Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving for God’s Future Help
For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.[a]
75 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, and your name is near.
Your wonderful deeds are told.[b]
2 “I will indeed set an appointed time;
I will judge fairly.[c]
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking;[d]
I steady[e] its columns. Selah
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast!’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn!
5 Do not lift up high your[f] horn.
Do not speak with arrogant pride.’”[g]
6 For it is not from the east or the west
and not from the south[h] that lifting up comes,
7 rather God is the judge;
one he brings low, and another he lifts up.
8 For there is a cup in the hand of Yahweh
with[i] wine that foams, fully mixed,
and he pours out from this.
Surely all the wicked of the land
will quaff it down to its dregs. [j]
9 But as for me, I will proclaim forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 “And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off.
The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Praise to God for His Rescue of Israel
For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.[k]
76 God is known in Judah.
His name is great in Israel.
2 His den[l] has been in Salem,
his lair[m] in Zion.
3 There he broke the flames of the bow,
the shield and sword and battle. Selah
4 Radiant[n] you are, majestic,
from[o] the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are plundered;
they sleep their sleep,
and all the able men cannot use[p] their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider[q] and horse slumber.
7 You, indeed, are to be feared,[r]
and who can stand before you
when you are angry? [s]
8 From heaven you proclaimed judgment.
The earth feared and was still
9 when God rose for justice,
to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah
10 For the anger of humankind will praise you.
You will put on the remnant of anger.[t]
11 Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God;
let all surrounding him
bring tribute to the one to be feared.[u]
12 He cuts off the spirit of leaders.
He is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
Yahweh the Shepherd
A psalm of David.[a]
23 Yahweh is my shepherd;
I will not lack for anything.
2 In grassy pastures he makes me lie down;
by quiet waters he leads me.
3 He restores my life.[b]
He leads me in correct paths[c]
for the sake of his name.
4 Even when I walk in a dark valley, I fear no evil
because you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare before me a table
in the presence of my oppressors.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup is overflowing.
6 Surely goodness and loyal love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will stay[d] in the house[e] of Yahweh
for a very long time.[f]
A Declaration of Trust
Of David.[a]
27 Yahweh is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
Yahweh is the refuge of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers drew near against me to eat my flesh—
my adversaries and my enemies who drew near to me—
they themselves stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear.
Though war arise against me,
even in this I will remain confident.
4 One thing I have asked from Yahweh;
it I will seek:
that I may dwell in the house[b] of Yahweh all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Yahweh,
and to consider[c] his temple.
5 Because he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble.
He will conceal me in the hiding place of his tent.
He will set me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head will be high over my enemies round about me.
And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.
7 Hear, O Yahweh, my voice when I call,
and be gracious to me and answer me.
8 On your behalf my heart says, “Seek my face.”
Your face, O Yahweh, I do seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me;
do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my help; do not abandon nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10 If my father or my mother forsake me,
then Yahweh will receive me.
11 Teach me, O Yahweh, your way,
and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
12 Do not give me over to the desire of my enemies,
because false witnesses have arisen against me,
and each breathing out violence.[d]
13 Surely[e] I believe that I will see the goodness of Yahweh
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for Yahweh.
Be strong and let your heart show strength,
and wait for Yahweh.
5 There was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who was deported[a] from Jerusalem with the exiles[b] who were deported[c] with Jeconiah[d] the king of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported.[e] 7 He[f] was raising Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter,[g] for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman had a beautiful figure and was very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter. 8 And it happened, at the proclaiming of the edict of the king and his law, when many young women were being gathered to the citadel of Susa under Hegai’s care,[h] Esther was taken to the king’s palace[i] under the care of[j] Hegai who was in charge of the women.
15 When the turn came near for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as a daughter, to go to the king, she did not ask anything except what Hegai the eunuch of the king who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther carried favor in the eyes of everyone that saw her. 16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his palace,[a] in the tenth month that is Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won his favor and loyalty more than all the virgins, so he put a royal crown[b] on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. And he granted a tax amnesty[c] to the provinces and he gave gifts with royal liberality.
A Plot Against the King
19 When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king. 20 Esther had not made known her family and her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her,[d] just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king. Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold, became angry and they conspired to assassinate[e] King Ahasuerus. 22 And the matter became known to Mordecai and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told it to the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 And the matter was investigated and found to be so; and the two of them were hanged on the gallows, and it was written in the scroll of the events of the days before the presence of the king.
Paul in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he[a] observed the city was full of idols. 17 So he was discussing in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles,[b] and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 And even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, “What does this babbler want to say?” But others said,[c] “He appears to be a proclaimer of foreign deities,” because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took hold of him and[d] brought him[e] to the Areopagus, saying, “May we learn what is this new teaching being proclaimed by you? 20 For you are bringing some astonishing things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”[f] 21 (Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who stayed there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling something or listening to something new.)
Paul Speaks to the Areopagus
22 So Paul stood there in the middle of the Areopagus and[g] said, “Men of Athens, I see you are very religious in every respect.[h] 23 For as I[i] was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an unknown God.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it,[j] this I proclaim to you— 24 the God who made the world and all the things in it. This one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands as if he[k] needed anything, because[l] he himself gives to everyone life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, 27 to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him.[m] And indeed he is not far away from each one of us, 28 for in him we live and move and exist,[n] as even some of your own[o] poets have said: ‘For we also are his[p] offspring.’[q] 29 Therefore, because we[r] are offspring of God, we ought not to think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. 30 Therefore although[s] God has overlooked the times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man who he has appointed, having provided proof to everyone by[t] raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they[u] heard about the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, “We will hear you about this again also.” 33 So Paul went out from the midst of them. 34 But some people[v] joined him and[w] believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named[x] Damaris and others with them.
Jesus’ Final Public Appeal
44 But Jesus cried out and said, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, 45 and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, in order that everyone who believes in me will not remain in the darkness. 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,[a] I will not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has one who judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me[b] what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So the things that I say, just as the Father said to me, thus I say.”
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