praise Yah![a]
Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh,
who delights greatly in his commandments.
2 His offspring will be mighty in the land.
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house.
His righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright,
gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends.
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
6 For he will never be shaken.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
7 He will not be afraid of evil news.
His heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh.
8 His heart is established.
He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries.
9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor.
His righteousness endures forever.
His horn will be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked will see it, and be grieved.
He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away.
The desire of the wicked will perish.
115 Not to us, Yahweh, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God, now?”
3 But our God is in the heavens.
He does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they don’t speak.
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
6 They have ears, but they don’t hear.
They have noses, but they don’t smell.
7 They have hands, but they don’t feel.
They have feet, but they don’t walk,
neither do they speak through their throat.
8 Those who make them will be like them;
yes, everyone who trusts in them.
9 Israel, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
12 Yahweh remembers us. He will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh,
both small and great.
14 May Yahweh increase you more and more,
you and your children.
15 Blessed are you by Yahweh,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens,
but he has given the earth to the children of men.
17 The dead don’t praise Yah,
nor any who go down into silence,
18 but we will bless Yah,
from this time forward and forever more.
Praise Yah!
14 Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. 15 Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil any more. 16 In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” 17 Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. 18 I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. 19 Behold,[a] at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you; and I will save those who are lame and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,[a] according to the faith of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began; 3 but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, 4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
5 I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you— 6 if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior. 7 For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain; 8 but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
10 For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped: men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake. 12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16 They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
1 Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, 2 even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
8 Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division 9 according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.
11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’(A) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 Behold,[a] you will be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house. 24 After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”
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