Book of Common Prayer
A song. A Psalm by Asaph.
83 God, don’t keep silent.
Don’t keep silent,
and don’t be still, God.
2 For, behold, your enemies are stirred up.
Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
3 They conspire with cunning against your people.
They plot against your cherished ones.
4 “Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5 For they have conspired together with one mind.
They form an alliance against you.
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab, and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also is joined with them.
They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
10 who perished at Endor,
who became as dung for the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let’s take possession of God’s pasture lands.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As the fire that burns the forest,
as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with your tempest,
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with confusion,
that they may seek your name, Yahweh.
17 Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever.
Yes, let them be confounded and perish;
18 that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh,
are the Most High over all the earth.
146 Praise Yah!
Praise Yahweh, my soul.
2 While I live, I will praise Yahweh.
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.
3 Don’t put your trust in princes,
in a son of man in whom there is no help.
4 His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth.
In that very day, his thoughts perish.
5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in Yahweh, his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps truth forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
Yahweh frees the prisoners.
8 Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind.
Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down.
Yahweh loves the righteous.
9 Yahweh preserves the foreigners.
He upholds the fatherless and widow,
but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.
10 Yahweh will reign forever;
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise Yah!
147 Praise Yah,
for it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.
2 Yahweh builds up Jerusalem.
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the broken in heart,
and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars.
He calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power.
His understanding is infinite.
6 Yahweh upholds the humble.
He brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving.
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
8 who covers the sky with clouds,
who prepares rain for the earth,
who makes grass grow on the mountains.
9 He provides food for the livestock,
and for the young ravens when they call.
10 He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse.
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his loving kindness.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates.
He has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders.
He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his commandment to the earth.
His word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool,
and scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them.
He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He shows his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not done this for just any nation.
They don’t know his ordinances.
Praise Yah!
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
85 Yahweh, you have been favorable to your land.
You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people.
You have covered all their sin. Selah.
3 You have taken away all your wrath.
You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
4 Turn us, God of our salvation,
and cause your indignation toward us to cease.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
6 Won’t you revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your loving kindness, Yahweh.
Grant us your salvation.
8 I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, his saints;
but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth springs out of the earth.
Righteousness has looked down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give that which is good.
Our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness goes before him,
and prepares the way for his steps.
A Prayer by David.
86 Hear, Yahweh, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly.
You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Be merciful to me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer.
Listen to the voice of my petitions.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord,
nor any deeds like your deeds.
9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord.
They shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great, and do wondrous things.
You are God alone.
11 Teach me your way, Yahweh.
I will walk in your truth.
Make my heart undivided to fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart.
I will glorify your name forever more.
13 For your loving kindness is great toward me.
You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.[a]
14 God, the proud have risen up against me.
A company of violent men have sought after my soul,
and they don’t hold regard for you before them.
15 But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me!
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your servant.
17 Show me a sign of your goodness,
that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed,
because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.
7 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 2 The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
3 Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. 4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?”
6 Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!”
Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. 7 The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen, for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. 8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king, said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits[a] high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!”
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.
11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out. 13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.
15 The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing and declaring their deeds. 19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.[a] 20 So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,[a]
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed,
19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”(A)
20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All testified about him and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” 24 He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.
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