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]
The Live Goat Ritual Procedures
20 “When Aaron[a] has finished purifying the Holy Place,[b] the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat. 21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins,[c] and thus he is to put them[d] on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready.[e] 22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land,[f] so he is to send the goat away[g] into the desert.
The Concluding Rituals
23 “Aaron must then enter[h] the Meeting Tent and take off the linen garments which he had put on when he entered the sanctuary, and leave them there. 24 Then he must bathe his body in water in the Holy Place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. So he is to make atonement[i] on behalf of himself and the people.[j]
25 “Then he is to offer up the fat of the sin offering[k] in smoke on the altar, 26 and the one who sent the goat away to Azazel[l] must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp. 27 The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the Holy Place, must be brought outside the camp[m] and their hide, their flesh, and their dung must be burned up,[n] 28 and the one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.
Review of the Day of Atonement
29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you.[o] In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves[p] and do no work of any kind,[q] both the native citizen and the resident foreigner who lives[r] in your midst, 30 for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you must be clean before the Lord.[s] 31 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves.[t] It is a perpetual statute.[u]
32 “The priest who is anointed and ordained to act as high priest in place of his father[v] is to make atonement. He is to put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and he is to purify[w] the Most Holy Place,[x] he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar,[y] and he is to make atonement for[z] the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This is to be a perpetual statute for you[aa] to make atonement for the Israelites for[ab] all their sins once a year.”[ac] So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.[ad]
The Day of the Lord
5 Now on the topic of times and seasons,[a] brothers and sisters,[b] you have no need for anything to be written to you. 2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord[c] will come in the same way as a thief in the night.[d] 3 Now when[e] they are saying, “There is peace and security,”[f] then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains[g] on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters,[h] are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. 5 For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. 6 So then we must not sleep as the rest, but must stay alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate[i] of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation.[j] 9 For God did not destine us for wrath[k] but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died[l] for us so that whether we are alert or asleep[m] we will come to life together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing.
7 When[a] you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do[b] not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray this way:[c]
Our Father[d] in heaven, may your name be honored,[e]
10 may your kingdom come,[f]
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread,[g]
12 and forgive us our debts,[h] as we ourselves[i] have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,[j] but deliver us from the evil one.[k]
14 “For if you forgive others[l] their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.
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