Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 24
A Psalm of David.
1 The earth belongs to the Lord, and its fullness,
the world, and those who dwell in it.
2 For He has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the floods.
3 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He will receive the blessing from the Lord,
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek Your face. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
and be lifted up, you everlasting doors,
that the King of glory may enter.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift up, you everlasting doors,
that the King of glory may enter.
10 Who is He—this King of glory?
The Lord of Hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah
Psalm 29
A Psalm of David.
1 Give to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
give to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give to the Lord the glory of His name;
worship the Lord in holy splendor.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders;
the Lord is over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord sounds with strength;
the voice of the Lord—with majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes
like flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer to give birth,
and strips the forests bare;
and in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood,
the Lord sits as King forever.
11 The Lord will give strength to His people;
the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Psalm 8
For the Music Director. According to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is Your name in all the earth!
You have set Your glory
above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength
because of Your enemies,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have established,
4 what is man that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man that You attend to him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
and whatever travels the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 84
For the Music Director. According to The Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 How lovely is Your dwelling place,
O Lord of Hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, even faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my body cry out
for the living God.
3 Yes, the sparrow has found a home
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
even at Your altars,
O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
they continually praise You. Selah
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
in whose heart are the paths to Zion.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they makes it a spring;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
every one of them appears in Zion before God.
8 O Lord God of Hosts, hear my prayer,
and give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Behold, O God our shield,
and look upon the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord will give favor and glory,
for no good thing will He withhold
from the one who walks uprightly.
12 O Lord of Hosts,
blessed is the man who trusts in You.
Nehemiah Stops Oppression
5 Now there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. 2 Some were saying, “We and our sons and our daughters are many. Therefore, let us acquire grain so that we may eat and live.”
3 Others were saying, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and houses so that we might acquire grain because of hunger.”
4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute against the value of our fields and vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen. Our children are like their children, but we are subjugating our sons and our daughters as servants. Indeed, some of our daughters are in bondage already, and we are powerless to do anything because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 So I contemplated about this for myself and, as a result, I rebuked the nobles and officials and said to them, “Based on the claim of each against his brother, you are exacting usury.” Then I convened a great assembly against them, 8 and I said to them, “By whatever means we had, we purchased our Jewish countrymen who were being sold to the nations. So, will you once more sell your countrymen so that they might again be sold to us?” Then they kept silent, because they found nothing to answer.
9 Also I said, “What you are doing is not good! Should not you walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? 10 Moreover, I, my relatives, and my servants are loaning them money and grain. So, I urge you, cease from this practice of usury. 11 Please restore to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, along with a hundredth part of the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you had exacted from them.”
12 Then they said, “We will restore it and will require nothing of them. We will do what you have said.”
Then I called the priests and made them swear an oath to keep this promise. 13 Also I shook out the front of my garment and said, “Like this, may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not carry out this promise. Exactly like this, may he be shaken out and emptied.”
And all the congregation said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.
Nehemiah’s Generosity
14 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah (from the twentieth year even until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes) twelve years had passed. And my companions and I had not eaten the governor’s food allotment. 15 The former governors preceding me had extracted a heavy burden on the people, because they took from them food and wine, besides forty shekels[a] of silver. Moreover, even their servants domineered over the people. But I myself never did so, because of the fear of God. 16 Furthermore, I stayed determined in the work on this wall. We bought no field, and all my servants were gathered there for the sake of the work.
17 Moreover there were regularly at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. 18 Daily there were one ox and six choice sheep prepared for me. Fowls were also prepared for me. Once in ten days all sorts of wine were supplied in abundance. Yet for all this, I never required the governor’s food allotment because it was a heavy burden on this people.
19 Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
Paul’s Farewell Visit to Troas
7 On the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to leave the next day, preached to them and continued his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where they were assembled. 9 A young man named Eutychus sat in the window, falling into a deep sleep as Paul spoke for a longer time. Being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third floor and was taken up dead. 10 Paul went down and leaned over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be troubled, for he is alive.” 11 When he had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed for a long while until dawn and departed. 12 They took the lad in alive and were greatly comforted.
Care and Anxiety(A)
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor for your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns. Yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds? 25 Who of you by worrying can add one cubit[a] to his height? 26 If you then cannot do what is least, why are you anxious about the other things?
27 “Consider how the lilies grow. They neither spin nor weave. Yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 And do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink, nor be of an anxious mind. 30 For the nations of the world seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given to you.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.