Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Help in Despair
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
For the music director; according to Mahalath Leannoth.
A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.[a]
88 O Yahweh, God of my salvation,
I cry out by day and through the night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full with troubles,
and my life approaches Sheol.
4 I am reckoned with those descending to the pit.
I am like a man[b] without strength,[c]
5 set free[d] among the dead,
like the slain lying in the grave,
whom you no longer remember,
even those cut off from your hand.
6 You have set me in the pit below,
in dark places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath presses upon me,
and you afflict me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have removed my acquaintances far from me.
You have made me detestable[e] to them.
I am confined and cannot go out.
9 My eye languishes from misery.
I call on you, O Yahweh, every day;
I spread out my hands[f] to you.
10 Do you work wonders[g] for the dead?
Or do the departed spirits[h] rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your loyal love told in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the underworld?[i]
12 Are your wonders[j] known in the darkness,
or your righteousness[k] in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But as for me, I cry for help to you, O Yahweh,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why do you reject my soul, O Yahweh?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I am afflicted and perishing from my youth.
I bear your terrors. I am distraught.[l]
16 Your burning anger has passed over me;
your sudden fears have destroyed me.
17 They surround me like water all the day;
they circle about me altogether.
18 You have removed loved one and friend far from me,
my acquaintances far from my darkness.
God’s Protection in Times of Crisis
91 One who lives in the secret place[a] of the Most High
will lodge in the shadow of Shaddai.[b]
2 I will say to Yahweh, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver[c] you from the snare of the fowler,
from the plague of destruction.
4 With his feathers he will cover you,
and under his wings you can take refuge.
His faithfulness will be a shield and a buckler.[d]
5 You need not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the plague that spreads in the darkness,
or the destruction that devastates at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes,
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 For you, O Yahweh, are my refuge.
You have made the Most High your dwelling place.[e]
10 No harm will befall you,
and no plague will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you,
to watch over you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on lion and viper;
you will trample young lion and serpent.
14 Because he loves me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will protect[f] him because he knows my name.
15 He will call upon me and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue and honor him.
16 With long life[g] I will satisfy him,
and show him my salvation.
Thanksgiving to Yahweh for Victory
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.[h]
92 It is good to give thanks to Yahweh,
and to sing praise concerning your name, O Most High;
2 to declare in the morning your loyal love
and your faithfulness in the night,
3 on the ten string, and on the harp,
with a melody on the lyre.
4 For you, O Yahweh, have made me glad by your work;
by the deeds of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How great are your deeds, O Yahweh;
how very deep are your thoughts.
6 The brutish man does not know,
and the fool cannot understand this.
7 When the wicked flourish like grass
and all the workers of evil blossom,
it is so they can be destroyed forever.
8 But you are on high forever, O Yahweh.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Yahweh,
for behold, your enemies will perish.
All the workers of evil will be scattered.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
you have anointed me[i] with fresh oil.
11 And so my eye looks on my enemies.[j]
My ears hear those evildoers who rise up against me.
12 The righteous[k] will flourish like the date palm.
They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house[l] of Yahweh,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still prosper in old age.
They will be fat and luxuriant,[m]
15 to declare that Yahweh is upright.
He is my rock, and there is no injustice[n] in him.
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.[a] If Jacob takes a wife from Hittite women[b] like these, from the native women,[c] what am I living for?”[d]
Jacob Flees to Haran
28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. And he instructed him and said to him, “You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 Now, may El-Shaddai[e] bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4 And may he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham.”
Jacob’s Dream
10 Then Jacob went out from Beersheba and went to Haran. 11 And he arrived at a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and slept at that place. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway was set on the earth, and its top touched the heavens. And behold, angels of God were going up and going down on it. 13 And behold, Yahweh was standing beside him,[a] and he said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you were sleeping I will give to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and through your descendants. 15 Now behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is indeed[b] in this place and I did not know!” 17 Then he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is nothing else than the house of God,[c] and this is the gate of heaven!” 18 And Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a stone pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, the name of the city was formerly Luz. 20 And Jacob made a vow[d] saying, “If God will be with me and protect me on this way that I am going, and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and if I return in peace to the house of my father, then Yahweh will become my God. 22 And this stone that I have set up as a pillar shall be the house of God, and of all that you give to me I will certainly give a tenth to you.”
Obedience to the Governing Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God. 2 So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, 4 for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities[a] are servants of God, busily engaged in this very thing. 7 Pay to everyone what is owed: pay taxes to whom taxes are due; pay customs duties to whom customs duties are due; pay respect to whom respect is due; pay honor to whom honor is due.[b]
Love Fulfills the Law
8 Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves someone else has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”[c] and if there is any other commandment, are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[d] 10 Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this because you[e] know the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. 12 The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. Therefore let us throw off[f] the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. 13 Let us live decently, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.
33 They replied to him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus replied to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And the slave does not remain in the household forever;[a] the son remains forever.[b] 36 So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are seeking to kill me, because my word makes no progress among you. 38 I speak the things that I have seen with the Father; so also you do the things that you have heard from the Father.”
The Priority of Jesus Over Abraham
39 They answered and said to him, “Abraham is our father!” Jesus said to them, “If you are children of Abraham, do the deeds of Abraham! 40 But now you are seeking to kill me, a man who spoke to you the truth which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. 41 You are doing the deeds of your father!”
They said[c] to him, “We were not born from sexual immorality! We have one father, God!” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I have come forth from God and have come. For I have not come from myself, but that one sent me. 43 Why[d] do you not understand my way of speaking? Because you are not able to listen to my message. 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own nature,[e] because he is a liar and the father of lies.[f] 45 But because I am telling the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you convicts me concerning sin? If I am telling the truth, why[g] do you not believe me? 47 The one who is from God listens to the words of God. Because of this you do not listen—because you are not of God.”
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