Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies of the Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the sight of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up Your strength,
and come and rescue us.
3 Restore us again, O God,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
4 O Lord God of Hosts,
how long will You be angry
against the prayers of Your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and have given them tears to drink in great measure.
6 You make us contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us again, O God of Hosts,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
You have cast out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shadow
and the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why have You then broken down its walls,
so that all those who pass by the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the woods ravages it,
and the insects of the field devour it.
14 Return again, O God of Hosts;
look down from heaven, and behold,
have regard for this vine
15 and the root that Your right hand has planted,
and the shoots that You made strong for Yourself.
16 It is burned with fire; it is cut down;
may they perish at the rebuke from Your presence.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 So we will not turn back from You;
give us life, and we will call upon Your name.
19 Restore us again, O Lord God of Hosts;
cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
Psalm 77
For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 I cried out to God with my voice,
even to God with my voice; and He listened to me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out and does not weary,
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God, and I groan;
I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah
4 You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I have considered the days of old,
the years long ago.
6 May I remember my song in the night;
may I meditate in my heart;
my spirit made a diligent search:
7 “Will the Lord cast off forever,
and will He be favorable no more?
8 Has His mercy ceased forever,
and have His promises failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious,
and has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” Selah
10 Then I said, “This is my grief;
yet I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11 I will remember the works of the Lord;
surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate also on all Your work
and ponder on Your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holiness;
what god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who can do wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the nations.
15 You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 The waters saw You, O God.
The waters saw You; they were afraid;
the depths also trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered.
Your arrows flashed about.
18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind,
and Your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way is through the sea,
and Your path in the great waters,
and your footsteps are not seen.
20 You led Your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 79
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 The dead bodies of Your servants
they have given to the birds of the sky for food
and the flesh of Your faithful to the animals of the land.
3 Their blood they have poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations who do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
who have not called upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not choose to remember our former iniquities;
let Your tender mercies come swiftly to us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
May the avenging of the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before You;
according to the greatness of Your power
preserve those who are appointed to die.
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their lap
the reproach that they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 But we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
and will give You thanks forever;
we will declare Your praise
to all generations.
Helping the Poor
35 If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, then you shall support him as if he were a foreigner or a sojourner, so that he may live with you. 36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, so that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor lend him your food for profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
The Law About Slavery
39 If your brother who dwells near you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant. 40 But as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with you. He shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you, both he and his children with him, and he shall return to his own family and to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him with harshness, but you shall fear your God.
44 Both your male and female slaves, whom you may have, they shall be bought from the nations that are around you. 45 Moreover of the foreigners who sojourn among you and of their families who are with you, who were born in your land, you may also buy from them, and they may be your possession. 46 You may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, for their possession. They shall be your slaves forever. But over your brothers, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.
47 If a sojourner or foreigner becomes rich by you, and your brother who dwells beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner or sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or either his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he is able, he may redeem himself. 50 He shall calculate with him who bought him from the year that he was sold to the Year of Jubilee, and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant. 51 If there are still many years left until the Jubilee, he shall pay the price proportionately for his redemption as some of the price that he was bought for. 52 If there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate and pay the price proportionately for his redemption according to his years of service. 53 As a yearly hired servant he shall be treated, and the other shall not rule harshly over him in your sight.
54 If he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the Year of Jubilee, both he and his children with him. 55 For to Me the children of Israel are servants. They are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The Person and Work of Christ
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing to all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, enduring everything with perseverance and patience joyfully, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled us to be partakers in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
The Parable of the Sower(A)
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Great crowds assembled around Him, so that He went into a boat and sat there. And the whole assembly stood on the shore. 3 Then He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 While he sowed, some seeds fell beside the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 But other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they did not have deep soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And because they did not take root, they withered away. 7 Some seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 But other seeds fell into good ground and produced grain: a hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much. 9 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables(B)
10 The disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For to him who has, will more be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables:
‘Because they look, but do not see.
And they listen, but they do not hear, neither do they understand.’[a]
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:
‘By hearing, you will hear and shall not understand,
and seeing, you will see and shall not perceive;[b]
15 for this people’s heart has grown dull.
Their ears have become hard of hearing,
and they have closed their eyes,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts,
and turn, and I should heal them.’[c]
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.