Book of Common Prayer
Book One
Psalm 1[a]
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.
2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.(A)
3 And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].(B)
4 Not so the wicked [those disobedient and living without God are not so]. But they are like the chaff [worthless, dead, without substance] which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked [those disobedient and living without God] shall not stand [justified] in the judgment, nor [b]sinners in the congregation of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God].
6 For the Lord knows and is fully acquainted with the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly [those living outside God’s will] shall perish (end in ruin and come to nought).
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) an empty scheme?
2 The kings of the earth take their places; the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ). They say,(C)
3 Let us break Their bands [of restraint] asunder and cast Their cords [of control] from us.
4 He Who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision [and in supreme contempt He mocks them].
5 He speaks to them in His deep anger and troubles (terrifies and confounds) them in His displeasure and fury, saying,
6 Yet have I anointed (installed and placed) My King [firmly] on My holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, You are My Son; this day [I declare] I have begotten You.(D)
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like potters’ ware.(E)
10 Now therefore, O you kings, act wisely; be instructed and warned, O you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with reverent awe and worshipful fear; rejoice and be in high spirits with trembling [lest you displease Him].
12 Kiss the Son [pay homage to Him in purity], lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for soon shall His wrath be kindled. O blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are all those who seek refuge and put their trust in Him!
Psalm 3
A Psalm of David. When he fled from Absalom his son.
1 Lord, how they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 With my voice I cry to the Lord, and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 I lay down and slept; I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; May Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
Psalm 4
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness (uprightness, justice, and right standing with You)! You have freed me when I was hemmed in and enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.
2 O you sons of men, how long will you turn my honor and glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and futility and seek after lies? Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
3 But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself [and given distinction to] him who is godly [the man of loving-kindness]. The Lord listens and heeds when I call to Him.
4 Be angry [or stand in awe] and sin not; commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be silent (sorry for the things you say in your hearts). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(F)
5 Offer just and right sacrifices; trust (lean on and be confident) in the Lord.
6 Many say, Oh, that we might see some good! Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord.
7 You have put more joy and rejoicing in my heart than [they know] when their wheat and new wine have yielded abundantly.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.
Psalm 7
An Ode of David, [probably] in a wild, irregular, enthusiastic strain, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.
1 O Lord my God, in You I take refuge and put my trust; save me from all those who pursue and persecute me, and deliver me,
2 Lest my foe tear my life [from my body] like a lion, dragging me away while there is none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
4 If I have paid back with evil him who was at peace with me or without cause have robbed him who was my enemy,
5 Let the enemy pursue my life and take it; yes, let him trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
6 Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; lift up Yourself against the rage of my enemies; and awake [and stir up] for me the justice and vindication [that] You have commanded.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about You, and return on high over them.
8 The Lord judges the people; judge me, O Lord, and do me justice according to my righteousness [my rightness, justice, and right standing with You] and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the [uncompromisingly] righteous [those upright and in harmony with You]; for You, Who try the hearts and emotions and thinking powers, are a righteous God.(A)
10 My defense and shield depend on God, Who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day.
12 If a man does not turn and repent, [God] will whet His sword; He has strung and bent His [huge] bow and made it ready [by treading it with His foot].
13 He has also prepared for him deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, [the wicked man] conceives iniquity and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
15 He made a pit and hollowed it out and has fallen into the hole which he made [before the trap was completed].
16 His mischief shall fall back in return upon his own head, and his violence come down [with the loose dirt] upon his own scalp.
17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His rightness and justice, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
15 Samuel told Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now listen and heed the words of the Lord.
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have considered and will punish what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when [Israel] came out of Egypt.
3 Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
7 Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 And he took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, though he utterly destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.
9 Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but all that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed utterly.
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying,
11 I regret making Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commands. And Samuel was grieved and angry [with Saul], and he cried to the Lord all night.
12 When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, he was told, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory] and passed on and went down to Gilgal.
13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered.
14 And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15 Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on.
17 Samuel said, When you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?
18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed.
19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord’s sight?
20 Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.
22 Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.
19 And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.
20 And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!
21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests.
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus by comparing and examining evidence and proving that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).
23 After considerable time had elapsed, the Jews conspired to put Saul out of the way by slaying him,
24 But [the knowledge of] their plot was made known to Saul. They were guarding the [city’s] gates day and night to kill him,
25 But his disciples took him at night and let him down through the [city’s] wall, lowering him in a basket or hamper.
26 And when he had arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate himself with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he really was a disciple.
27 However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he explained to them how along the way he had seen the Lord, Who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached freely and confidently and courageously in the name of Jesus.
28 So he went in and out [as one] among them at Jerusalem,
29 Preaching freely and confidently and boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and discussed with and disputed against the Hellenists (the Grecian Jews), but they were seeking to slay him.
30 And when the brethren found it out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus [his home town].
31 So the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was edified [growing in wisdom, virtue, and piety] and walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multiplied.
44 It was now about the sixth hour (midday), and darkness enveloped the whole land and earth until the ninth hour (about three o’clock in the afternoon),
45 While the sun’s light faded or [a]was darkened; and the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two.(A)
46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit! And with these words, He expired.(B)
47 Now the centurion, having seen what had taken place, [b]recognized God and thanked and praised Him, and said, Indeed, without question, this Man was upright (just and innocent)!
48 And all the throngs that had gathered to see this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned to their homes, beating their breasts.
49 And all the acquaintances of [Jesus] and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance and watched these things.
50 Now notice, there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council (the Sanhedrin), and a good (upright, [c]advantageous) man, and righteous (in right standing with God and man),
51 Who had not agreed with or assented to the purpose and action of the others; and he was expecting and waiting for the kingdom of God.
52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
53 Then he took it down and [d]rolled it up in a linen cloth [e]for swathing dead bodies and laid Him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid.
54 It was the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], and the Sabbath was dawning (approaching).
55 The women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee followed closely and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.
56 Then they went back and made ready spices and ointments (perfumes). On the Sabbath day they rested in accordance with the commandment.(C)
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