Book of Common Prayer
Confidence in God’s Protection
For the music director, upon stringed instruments.[a] Of David.[b]
61 Hear, O God, my cry;
attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth[c] I call to you
when my heart grows faint.
You will lead me to a rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower from the enemy.
4 Let me reside in your tent forever.
Let me take refuge under the covering of your wings. Selah
5 For you, O God, you have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 You will add days to the days of the king,
his years like those of many generations.[d]
7 May he live[e] forever in the presence of God.
Appoint loyal love and faithfulness to preserve him.
8 So I will sing the praise of your name forever,
that I may fulfill[f] my vows daily.[g]
Confidence in God’s Salvation
For the music director, on Jeduthun.[h]
A psalm of David.[i]
62 Only for God my soul waits in silence.
From him is my salvation.
2 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you attack a man?
All of you will be shattered[j]
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence.
4 They only[k] plan to thrust him down from his high position;
they are pleased with deception.
With their mouths[l] they bless,
but inwardly[m] they curse. Selah
5 Only for God wait in silence, O my soul,
because my hope is from him.
6 Only he is my rock and my salvation,
my high stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
God[n] is my strong rock, my refuge.
8 Trust him at all times, O people;
pour out before him your heart.
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Only a vapor[o] are men of low degree,
a deception are men of high degree.
Weighed[p] in a balance,
together they are lighter than a vapor.
10 Do not trust in extortion,
and do not put vain confidence in robbery.
If wealth increases,
do not set your heart on it.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that strength belongs to God.
12 And to you belongs loyal love, O Lord,
because you will render to each according to his work.
Praise to God for Providing Victory
For the music director. Of David. A psalm. A song.[a]
68 God will arise; his enemies will be scattered,
and those who hate him will flee from before him.
2 As smoke is driven off, you will drive them off.
As wax melts before fire,
the wicked will perish before God.
3 But the righteous will be glad; they will exalt before God,
and will rejoice with joy.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name.
Lift up a song to the rider on the clouds—his name is Yah—[b]
and rejoice before him.
5 A father to orphans and a judge for widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the lonely in a home;
he brings prisoners out into prosperity.
But the rebellious abide in a barren land.
7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the desert, Selah
8 the earth shook; the heavens also dripped rain
at the presence of God who was at Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You caused abundant rain to fall, O God.
When your inheritance was weary you revived it.
10 Your community dwelled in it.
You provided in your goodness for the poor, O God.
11 The Lord gives the word.
Great is the company of women who announce:
12 “The kings of armies flee, they flee,
and she who remains at home divides the spoil.
13 Though you men lie down between the sheepfolds,
you will be like the wings of a dove covered in silver
and its pinions in yellow gold.”
14 When Shaddai scattered kings on it,
on Zalmon it snowed.[c]
15 A mountain of God[d] is the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why do you look with hostility, O many-peaked mountains?
This[e] mountain God desires for his dwelling.
Yes, Yahweh will abide in it forever.
17 The chariots of God
are twice ten thousand, with thousands doubled.
The Lord is among them at Sinai, distinctive in victory.[f]
18 You have ascended on high; you have led away captives.
You have received gifts from among humankind,
and even from the rebellious, so that Yah[g] God may dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord. Daily he loads us with benefits,[h]
the God of our salvation.[i] Selah
20 Our God is a God of deliverances,
and to the Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of his enemies,
the hairy scalp of the one who continues on[j] in his guilt.
22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that your foot may shatter them bloody
for the tongues of your dogs to have their share from the enemies.”
24 They have seen your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my king, distinctive in victory.[k]
25 Singers went up front, those playing stringed instruments last,
between them young women playing tambourines.
26 Bless God in the assemblies,
Yahweh from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin ruling them,
with the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength.
Show yourself strong, O God, by what you perform[l] for us.
29 Because your temple is above Jerusalem,
kings will bring tribute to you.
30 Rebuke the beasts in[m] the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,
trampling the pieces of silver.[n]
Scatter the nations who delight in battles.
31 Ambassadors[o] will come from Egypt;
Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praise to the Lord, Selah
33 to the one who rides in the highest heavens of old.
See, he gives forth his voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God.
His majesty is over Israel,
and his strength is in the clouds.
35 Awesome are you, O God, from your sanctuary.[p]
The God of Israel, it is he who gives strength and might to the people.
Blessed be God.
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt for Food
42 When Jacob realized that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 Then he said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die.” 3 And the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, for he feared harm would come to him.[a] 5 Then the sons of Israel went to buy grain amid those other people who went as well, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. 6 Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold food to all the people of the land. And the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them. And he spoke with them harshly and said to them, “From where have you come?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them, and he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” 10 And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We all are sons of one man. We are honest men. We, your servants, are not spies.” 12 Then he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 13 Then they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, but behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is what I said to you—you are spies. 15 By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison so that your words might be tested to see if there is truth with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.” 17 Then he gathered them into the prison for three days.
Immoral Behavior and Church Discipline
5 It is reported everywhere that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind which does not even exist among the Gentiles, so that someone has the wife of his father. 2 And you are inflated with pride, and should you not rather have mourned, so that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst? 3 For although I[a] am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already passed judgment on the one who has done this in this way, as if I[b] were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when[c] you are assembled, and my spirit, together with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided[d] to hand over such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven in order that you may be a new batch of dough, just as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8 So then, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and sinfulness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
A House Divided Cannot Stand
20 And he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they were not even able to eat a meal. 21 And when[a] his family[b] heard this,[c] they went out to restrain him, for they were saying, “He has lost his mind!”
22 And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul!” and “By the ruler of the demons he expels the demons!” 23 And he called them to himself and[d] was speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan expel Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but is at an end! 27 But no one is able to enter into the house of a strong man and[e] plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he can thoroughly plunder his house.
28 “Truly I say to you that all the sins and the blasphemies will be forgiven the sons of men, however much they blaspheme. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness forever,[f] but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31 And his mother and his brothers arrived, and standing outside, they sent word to him to summon him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers[g] are outside looking for you.” 33 And he answered them and[h] said, “Who is my mother or[i] my brothers?” 34 And looking around at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, this person is my brother and sister and mother.”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software