Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88[a]
Prayer in Affliction
1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[b] For the director. According to Mahalath. For singing. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 [c]O Lord, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out to you.
3 Let my prayer come before you;
give ear to my cry for help.
4 [d]For my soul[e] is filled with misery,
and my life draws near to the netherworld.
5 I am numbered among those who go down to the pit;[f]
all strength has failed me.
6 I have been abandoned among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no longer
and whom your hand has abandoned.[g]
7 [h]You have lowered me into the depths of the pit,
into the darkest regions of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves engulf me. Selah
9 You have caused my closest friends to shun me
and made me hateful in their sight.
I am shut in with no means of escape,[i]
10 and my eyes grow dim[j] with my suffering.
[k]Every day I call out to you, O Lord,
and spread out my hands to you.
11 Do you perform wonders[l] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[m] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[n]
14 [o]But for my part, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer rises before you.
15 Why do you cast me away, O Lord?[p]
Why do you hide your face from me?
16 Since infancy I have been wretched and close to death;
I have borne your terrors
and have now reached the point of exhaustion.
17 Your wrath has weighed down upon me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
18 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they encircle me completely.
19 You have caused my friends and neighbors to shun me;
my sole companion now is darkness.[q]
Psalm 91[a]
Security under God’s Protection
1 You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,[b]
who rest in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I place my trust.”
3 He will rescue you from the snare of the fowler[c]
and from virulent pestilence.
4 With his feathers he will shelter you,[d]
and you will take refuge under his wings;
his faithfulness serves as a protective shield.
5 You will not fear the terror by night[e]
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the plague[f] that lays waste at midday.
7 Even though a thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
such evils will not afflict you.
8 Rather, your own eyes will behold[g]
the punishment inflicted on the wicked.
9 You have made the Lord your refuge
and chosen the Most High to be your dwelling.
10 Therefore, no evil will threaten you,
no calamity will come near your dwelling.
11 [h]For he will command his angels[i] about you—
to guard you wherever you go.
12 They will lift you up with their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.[j]
13 You will tread upon the asp and the viper;
you will trample the lion and the dragon.[k]
14 [l]“Because he loves me, I will deliver him,
I will raise high[m] the one who acknowledges my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer,
and I will be with him in time of distress;
I will rescue him and cause him to be honored.[n]
16 I will reward him with a long life
and show him my salvation.”[o]
Psalm 92[p]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[q]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[r] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[s] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [t]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [u]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[v] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[w]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[x]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [y]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [z]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[aa]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I despise my life because of those Hittite women. If Jacob were to take a wife from among the Hittites, from among the daughters of the land, what good would life be to me?”
Chapter 28
1 Isaac called to Jacob and blessed him and gave him this command: “You must not take a wife from among the daughters of Canaan. 2 Up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of your mother, and take a wife from there, from among the daughters of Laban, the brother of your mother. 3 May God Almighty bless you; may he make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you become a multitude of people. 4 May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land in which you have dwelt as an alien, the land that God gave to Abraham.”
10 Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.[a] Jacob left from Beer-sheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 He came upon a certain place and spent the night there for the sun was setting. He took a stone and used it as a pillow and slept in that place. 12 He had a dream. There was a ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.
13 And the Lord stood before him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying shall be given to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth and shall extend to the west and the east, the north and the south. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed through you and through your descendants. 15 I am with you and I will protect you wherever you go. I will make you return to this country, for I will not abandon you without having done all that I have promised you.”
16 Jacob woke from sleep and said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was filled with fear and said, “How terrible this place is! This is truly the house of God, this is the gate to heaven.”
18 In the morning Jacob arose early, took the rock that he had used as a pillow, and erected it as a pillar pouring oil on top of it. 19 He named the place Bethel,[b] although the city had previously been called Luz.
20 Jacob made a vow, “If God remains with me and protects me in this journey that I am making and gives me bread to eat and clothes to cover me, 21 and if I return in peace to my father’s house, the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone that I am erecting as a pillar shall be a shrine to God. I will offer you one-tenth of everything that you give me.”
Chapter 13
Obedience to Authority.[a] 1 Let everyone submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which derives from God, and whatever authorities exist have been instituted by God. 2 Consequently, anyone who resists authority is rebelling against what God has appointed, and those who so resist will bring judgment upon themselves.
3 Rulers are a source of fear not to those who do good but rather to those who do evil. Do you wish to be free of fear from someone in authority? Then continue to do what is right and you will receive his approval. 4 For he is acting as God’s representative for your welfare. But if you do what is evil, then be afraid for he does not wear a sword for nothing. People in authority are God’s servants to mete out punishment to wrongdoers.
5 Therefore, you are obliged to submit, not only because of fear of punishment but also because of conscience. 6 That is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, and they devote themselves to this service. 7 Pay to each person what is rightfully his—taxes to the one to whom taxes are due, tolls to the one to whom tolls are due, respect to the one to whom respect is due, honor to the one to whom honor is due.
Love Is the Fulfillment of the Law.[b] 8 Owe nothing to anyone except the debt of love you owe one another. The one who loves others has fulfilled the Law. 9 “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and every other commandment are all summed up in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love cannot result in any harm to the neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the Law.
11 Live Honestly As in the Light.[c] Do this knowing that the hour has come. It is time for you to awaken from sleep. For our salvation is nearer to us now than it was when we first began to believe. 12 The night is nearly over, and the day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave honorably as in the day: not in orgies and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and allow no opportunity for the flesh to gratify its sinful desires.
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?” 34 Jesus replied,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who sins
is a slave of sin.
35 A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son remains in it forever.
36 Therefore, if the Son sets you free,
you then will truly be free.
37 “I know that you are descendants of Abraham,
but you seek to kill me
because my word has no place in your heart.
38 I speak of what I have seen
in my Father’s presence,
whereas you do what you have heard
from your father.”
39 The Jews said to him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them,
“If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works that Abraham did.
40 But now you seek to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth
that I heard from God.
This is not what Abraham did.
41 You are doing the works of your father!”
They retorted, “We are not illegitimate children. We have one father—God.” 42 Jesus said to them,
“If God were your father,
you would love me,
for I came from God;
neither did I come of my own will,
but he was the one who sent me.
43 Why do you not understand
what I am saying?
It is because you cannot bear
to hear my words.
44 “You are from your father, the devil,
and you choose to carry out your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning,
and he does not abide by the truth,
for there is no truth in him.
When he lies,
he speaks in accord with his own nature,
for he is a liar
and the father of lies.
45 But because I speak the truth
you refuse to believe me.
46 “Which of you can convict me of sin?
If I say what is true,
why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever comes from God
listens to the words of God.
The reason why you refuse to listen
is that you do not belong to God.”
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