Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18[a]
Thanksgiving for God’s Help
1 For the director.[b] Of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song after the Lord had rescued him from the clutches of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:
I love you, O Lord, my strength,
3 O Lord, my rock,[c] my fortress, my deliverer.
My God is my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy of all praise;
and I am saved from my enemies.
5 The cords of death encompassed me,
and the torrents of destruction assailed me.
6 The cords of the netherworld ensnared me,
and the snares of death[d] rose up before me.
7 In my anguish I cried out to the Lord
and called to my God for help.
From his temple[e] he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
8 [f]The earth swayed and rocked;
the foundations of the mountains shook,
rocking because of his blazing anger.
9 Smoke poured forth from his nostrils,
while a scorching fire blazed out of his mouth
and kindled coals into flame.
10 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds lay under his feet.
11 He rode upon a cherub,[g]
soaring swiftly on the wings of the wind.
12 He used the darkness as his covering,
and dense thunderclouds as his canopy.
13 From the radiance before him thick clouds emerged,
spewing hail and flashes of fire.
14 The Lord thundered from the heavens,
and the Most High let his voice be heard.
15 He shot his arrows[h] and scattered them,
hurled his lightning bolts and routed them.
16 Then the depths of the sea were exposed,
and the earth’s foundations were laid bare,
at the rebuke of the Lord,[i]
at the blast of wind from his nostrils.
17 He reached down from on high and snatched me up;
he drew me out of the watery depths.[j]
18 He delivered me from my powerful enemy,
and from my foes, who were too strong for me.
19 They assailed me in the day of my misfortune,
but the Lord came forward to uphold me.
20 He led me forth into the open field;
he set me free because he was pleased with me.
21 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;[k]
because my hands were pure, he has rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord[l]
and refused to turn away from my God.
23 His laws are clearly known to me,
and I have not failed to observe his decrees.
24 I was blameless in his sight,
and I kept myself free of sin.
25 Therefore, the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
because of the cleanness of my hands in his eyes.
26 To the loyal, you show yourself to be loyal;
to the blameless, you show yourself to be blameless;
27 to the pure, you show yourself to be pure;
but to the perverse,[m] you show yourself to be shrewd.
28 For you save the humble,
but you bring down the haughty.
29 You, O Lord, are light for my lamp;[n]
O my God, you make my darkness turn to light.
30 With your help I can storm a rampart;
with my God to aid me, I can scale any wall.
31 The way of God is blameless,
and the Lord’s promise proves true;
he is a shield to all
who flee to him for safety.
32 Indeed, who is God except the Lord?
Who is the Rock besides our God?
33 It is God who clothes me with strength
and makes my way blameless.
34 He gives me the swift feet of a deer
and places me securely on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for war
and my arms to bend a bow of bronze.[o]
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation;
your right hand sustains me,
and your goodness makes me great.
37 You broadened the path beneath me
so that my feet have never stumbled.
38 I went after my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back until they were defeated.
39 When I knocked them down, they were unable to rise;
they fell down at my feet.
40 You clothed me with strength for the battle
and cast down my adversaries beneath me.
41 You made my enemies retreat before me,
so that I could scatter those who hated me.
42 They called for help, but there was no one to deliver them;
they called to the Lord, but no answer came.
43 I crushed them like fine dust before the wind;
I trod on them like mud in the streets.
44 You delivered me from a people in rebellion,
and you placed me in charge of the nations;
people I did not know have become my subjects.
45 As soon as they heard me, they obeyed;
foreigners groveled before me.
46 Then they became disheartened
and came forth trembling from their strongholds.
47 The Lord lives! Blessed[p] be my Rock!
Exalted be God, my Savior!
48 O God, you obtained vindication for me,
subjected nations under me,
49 and freed me from my enemies.
You exalted me over my adversaries
and delivered me from the violent.
50 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations
and sing praise to your name.[q]
51 You have bestowed great victories on your king,
and you have shown kindness to your anointed,[r]
to David and his descendants forever.
13 At the beginning of the harvest, three of the Thirty went down to join David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem.
15 One day David said longingly: “Oh, if only someone would give me some water to drink from the well that is by the gate of Bethlehem!” 16 On hearing this, the Three forced their way through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, and presented it to David. However, he refused to drink it, and instead, he poured it out to the Lord, 17 saying: “The Lord forbid that I should do this. How can I drink the blood of the men who went forth to obtain it and thereby placed their lives at risk?” Therefore, he would not drink it.
Salutation. 1 The Presbyter[a] to the chosen Lady and to her children whom I love in the truth—and not I alone but also all who know the truth 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
The Commandment of Love.[b] 4 It was a cause of great joy to me to discover that some of your children have been walking in the truth[c] just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 [d]But now, Lady, I am making this request of you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment but simply one that we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. 6 And this is love: when we walk according to his commandments.[e] This is the commandment that you have heard from the beginning, and you must follow it.
Warning against False Teachers.[f] 7 Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, those who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Any such person is the Deceiver[g] and the Antichrist. 8 Be on your guard that you do not lose what we have worked to accomplish so that you will receive your reward in full.[h]
9 Anyone who fails to remain faithful to the teaching of Christ but goes beyond[i] it does not have God. Only the one who remains faithful to the teaching possesses both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not impart this teaching, do not receive him into your house or welcome him.[j] 11 For anyone who welcomes him has a share in his evil deeds.
12 Conclusion. I have much to write to you, but I do not think it prudent to do so with paper and ink.[k] Instead, I hope to visit you and to talk with you face to face so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your sister, the chosen one,[l] send you greetings.
The First Sign Worked by Jesus
Chapter 2
The Wedding Feast at Cana.[a] 1 On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana[b] in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. 3 When the wine was exhausted, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus responded, “Woman,[c] what concern is this to us? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now standing nearby there were six stone water jars, of the type used for Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus instructed the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When they had filled them to the brim, 8 he ordered them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief steward,” and they did so.
9 When the chief steward tasted the water that had become wine, he did not know where it came from, although the servants who had drawn the water knew. The chief steward called over the bridegroom 10 and said, “Everyone serves the choice wine first, and then an inferior vintage when the guests have been drinking for a while. However, you have saved the best wine until now.”[d]
11 Jesus performed this, the first of his signs,[e] at Cana in Galilee, thereby revealing his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
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