Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61[a]
For the music director, to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David.
61 O God, hear my cry for help.
Pay attention to my prayer.
2 From the remotest place on earth[b]
I call out to you in my despair.[c]
Lead me[d] up to a rocky summit where I can be safe.[e]
3 Indeed,[f] you are[g] my shelter,
a strong tower that protects me from the enemy.[h]
4 I will be a permanent guest in your home;[i]
I will find shelter in the protection of your wings.[j] (Selah)
5 For you, O God, hear my vows;
you grant me the reward that belongs to your loyal followers.[k]
6 Give the king long life.
Make his lifetime span several generations.[l]
7 May he reign[m] forever before God.
Decree that your loyal love and faithfulness should protect him.[n]
8 Then I will sing praises to your name continually,[o]
as I fulfill[p] my vows day after day.
Psalm 62[q]
For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
62 For God alone I patiently wait;[r]
he is the one who delivers me.[s]
2 He alone is my protector[t] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[u] I will not be upended.[v]
3 How long will you threaten[w] a man like me?
All of you are murderers,[x]
as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence.[y]
4 They[z] spend all their time planning how to bring their victim[aa] down.[ab]
They love to use deceit;[ac]
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses.[ad] (Selah)
5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul![ae]
For he is the one who gives me hope.[af]
6 He alone is my protector[ag] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[ah] I will not be shaken.
7 God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter.[ai]
8 Trust in him at all times, you people!
Pour out your hearts before him.[aj]
God is our shelter. (Selah)
9 Men are nothing but a mere breath;
human beings are unreliable.[ak]
When they are weighed in the scales,
all of them together are lighter than air.[al]
10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression.[am]
Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery.[an]
If wealth increases, do not become attached to it.[ao]
11 God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard:[ap]
God is strong,[aq]
12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love.[ar]
For you repay men for what they do.[as]
Psalm 68[a]
For the music director, by David, a psalm, a song.
68 God springs into action.[b]
His enemies scatter;
his adversaries[c] run from him.[d]
2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away.[e]
As wax melts before fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
3 But the godly[f] are happy;
they rejoice before God
and are overcome with joy.[g]
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name.
Exalt the one who rides on the clouds.[h]
For the Lord is his name.[i]
Rejoice before him.
5 He is a father to the fatherless
and an advocate for widows.[j]
God rules from his holy dwelling place.[k]
6 God settles in their own homes those who have been deserted;[l]
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity.[m]
But sinful rebels live in the desert.[n]
7 O God, when you lead your people into battle,[o]
when you march through the wastelands,[p] (Selah)
8 the earth shakes.
Yes, the heavens pour down rain
before God, the God of Sinai,[q]
before God, the God of Israel.[r]
9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall[s] on your chosen people.[t]
When they[u] are tired, you sustain them,[v]
10 for you live among them.[w]
You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.
11 The Lord speaks;[x]
many, many women spread the good news.[y]
12 Kings leading armies run away—they run away![z]
The lovely lady[aa] of the house divides up the loot.
13 When[ab] you lie down among the sheepfolds,[ac]
the wings of the dove are covered with silver
and with glittering gold.[ad]
14 When the Sovereign One[ae] scatters kings,[af]
let it snow[ag] on Zalmon.
15 The mountain of Bashan[ah] is a towering mountain;[ai]
the mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks.[aj]
16 Why do you look with envy,[ak] O mountains[al] with many peaks,
at the mountain where God has decided to live?[am]
Indeed[an] the Lord will live there[ao] permanently.
17 God has countless chariots;
they number in the thousands.[ap]
The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor.[aq]
18 You ascend on high;[ar]
you have taken many captives.[as]
You receive tribute[at] from[au] men,
including even sinful rebels.
Indeed, the Lord God lives there.[av]
19 The Lord deserves praise.[aw]
Day after day[ax] he carries our burden,
the God who delivers us. (Selah)
20 Our God is a God who delivers;
the Lord, the Sovereign Lord, can rescue from death.[ay]
21 Indeed, God strikes the heads of his enemies,
the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion.[az]
22 The Lord says,
“I will retrieve them[ba] from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that your feet may stomp[bb] in their blood,
and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.”[bc]
24 They[bd] see your processions, O God—
the processions of my God, my king, who marches along in holy splendor.[be]
25 Singers walk in front;
musicians follow playing their stringed instruments,[bf]
in the midst of young women playing tambourines.[bg]
26 In your large assemblies praise God,
the Lord, in the assemblies of Israel.[bh]
27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler,[bi]
and the princes of Judah in their robes,[bj]
along with the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
28 God has decreed that you will be powerful.[bk]
O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power.
29 Because of your temple in Jerusalem,[bl]
kings bring tribute to you.
30 Sound your battle cry against[bm] the wild beast of the reeds,[bn]
and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls.[bo]
They humble themselves[bp] and offer gold and silver as tribute.[bq]
God[br] scatters[bs] the nations that like to do battle.
31 They come with red cloth[bt] from Egypt.
Ethiopia[bu] voluntarily offers tribute[bv] to God.
32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)
33 to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times.[bw]
Look! He thunders loudly.[bx]
34 Acknowledge God’s power,[by]
his sovereignty over Israel,
and the power he reveals in the skies.[bz]
35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple.[ca]
It is the God of Israel[cb] who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise![cc]
Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt
42 When Jacob heard[a] there was grain in Egypt, he[b] said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?”[c] 2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us[d] so that we may live[e] and not die.”[f]
3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers,[g] for he said,[h] “What if some accident[i] happens[j] to him?” 5 So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers,[k] for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country.[l] Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down[m] before him with[n] their faces to the ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger[o] to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered,[p] “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.”[q]
8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies;[r] you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!”[s]
10 But they exclaimed,[t] “No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food! 11 We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men! Your servants are not spies.”
12 “No,” he insisted, “but you have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”[u] 13 They replied, “Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers.[v] We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time,[w] and one is no longer alive.”[x]
14 But Joseph told them, “It is just as I said to you:[y] You are spies! 15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives,[z] you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 One of you must go and get[aa] your brother, while[ab] the rest of you remain in prison.[ac] In this way your words may be tested to see if[ad] you are telling the truth.[ae] If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 He imprisoned[af] them all for three days.
Church Discipline
5 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with[a] his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud![b] Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this[c] from among you? 3 For even though I am absent physically,[d] I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present.[e] 4 When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus,[f] and I am with you in spirit,[g] along with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved[h] in the day of the Lord.[i]
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast[j] affects[k] the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough—you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.[l]
19 and Judas Iscariot,[a] who betrayed him.[b]
Jesus and Beelzebul
20 Now[c] Jesus[d] went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family[e] heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law[f] who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,”[g] and, “By the ruler[h] of demons he casts out demons!” 23 So[i] he called them and spoke to them in parables:[j] “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If[k] a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s[l] house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.[m] 28 I tell you the truth,[n] people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter.[o] 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin”[p] 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”[q]).
Jesus’ True Family
31 Then[r] Jesus’[s] mother and his brothers[t] came. Standing[u] outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers[v] are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”[w] 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here[x] are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is[y] my brother and sister and mother.”
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