Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50[a]
The Acceptable Sacrifice
1 A psalm of Asaph.
I
The God of gods, the Lord,
has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.(A)
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.(B)
3 Our God comes and will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes him,
it rages strongly around him.(C)
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth to judge his people:
5 “Gather my loyal ones to me,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is the judge.(D)
Selah
II
7 “Listen, my people, I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you;
God, your God, am I.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
your burnt offerings are always before me.
9 I will not take a bullock from your house,
or he-goats from your folds.(E)
10 For every animal of the forest is mine,
beasts by the thousands on my mountains.
11 I know every bird in the heights;
whatever moves in the wild is mine.
12 Were I hungry, I would not tell you,
for mine is the world and all that fills it.(F)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of he-goats?
14 Offer praise as your sacrifice to God;(G)
fulfill your vows to the Most High.
15 Then call on me on the day of distress;(H)
I will rescue you, and you shall honor me.”
III
16 But to the wicked God says:
“Why do you recite my commandments
and profess my covenant with your mouth?
17 You hate discipline;
you cast my words behind you!
18 If you see a thief, you run with him;
with adulterers you throw in your lot.
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil;
you yoke your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother,
slandering your mother’s son.
21 When you do these things should I be silent?
Do you think that I am like you?
I accuse you, I lay out the matter before your eyes.
IV
22 “Now understand this, you who forget God,
lest I start ripping apart and there be no rescuer.
23 Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me;
I will let him whose way is steadfast
look upon the salvation of God.”(I)
Psalm 59[a]
Complaint Against Bloodthirsty Enemies
1 For the director. Do not destroy.[b] A miktam of David, when Saul sent people to watch his house and kill him.(A)
I
2 Rescue me from my enemies, my God;
lift me out of reach of my foes.
3 Deliver me from evildoers;
from the bloodthirsty save me.
4 They have set an ambush for my life;
the powerful conspire against me.
For no offense or misdeed of mine, Lord,
5 for no fault they hurry to take up arms.
Come near and see my plight!
6 You, Lord God of hosts, are the God of Israel!
Awake! Punish all the nations.
Have no mercy on these worthless traitors.
Selah
7 Each evening they return,
growling like dogs, prowling the city.(B)
8 Their mouths pour out insult;
sharp words are on their lips.
They say: “Who is there to hear?”[c]
9 But you, Lord, laugh at them;
you deride all the nations.(C)
10 My strength, for you I watch;
you, God, are my fortress,
11 my loving God.
II
May God go before me,
and show me my fallen foes.
12 Slay them, God,
lest they deceive my people.
Shake them by your power;
Lord, our shield, bring them down.
13 For the sinful words of their mouths and lips
let them be caught in their pride.
For the lies they have told under oath(D)
14 destroy them in anger,
destroy till they are no more.
Then people will know God rules over Jacob,
yes, even to the ends of the earth.(E)
Selah
15 Each evening they return,
growling like dogs, prowling the city.
16 They roam about as scavengers;
if they are not filled, they howl.
III
17 But I shall sing of your strength,
extol your mercy at dawn,
For you are my fortress,
my refuge in time of trouble.
18 My strength, your praise I will sing;
you, God, are my fortress, my loving God.
Psalm 60[d]
Lament After Defeat in Battle
1 For the leader; according to “The Lily of.…” A miktam of David (for teaching), 2 when he fought against Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah; and Joab, coming back, killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.(F)
I
3 O God, you rejected us, broke our defenses;
you were angry but now revive us.
4 You rocked the earth, split it open;(G)
repair the cracks for it totters.
5 You made your people go through hardship,
made us stagger from the wine you gave us.(H)
6 Raise up a banner for those who revere you,
a refuge for them out of bow shot.
Selah
7 [e]Help with your right hand and answer us
that your loved ones may escape.
II
8 [f]In the sanctuary God promised:
“I will exult, will apportion Shechem;
the valley of Succoth I will measure out.
9 Gilead is mine, mine is Manasseh;
Ephraim is the helmet for my head,
Judah, my own scepter.[g]
10 [h]Moab is my washbowl;
upon Edom I cast my sandal.(I)
I will triumph over Philistia.”
III
Psalm 118[a]
Hymn of Thanksgiving
I
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,(A)
his mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
his mercy endures forever.
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,(B)
his mercy endures forever.
II
5 In danger I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is with me; I am not afraid;
what can mortals do against me?(C)
7 The Lord is with me as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on my foes.
8 Better to take refuge in the Lord(D)
than to put one’s trust in mortals.
9 Better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put one’s trust in princes.
III
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
11 They surrounded me on every side;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
12 They surrounded me like bees;(E)
they burned up like fire among thorns;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
13 I was hard pressed and falling,
but the Lord came to my help.(F)
14 The Lord, my strength and might,
has become my savior.(G)
IV
15 The joyful shout of deliverance
is heard in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand works valiantly;
16 the Lord’s right hand is raised;
the Lord’s right hand works valiantly.”
17 I shall not die but live
and declare the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord chastised me harshly,
but did not hand me over to death.
V
19 Open the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and thank the Lord.(H)
20 This is the Lord’s own gate,
through it the righteous enter.
21 I thank you for you answered me;
you have been my savior.
22 [b]The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.(I)
23 By the Lord has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice in it and be glad.
25 Lord, grant salvation![c]
Lord, grant good fortune!
VI
26 Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord.(J)
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God and has enlightened us.
Join in procession with leafy branches
up to the horns of the altar.
VII
28 You are my God, I give you thanks;
my God, I offer you praise.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
his mercy endures forever.
15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.(A) 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Chapter 17
Covenant of Circumcision.[a] 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.(B) 2 Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly.(C)
3 Abram fell face down and God said to him: 4 For my part, here is my covenant with you: you are to become the father of a multitude of nations.(D) 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham,[b] for I am making you the father of a multitude of nations.(E) 6 I will make you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings will stem from you. 7 I will maintain my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.(F) 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now residing as aliens, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.(G) 9 God said to Abraham: For your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. 10 This is the covenant between me and you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.[c](H) 11 Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.(I) 12 Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants.(J) 13 Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
Chapter 10
One Sacrifice Instead of Many. 1 [a]Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,[b] and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year.(A) 2 Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have had any consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,(B) 4 for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.(C) 5 For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:[c]
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,(D)
but a body you prepared for me;
6 holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.
7 Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
8 First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings,[d] you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law.(E) 9 Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.(F) 10 By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.(G)
30 “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.(A)
Witnesses to Jesus. 31 (B)“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified. 32 But there is another[a] who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. 33 You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.(C) 34 I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.(D) 35 He was a burning and shining lamp,[b] and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.(E) 36 But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.(F) 37 Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,(G) 38 and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.(H) 39 You search[c] the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.(I) 40 But you do not want to come to me to have life.
Unbelief of Jesus’ Hearers. 41 “I do not accept human praise;[d] 42 moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.(J) 43 I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.(K) 44 How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?(L) 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.(M) 46 For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.(N) 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
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