Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61[a]
Prayer of One in Exile
1 For the director.[b] With stringed instruments. Of David.
2 O God, hear my cry
and listen to my prayer.
3 From the ends of the earth[c] I call to you,
with a heart that is fainting away;
set me high upon a rock.
4 For you are my refuge,
a tower of strength against the enemy.
5 I will abide in your tent forever
and find refuge in the shelter of your wings.[d] Selah
6 For you, O God, have heard my vows
and granted me the heritage of those who fear your name.[e]
7 [f]Add length of days to the life of the king;
may his years be prolonged for many generations.
8 May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever,
and may your kindness and faithfulness watch over him.
9 Then I will sing praise to your name forever
as I fulfill my vows day after day.[g]
Psalm 62[h]
Trust in God Alone
1 For the director.[i] For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
2 In God alone is my soul[j] at rest;
it is from him that my salvation comes.
3 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress, so that I stand ever unshaken.
4 How long will you assault someone,
and all of you beat him down,
as if he were a leaning wall
or a tottering fence?[k]
5 They devise plots to dislodge me
from my place on high[l]
and delight in spreading lies about me.
They bless with their lips,
but they curse in their hearts. Selah
6 In God alone be at rest,[m] O my soul;
it is from him that my hope comes.
7 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress, so that I stand unshaken.
8 My deliverance and my glory depend on God;
he is my mighty rock and my refuge.
9 Trust in him at all times, my people,
and pour out your heart before him,[n]
for God is our refuge. Selah
10 Ordinary people are no more than a breath,
and the great are no more than a delusion.
When they are placed on scales all together,
they are lighter than air.[o]
11 Do not place your trust in extortion,
and set no vain hopes in stolen goods;
no matter how greatly your wealth increases,
do not set your heart[p] on it.
12 One thing God has revealed;
two things have I heard:
that power belongs to you, O God,
13 and so does kindness,[q] O Lord.
You reward each person
in accordance with his deeds.
Psalm 68[a]
Song of Victory
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David. A song.
2 [c]May God rise up, and his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
3 As smoke is blown away in the wind,
so will they be blown away.
As wax melts away before a flame,
so will the wicked perish before God.
4 But those who are righteous will rejoice;
they will exult before God,
crying out with great delight.
5 [d]Sing to God, sing praise to his name;[e]
exalt him who rides upon the clouds.
Rejoice in the presence of this God
whose name is the Lord.
6 [f]The Father of orphans and the defender of widows:
such is God in his holy dwelling place.
7 He gives a home to those who are forsaken
and leads out prisoners amid chants of exultation,
while rebels are forced to live in an arid land.
8 [g]O God, when you set out at the head of your people,
when you went marching through the wilderness, Selah
9 the earth quaked,[h]
and rain poured down from the heavens,
at the presence of God, the One of Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
10 [i]You poured down rain in abundance, O God,
and revived your exhausted inheritance.
11 It was there that your people settled;
and in your great goodness, O God,
you provided for those who were needy.
12 [j]The Lord issues the word,[k]
and a vast army proclaims good tidings:
13 “Kings and their armies are beating a hasty retreat;
even those who remained in camp are dividing up the spoils.
14 “While you linger by the sheepfolds,
the wings of the dove are covered[l] with silver,
its feathers brilliant with shining gold.”
15 When the Almighty[m] routed the kings there,
it was like snow fallen upon Zalmon.
16 [n]The mountains of Bashan are God’s mountains;
the mountains of Bashan are mighty peaks.
17 Why, O rugged mountains, do you gaze enviously
at the mountain[o] that God has chosen as his abode,
where the Lord himself will dwell forever?
18 The chariots of God[p] are myriad,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord has come down from Sinai
and entered into the holy place.
19 You ascended on high,
leading captives in your train;
you accepted slaves as tribute,
so that even rebels might dwell with the Lord God.[q]
20 [r]Blessed be the Lord, day after day,
the God of our salvation, who carries our burden. Selah
21 Our God is a God who saves;
the Lord God delivers from death.[s]
22 God himself will smite the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who persist in their sins.
23 The Lord has said:
“I will bring them back even from Bashan,
I will bring them back even from the depths of the sea,[t]
24 so that you may bathe your feet in the blood of your foes
and the tongues of your dogs may have their share.”[u]
25 [v]Your procession, O God, comes into view,
the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.
26 The singers enter first,
with musicians trailing behind them,
while in their midst are the maidens playing tambourines.[w]
27 Bless God in the assembly;
the Lord, the source of Israel.
28 In the lead is Benjamin, the smallest in number,
with the princes of Judah in a council,
as well as the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
29 [x]Marshal your power once again, O God,
the power of God that you have often wielded for us.
30 For to your temple in Jerusalem
kings will come to you bearing gifts.[y]
31 Rebuke those wild beasts of the reeds,[z]
the herd of mighty bulls, the calves of nations,
who bring bars of silver and prostrate themselves;
rout the nations that delight in war.
32 Envoys will come from Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.[aa]
33 [ab]Sing to God, all you kingdoms of the earth;
sing the praises of the Lord, Selah
34 who rides the ancient heavens above[ac]
and speaks with his voice of thunder.
35 Acknowledge the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel
and whose power is in the skies.
36 Awesome is God in his sanctuary,
the God of Israel, who gives power and strength to his people.[ad]
Blessed be God!
Chapter 21
The Promised Son.[a] 1 The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said he would. The Lord fulfilled what he had promised to Sarah. 2 Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that the Lord had established. 3 Abraham named the son whom Sarah bore Isaac. 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him to do. 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said, “God has given me a reason to laugh out loud. All will smile because of me.” 7 She then said, “Who would have ever said to Abraham, ‘Sarah will nurse sons’? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Ishmael Is Sent Away.[b] 8 Isaac grew and was weaned. On the day that he was weaned, Abraham threw a great banquet. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the one whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with[c] her son Isaac. 10 She said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away, for the son of this slave must not be an heir together with my son Isaac.”
11 This greatly distressed Abraham for he was concerned for his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let this matter with your son and the slave woman distress you. Listen to what Sarah tells you. Listen to her voice, for it is through Isaac that descendants will bear your name. 13 But I will also make the son of the slave woman become a great nation, for he is your son.”
14 Abraham arose early in the morning and gave Hagar bread and a skin of water, placing them on her back. He entrusted the child to her and sent her away. They left and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba.
15 When they used up all the water in the skin, she placed the child under a bush 16 and went and sat down opposite him, about the distance of a bowshot. She said, “I do not want to see the child die.” She sat opposite him and began to sob.
17 But God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called upon Hagar from the heavens and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not fear because God has heard the voice of the child from where he lies. 18 Get up, take the child, and hold him by the hand because I will make a great nation of him.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she was able to see a spring of water. She went over to it and filled the skin and gave the child some water to drink.
20 God was with the child, and he grew and lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother found him a wife in the land of Egypt.
13 All these died in faith without having received what had been promised, but from a distance they saw far ahead how those promises would be fulfilled and welcomed them, and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and foreigners on the earth. 14 People who speak in this way make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had the opportunity to return. 16 But in fact they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” 19 For he reasoned that God was able even to raise someone from the dead, and in a sense he was given back Isaac from the dead.[a] 20 By faith Isaac[b] gave his blessings to Jacob and Esau for the future.
21 By faith Jacob,[c] as he was dying, blessed each one of the sons of Joseph and bowed in worship, leaning on his staff.
22 By faith Joseph,[d] near the end of his life, mentioned the Exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.
41 Faith, a Gift of God.[a] Then the Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop murmuring among yourselves!” Jesus said.
44 “No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise up that person on the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets,
‘They will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who has listened to my Father
and learned from him comes to me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
47 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
My Flesh for the Life of the World[b]
48 “I am the bread of life.
49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness,
and yet they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that one may eat it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, for the life of the world.”
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