Book of Common Prayer
For the Director of Music: According to “The Lilies”. A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
A Prayer for Jerusalem
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen!
The one who leads Joseph like a flock,
the one enthroned on the cherubim,
display your glory.[a]
2 Reveal[b] your power before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
then come to our rescue.
3 God, restore us,
show your favor[c] and deliver us.
4 Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,
when will your smoldering anger[d]
toward your people’s prayers cease?[e]
5 You fed them tears as their food,
and caused them to drink a full measure of tears.
6 You have set us at strife against our neighbors
and our enemies deride us.
7 God of the Heavenly Armies, restore us
and show your favor,[f]
so we may be delivered.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt,
and drove out nations to transplant it.
9 You cleared the ground[g] so that its roots grew
and filled the land.
10 Mountains were covered by its shadows,
and the mighty cedars by its branches.
11 Its branches spread out to the Mediterranean[h] Sea
and its shoots to the Euphrates[i] River.
12 Why did you break down its walls
so that those who pass by pluck its fruits?[j]
13 Wild boars of the forest gnaw at it,
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 God of the Heavenly Armies, return!
Look down from heaven and see.
Show care[k] toward this vine.
15 The root[l] that your right hand planted,
the shoot[m] that you tended for yourself,
16 was burned with fire, cut off,
and destroyed on account of your rebuke.
17 May you support the man at your right hand;
the son of man whom you have raised for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Restore us, so we can call upon your name.
19 God of hosts, restore to us the light of your favor.[n]
Then we’ll be delivered.
To the director: To Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.
Remembering God in Times of Trouble
77 I cry out to God!
I cry out to God and he hears me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
my hands were raised at night
and they did not grow weary.
I refused to be comforted.
3 I remember God, and I groan;
I meditate, while my spirit grows faint.
4 You kept my eyes open;
I was troubled and couldn’t speak.
5 I thought of ancient times,
considering years long past.
6 During the night I remembered my song.
I meditate in my heart,
and my spirit ponders.
7 Will the Lord reject me[a] forever
and not show favor again?
8 Has his gracious love ceased forever?
Will his promise be unfulfilled in future generations?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?
10 So I say: “It causes me pain
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I will remember the Lord’s deeds;
indeed, I will remember your awesome deeds from long ago.
12 As I meditate on all your works,
I will consider your awesome deeds.
13 God, your way is holy.
What god is like our great God?
14 God, you are the one performing awesome deeds.
You reveal your might among the nations.
15 You delivered[b] your people—
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph—
with your power.
16 The waters saw you, God;
the waters saw you and writhed.
Indeed, the depths of the sea quaked.
17 The clouds poured rain;
the skies rumbled.
Indeed, your lightning bolts flashed.[c]
18 Your thunderous sound was in a whirlwind;
your lightning lights up the world;
the earth becomes agitated and quakes.
19 Your way was through the sea,
and your path through mighty waters,
but your footprints cannot be traced.[d]
20 You have led your people like a flock
by the hands of Moses and Aaron.
A Psalm of Asaph
A Prayer for Jerusalem
79 God, nations have invaded your land[a]
to desecrate your holy Temple,
to destroy Jerusalem,
2 to give the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the skies
and the flesh of your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth;
3 to make their blood flow like water around Jerusalem,
with no one being buried.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a mockery and a derision to those around us.
5 How long, Lord, will you be angry? Forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath upon the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
and over the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.
7 For they consumed Jacob,
making his dwelling place desolate.
8 Don’t charge[b] us for previous iniquity,
but let your compassion come quickly to us,
for we have been brought very low.
9 Help us, God, our deliverer,
on account of your glorious name,
deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
on account of your name.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let vengeance for the blood of your servants be meted[d] out
before our eyes and among the nations.
11 Let the cries of the prisoners reach you.
With the strength of your power,
release those condemned to death.[e]
12 Pay back our neighbors seven times[f]
the reproach with which they reproached you, Lord.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you always, from generation to generation.
We will declare your praise.
False and True Worship
58 “Shout aloud!
Don’t hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Declare to my people their rebellions,[a]
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They[b] seek me day after day,[c]
and are eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practices righteousness
and has not forsaken the justice of their God.
“They ask me to reveal just decisions;
they are eager to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they ask,[d]
‘but you do not see?
‘Why have we humbled ourselves,’[e] they ask,[f]
‘but you take no notice?’”
Fasting that God Approves
“Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest
and oppress all your workers.
4 “Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for[g] fighting,
and for hitting with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and have your voice heard on high.
5 “Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen,
merely a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it merely for bowing down one’s head like a bulrush,
for lying[h] on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you[i] call a fast,
an[j] acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Isn’t this the[k] fast that[l] I have been choosing:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
and[m] to untie the cords of the yoke,
and[n] to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,
and to bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked,
to cover him with clothing,[o]
and not to raise yourself up[p] from your own flesh and blood?”
God’s Reward
8 “Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will spring up quickly;
and your vindication will go before you,
and[q] the glory of the Lord will guard your back.
9 Then you’ll call,
and the Lord will answer;
you’ll cry for help,
and he’ll respond, ‘Here I am.’
“If you do away with the yoke among you,
and[r] pointing fingers and malicious talk;
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the needs of afflicted souls,
then your light will rise in darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in parched places,[s]
and they[t] will strengthen your bones;
and you’ll be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12 And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You’ll raise up the age-old foundations,[u]
and people will call you[v] ‘Repairer of Broken Walls,’
‘Restorer of Streets to Live In.’
A Final Warning against Circumcision
11 Look at how large these letters are because I am writing with my own hand! 12 These people who want to impress others by their external appearance[a] are trying to force you to be circumcised, simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of the Messiah.[b] 13 Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.[c] 14 But may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[d] by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being[e] a new creation. 16 Now may peace be on all those who live by this principle, and may mercy be on the Israel of God. 17 Let no one make any more trouble for me, because I carry the scars of Jesus on my own body.
Final Greeting
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[f] be with your spirit, brothers! Amen.
Jesus Again Predicts His Death and Resurrection(A)
30 Then they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus[a] didn’t want anyone to find out about it, 31 because he was teaching his disciples, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into human hands. They will kill him, but after being dead for three days he will be raised.” 32 They didn’t understand what this statement meant, and they were afraid to ask him.
True Greatness(B)
33 Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus[b] was at home, he asked the disciples,[c] “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, because they had argued on the road with one another about who was the greatest.
35 So he sat down, called the Twelve, and told them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and had him stand among them. He took him in his arms and told them, 37 “Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
The True Follower of Jesus(C)
38 John told Jesus,[d] “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn’t a follower like us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name can slander me soon afterwards. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 I tell all of you[e] with certainty, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to the Messiah[f] will never lose his reward.”
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