Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 83[a]
Against a Hostile Alliance
1 A song. A psalm of Asaph.[b]
2 O God, do not remain silent;[c]
do not be quiet and inactive, O God.
3 [d]Note how your enemies rage about,
how your foes increase in arrogance.[e]
4 They formulate shrewd plans against your people,
conspiring against those you love.
5 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be totally forgotten.”
6 They conspire with a single mind,
forming an alliance[f] against you:
7 [g]the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
8 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 Assyria has also joined them as an ally,
offering aid to the descendants of Lot. Selah
10 [h]Deal with them as you did with Midian,[i]
and with Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,[j]
11 who were destroyed at Endor
and became manure for the ground.
12 [k]Make their chieftains like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13 who boasted, “Let us seize for ourselves
the pastures of God.”
14 [l]O my God, treat them like tumbleweed,
like chaff blown before the wind.
15 As a fire rages through a forest,
as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
16 so hound them with your tempests
and terrify them with your stormwinds.[m]
17 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name,[n] O Lord.
18 [o]Let them be humiliated and terrified forever;
let them be disgraced and perish.
19 Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.
Book II—Psalms 42–72[a]
Psalm 42[b]
Prayer of Longing for God
1 For the director.[c] A maskil of the sons of Korah.
2 As a deer longs for running streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.[d]
3 My soul[e] thirsts for God, the living God.
When shall I come to behold the face of God?
4 My tears have become my food
day and night,
while people taunt me all day long, saying,
“Where is your God?”
5 As I pour out my soul,
I recall those times
when I journeyed with the multitude
and led them in procession to the house of God,
amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving
on the part of the crowd keeping festival.
6 Why are you so disheartened, O my soul?
Why do you sigh within me?
Place your hope in God,
for I will once again praise him,
my Savior and my God.[f]
7 My soul is disheartened within me;
therefore, I remember you
from the land of Jordan and Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.[g]
8 The depths of the sea resound
in the roar of your waterfalls;[h]
all your waves and your breakers
sweep over me.
9 During the day the Lord grants his kindness,
and at night his praise is with me,
a prayer to the living God.[i]
10 I say to God, my Rock,[j]
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about in mourning
while my enemy oppresses me?”
11 It crushes my bones
when my foes taunt me,
jeering at me all day long,
“Where is your God?”[k]
12 Why are you so disheartened, O my soul?
Why do you sigh within me?
Place your hope in God;
for I will once again praise him,
my Savior and my God.[l]
Psalm 43[m]
Prayer To Worship God Anew
1 Grant me your justice, O God,
and plead my cause against a godless nation;
rescue me from those who are deceitful and unjust.
2 You, O God, are my refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about in mourning,
while my enemy oppresses me?
3 Send forth your light and your truth;[n]
they will serve as my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place of your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joy and delight,
and I will praise you[o] with the harp,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you so disheartened, O my soul?
Why do you sigh within me?
Place your hope in God;
for I will once again praise him,
my Savior and my God.[p]
Psalm 85[a]
Prayer for the People’s Salvation
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the good fortune of Jacob.[c]
3 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you canceled all their sins. Selah
4 You cast aside all your wrath;
you put an end to your great anger.
5 [d]Restore us once again, O God, our Savior,
and cease your displeasure toward us.
6 Will you remain angry with us forever?
Will you hold onto your wrath for all generations?
7 Will you not once again give us life
so that your people may exult in you?
8 Show us, O Lord, your kindness[e]
and grant us your salvation.
9 [f]I will listen for God’s response;
surely the Lord will proclaim peace to his people, his saints,[g]
to those who turn to him with their whole heart.
10 His salvation is indeed near for those who fear him;
his glory[h] will dwell in our land.
11 [i]Kindness and faithfulness[j] will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace.
12 Faithfulness will spring forth from the earth,
and righteousness[k] will look down from heaven.
13 [l]The Lord will grant us prosperity,[m]
and our land will yield its harvest.
14 Righteousness will go forth in front of him,
and he will set us on the way he treads.
Psalm 86[n]
Prayer in Suffering and Distress
1 A prayer of David.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.[o]
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who puts his trust in you.
3 You are my God;[p] have pity on me, O Lord,
for to you I cry out all day long.
4 Give joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.[q]
5 O Lord, you are kind and forgiving,
filled with kindness[r] for all who cry to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and listen to my voice in supplication.
7 In the time of trouble I call to you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is no one among the gods like you, O Lord,
nor can any deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations[s] you have made
will come and bow down before you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
10 For you are great and you do marvelous deeds;[t]
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your ways, O Lord,
so that I may walk in your truth;
let me worship your name
with an undivided heart.[u]
12 I will praise you with all my heart,[v]
O Lord, my God,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 Your kindness[w] toward me is great;
you have rescued me from the depths of the netherworld.
14 Arrogant men are rising up against me, O God;
a violent mob seeks my life;
they do not keep you before their eyes.[x]
15 But you, O Lord, are a merciful and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness and faithfulness.[y]
16 Turn to me and grant me your gracious favor;
endow your servant with strength
and rescue the child of your handmaid.[z]
17 Grant me a sign of your favor,[aa]
so that those who hate me
may see it and be put to shame,
because you, O Lord,
have helped and comforted me.
Chapter 46
Jacob Goes to Egypt.[a] 1 Israel set out with all that he had and arrived at Beer-sheba where he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac.
2 God appeared to Israel in a vision during the night saying, “Jacob, Jacob.” He answered, “Here I am.”
3 He continued, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not fear to go down into Egypt, for down there I will make a great people of you. 4 I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will surely make you return. Joseph will close your eyes.”
5 Jacob left Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father, their children, and their wives into the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry them. 6 They took with them their animals and all the possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus, Jacob and all his descendants went to Egypt. 7 He brought his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters, and all his descendants with him into Egypt.
28 Joseph and Pharaoh Welcome Jacob.[a] Jacob sent Judah to Joseph ahead of the rest so that he might give instructions in Goshen before his arrival. When they arrived in the land of Goshen, 29 Joseph made his chariot ready and went up into Goshen to greet Israel, his father. As soon as he saw him, he threw himself around his neck and wept for a long time holding on to his neck.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “Let me die, now that I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”
31 Joseph said to his brothers and to the family of his father, “I am going to inform Pharaoh and to tell him, ‘My brothers and the family of my father, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to be with me. 32 These men were shepherds of flocks and they tended herds. They have brought their flocks, their herds, and all their possessions.’ 33 When Pharaoh summons you and asks you what you do for a living, 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have been men who care for cattle from their youth until now, just as our fathers did.’ This is so that you can dwell in the land of Goshen.” For all shepherds of flocks are an abomination to the Egyptians.
Chapter 9
The Example of Paul’s Apostolate
A Missionary’s Rights. 1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 Although others may not regard me as an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 To those who seek to pass judgment on me, my defense is this. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?[a] 6 Are Barnabas[b] and I the only ones who do not have the right to refrain from working? 7 What soldier would ever serve in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating its fruit? Or who tends a flock without consuming some of its milk?
8 I am not saying this based simply on human authority, for the Law says the very same thing. 9 In the Law of Moses it is written, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned, 10 or does he not rather say this for our sake? Without question it was written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope, both in expectation of a share in the crop. 11 If we have sown a spiritual crop for you, is it unreasonable for us to expect from you a material harvest? 12 If others have this claim on you, do not we?
Despite this, we have never availed ourselves of any such right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than place an obstacle to the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who perform the temple service receive their food from the temple, and that those who officiate at the altar share in the offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel.[c]
15 I Have Become All Things to All. However, I have never availed myself of any of these rights, and I have not written this to influence you to grant me such treatment; I would rather die first. No one shall deprive me of this boast!
30 The Return of the Twelve. The apostles[a] returned to Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away with me, by yourselves, to a deserted place and rest for a while.” For people continued to come and go in great numbers, and they had no time even to eat.
32 And so they went off by themselves in a boat to a deserted place. 33 Now many people saw them departing and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As Jesus went ashore and beheld the vast crowd, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
35 Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men.[b] When it began to be late in the day, his disciples came up to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it is getting very late. 36 Send the people away now so that they can go to the farms and villages in the area and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 He replied, “Give them something to eat yourselves.” They said to him, “Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii[c] on bread for them to eat?” 38 He asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out, they reported: “Five loaves, and two fish.”
39 Then he ordered them to have all the people sit down on the green grass in groups. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to distribute among the people. He also divided the two fish among them. 42 They all ate and were satisfied. 43 Then they gathered up the fragments of the bread and fish—twelve full baskets.[d] 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
45 Jesus Walks on the Water.[e] Immediately afterward, Jesus instructed his disciples to get into the boat and to go on ahead to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And when he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
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