Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 34[a]
Presence of God, Protector of the Righteous
1 Of David. When he pretended to be mad before Abimelech, who forced him to depart.[b]
2 [c]I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise will be continually on my lips.
3 My soul[d] will glory in the Lord;
let the lowly hear and be glad.
4 Magnify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
5 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he set me free from all my fears.
6 Look to him and you will be radiant;
your faces will never be covered with shame.
7 In my anguish[e] I cried out;
the Lord heard my plea,
and I was saved from all my troubles.
8 The angel of the Lord[f] encamps around those who fear God,
and he delivers them.
9 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed[g] is the man who takes refuge in him.
10 Fear the Lord,[h] you his saints;
nothing is lacking for those who fear him.
11 The powerful[i] suffer want and go hungry,
but those who seek the Lord want for no good thing.
12 [j]Come, my children,[k] and listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
13 Who among you delights in life
and desires many years to enjoy prosperity?[l]
14 Then keep your tongue[m] from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
15 Shun evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
16 [n]The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
17 The face of the Lord is turned against those who do evil,
to erase all memory of them from the earth.
18 [o]The righteous call out, and the Lord hears them;
he rescues them from all their troubles.
19 The Lord remains close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 [p]The misfortunes of the righteous man are many,
but the Lord delivers him,[q] from all of them.
21 He watches with care over all his bones;
not a single one will be broken.
22 [r]Evil will bring death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
23 The Lord redeems the lives of those who serve him;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 33[a]
Praise of God’s Providence
1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Give thanks to the Lord on the harp;
offer praise to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song;[b]
play skillfully on the strings with joyful shouts.
4 [c]For the word of the Lord is true,
and he is faithful in everything he does.
5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is filled with his kindness.
6 The heavens were made by the word[d] of the Lord,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as in a bowl;[e]
he places the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world revere him.[f]
9 [g]For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord thwarts the plans of nations
and frustrates the designs of peoples.
11 But the plan of the Lord remains forever,
the designs of his heart for all generations.
12 [h]Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.[i]
13 [j]The Lord gazes down from heaven
and beholds the entire human race.
14 From his royal throne
he watches all who dwell on the earth.
15 He who has fashioned the hearts of them all
observes everything they do.
16 A king is not saved by a large army,
nor is a warrior delivered by great strength.
17 A horse offers false hope for victory;
despite its power it cannot save.
18 [k]But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those who trust in his kindness,
19 to deliver them from death
and to preserve their lives in time of famine.
20 [l]Our soul waits in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Our hearts rejoice in him
because we trust in his holy name.
22 O Lord, let your kindness rest upon us,
for we have placed our hope in you.
Chapter 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb.[a] 1 Now Ahab told Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done, and all about how he had killed all of the prophets by the sword. 2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, “May the gods do this to me and more if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like their lives.”
3 He rose up and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 He went a day’s journey off into the desert. He came to a broom tree and sat down under it, and he asked to die. He said, “It is enough, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5 As he lay there, he fell asleep under the broom tree, and, behold, an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around, and by his head there was a piece of bread that had been cooked on coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and then he laid down again.
7 The angel of the Lord touched him a second time and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too difficult for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled for forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
New Life in the Church
For Christians in General[a]
Chapter 4
Christian Unity and Maturity.[b] 1 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I implore you to behave in a manner worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another in a spirit of love. 3 Make every possible effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, as well as one hope to which you have been called by your vocation, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure in which Christ allotted it. 8 Therefore, it is written,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he took prisoners into captivity
and gave gifts to men.”
9 Now the word “ascended” implies that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth. 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.
11 It was he who established some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,[c] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry in building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to full maturity, as measured by the full stature of Christ.
14 In this way, we will no longer be like children, tossed back and forth by the waves and swept along by every new wind of teaching, emanating from human cunning and craftiness and leading people into error. 15 Rather, professing truth and love, we will in all things grow into him who is the head, Christ. 16 From him, the entire body, joined and held together by every ligament, continues to grow and to build itself up in love, as each part performs its particular function.
The Bread of Life[a]
Chapter 6
Signs of Salvation
Jesus Feeds the Crowds.[b] 1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, 2 and a large crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he performed on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was approaching.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for them to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, because Jesus himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages[c] would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what help will they be among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they all had eaten enough, he said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that are left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign he had performed, they began to say, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
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