Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97[a]
97 The Lord reigns.
Let the earth be happy.
Let the many coastlands rejoice.
2 Dark clouds surround him;
equity and justice are the foundation of his throne.[b]
3 Fire goes before him;
on every side[c] it burns up his enemies.
4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The sky declares his justice,
and all the nations see his splendor.
7 All who worship idols are ashamed,
those who boast about worthless idols.
All the gods bow down before him.[d]
8 Zion hears and rejoices,
the towns[e] of Judah are happy,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9 For you, O Lord, are the Most High[f] over the whole earth;
you are elevated high above all gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He protects[g] the lives of his faithful followers;
he delivers them from the power[h] of the wicked.
11 The godly bask in the light;
the morally upright experience joy.[i]
12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks to his holy name.[j]
Psalm 99[a]
99 The Lord reigns!
The nations tremble.[b]
He sits enthroned above the cherubim;[c]
the earth shakes.[d]
2 The Lord is elevated[e] in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
He[f] is holy!
4 The king is strong;
he loves justice.[g]
You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly;[h]
you promote justice and equity in Jacob.
5 Praise[i] the Lord our God.
Worship[j] before his footstool.
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel was one of those who prayed to him.[k]
They[l] prayed to the Lord and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud;[m]
they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.
8 O Lord our God, you answered them.
They found you to be a forgiving God,
but also one who punished their sinful deeds.[n]
9 Praise[o] the Lord our God!
Worship on his holy hill,
for the Lord our God is holy.
Psalm 100[p]
A thanksgiving psalm.
100 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship[q] the Lord with joy.
Enter his presence with joyful singing.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him,[r]
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give him thanks.
Praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His loyal love endures,[s]
and he is faithful through all generations.[t]
Psalm 94[a]
94 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.[b]
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?[c]
4 They spew out threats[d] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[e]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[f]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[g]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[h]
8 Take notice of this,[i] you ignorant people.[j]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?[k]
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.[l]
12 How blessed is the one[m] whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,[n]
until the wicked are destroyed.[o]
14 Certainly[p] the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.[q]
15 For justice will prevail,[r]
and all the morally upright[s] will be vindicated.[t]
16 Who will rise up to defend me[u] against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?[v]
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.[w]
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[x]
your soothing touch makes me happy.[y]
20 Cruel rulers[z] are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.[aa]
21 They conspire against[ab] the blameless,[ac]
and condemn to death the innocent.[ad]
22 But the Lord will protect me,[ae]
and my God will shelter me.[af]
23 He will pay them back for their sin.[ag]
He will destroy them because of[ah] their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
Psalm 95[ai]
95 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
Let us shout out praises to our Protector who delivers us.[aj]
2 Let us enter his presence[ak] with thanksgiving.
Let us shout out to him in celebration.[al]
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great king who is superior to[am] all gods.
4 The depths of the earth are in his hand,[an]
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship.[ao]
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Creator.
7 For he is our God;
we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep he owns.[ap]
Today, if only you would obey him.[aq]
8 He says,[ar] “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah,[as]
like they were that day at Massah[at] in the wilderness,[au]
9 where your ancestors challenged my authority,[av]
and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I was continually disgusted[aw] with that generation,
and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;[ax]
they do not obey my commands.’[ay]
11 So I made a vow in my anger,
‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’”[az]
Jacob’s Flight from Laban
31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining,[a] “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich[b] at our father’s expense!”[c] 2 When Jacob saw the look on Laban’s face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed.[d]
3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers[e] and to your relatives. I will be with you.”[f] 4 So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah[g] to come to the field[h] where his flocks were.[i] 5 There he said to them, “I can tell that your father’s attitude toward me has changed,[j] but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could,[k] 7 but your father has humiliated[l] me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm. 8 If he said,[m] ‘The speckled animals[n] will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled offspring. But if he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked offspring. 9 In this way God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
10 “Once[o] during breeding season I saw[p] in a dream that the male goats mating with[q] the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied. 12 Then he said, ‘Observe that[r] all the male goats mating with[s] the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed[t] the sacred stone and made a vow to me.[u] Now leave this land immediately[v] and return to your native land.’”
14 Then Rachel and Leah replied to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance[w] in our father’s house? 15 Hasn’t he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted[x] the money paid for us![y] 16 Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.”
17 So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels.[z] 18 He took away[aa] all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac.[ab]
19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep,[ac] Rachel stole the household idols[ad] that belonged to her father. 20 Jacob also deceived[ae] Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.[af] 21 He left[ag] with all he owned. He quickly crossed[ah] the Euphrates River[ai] and headed for[aj] the hill country of Gilead.
22 Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left.[ak] 23 So he took his relatives[al] with him and pursued Jacob[am] for seven days.[an] He caught up with[ao] him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him,[ap] “Be careful[aq] that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.”[ar]
2 1 (My little children,[a] I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.[b]) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate[c] with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One,[d] 2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice[e] for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.[f]
Keeping God’s Commandments
3 Now[g] by this we know that we have come to know God:[h] if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who says “I have come to know God”[i] and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his[j] word, truly in this person[k] the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6 The one who says he resides[l] in God[m] ought himself to walk[n] just as Jesus[o] walked.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.[p] The old commandment is the word that you have already[q] heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him[r] and in you, because[s] the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.[t] 9 The one who says he is in the light but still hates[u] his fellow Christian[v] is still in the darkness. 10 The one who loves his fellow Christian[w] resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.[x] 11 But the one who hates his fellow Christian[y] is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.[z]
18 Now the Jewish religious leaders[a] refused to believe[b] that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned[c] the parents of the man who had become able to see.[d] 19 They asked the parents,[e] “Is this your son, whom you say[f] was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 So his parents replied,[g] “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see.[h] Ask him, he is a mature adult.[i] He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders.[j] For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus[k] to be the Christ[l] would be put out[m] of the synagogue.[n] 23 For this reason his parents said, “He is a mature adult,[o] ask him.”)[p]
24 Then they summoned[q] the man who used to be blind[r] a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth.[s] We know that this man[t] is a sinner.” 25 He replied,[u] “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing—that although I was blind, now I can see.” 26 Then they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he cause you to see?”[v] 27 He answered,[w] “I told you already and you didn’t listen.[x] Why do you want to hear it[y] again? You people[z] don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 They[aa] heaped insults[ab] on him, saying,[ac] “You are his disciple![ad] We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man[ae] comes from!” 30 The man replied,[af] “This is a remarkable thing,[ag] that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see![ah] 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to[ai] sinners, but if anyone is devout[aj] and does his will, God[ak] listens to[al] him.[am] 32 Never before[an] has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see.[ao] 33 If this man[ap] were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They replied,[aq] “You were born completely in sinfulness,[ar] and yet you presume to teach us?”[as] So they threw him out.
The Man’s Response to Jesus
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man[at] and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[au] 36 The man[av] replied,[aw] “And who is he, sir, that[ax] I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus told him, “You have seen him; he[ay] is the one speaking with you.”[az] 38 [He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.[ba] 39 Jesus[bb] said,][bc] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight,[bd] and the ones who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees[be] who were with him heard this[bf] and asked him,[bg] “We are not blind too, are we?”[bh] 41 Jesus replied,[bi] “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin,[bj] but now because you claim that you can see,[bk] your guilt[bl] remains.[bm]
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