Book of Common Prayer

88 O Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have wept before you day and night. ² Now hear my prayers; oh, listen to my cry, ³ for my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. ⁴ They say my life is ebbing out—a hopeless case. ⁵ They have left me here to die, like those slain on battlefields from whom your mercies are removed.

⁶ You have thrust me down to the darkest depths. ⁷ Your wrath lies heavy on me; wave after wave engulfs me. ⁸ You have made my friends to loathe me, and they have gone away. I am in a trap with no way out. ⁹ My eyes grow dim with weeping. Each day I beg your help; O Lord, I reach my pleading hands to you for mercy.

¹⁰ Soon it will be too late! Of what use are your miracles when I am in the grave? How can I praise you then? ¹¹ Can those in the grave declare your loving-kindness? Can they proclaim your faithfulness? ¹² Can the darkness speak of your miracles? Can anyone in the Land of Forgetfulness talk about your help?

¹³ O Lord, I plead for my life and will keep on pleading day by day. ¹⁴ O Jehovah, why have you thrown my life away? Why are you turning your face from me and looking the other way?

¹⁵ From my youth I have been sickly and ready to die. I stand helpless before your terrors. ¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has overwhelmed me. Your terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷ They flow around me all day long. ¹⁸ Lover, friend, acquaintance—all are gone. There is only darkness everywhere.

91 We live within the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered by the God who is above all gods.

² This I declare, that he alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him. ³ For he rescues you from every trap and protects you from the fatal plague. ⁴ He will shield you with his wings! They will shelter you. His faithful promises are your armor. ⁵ Now you don’t need to be afraid of the dark anymore, nor fear the dangers of the day; ⁶ nor dread the plagues of darkness, nor disasters in the morning.^[a]

⁷ Though a thousand fall at my side, though ten thousand are dying around me, the evil will not touch me. ⁸ I will see how the wicked are punished, but I will not share it. ⁹ For Jehovah is my refuge! I choose the God above all gods to shelter me. ¹⁰ How then can evil overtake me or any plague come near? ¹¹ For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. ¹² They will steady you with their hands to keep you from stumbling against the rocks on the trail. ¹³ You can safely meet a lion or step on poisonous snakes, yes, even trample them beneath your feet!

¹⁴ For the Lord says, “Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will make him great because he trusts in my name. ¹⁵ When he calls on me, I will answer; I will be with him in trouble and rescue him and honor him. ¹⁶ I will satisfy him with a full life^[b] and give him my salvation.”

92 A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.^[c]

It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.

² Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness. ³ Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre. ⁴ You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.

⁵ O Lord, what miracles you do! And how deep are your thoughts! ⁶ Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this: ⁷ that although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them. ⁸ But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens, ⁹ while his enemies—all evildoers—shall be scattered.

¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings!^{[d] 11} I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed. ¹² But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon. ¹³ For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care. ¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. ¹⁵ This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!

13 Jehovah now instructed Moses, ² “Send spies into the land of Canaan—the land I am giving to Israel; send one leader from each tribe.”

^3-15 (The Israelis were camped in the wilderness of Paran at the time.) Moses did as the Lord had commanded and sent these twelve tribal leaders:

²¹ So they spied out the land all the way from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Hamath. ²² Going northward, they passed first through the Negeb and arrived at Hebron. There they saw the Ahimanites, Sheshites, and Talmites, all families descended from Anak. (By the way, Hebron was very ancient, having been founded seven years before Tanis^[a] in Egypt.) ²³ Then they came to what is now known as the valley of Eshcol where they cut down a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also took some samples of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ The Israelis named the valley “Eshcol” at that time (meaning “Cluster”) because of the cluster of grapes they found!

²⁵ After forty days of exploration they returned from their tour. ²⁶ They made their report to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they showed the fruit they had brought with them.

²⁷ This was their report: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Here is some fruit we have brought as proof. ²⁸ But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what’s more, we saw Anakim giants there! ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River Valley are the Canaanites.”

³⁰ But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses. “Let us go up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it!”

²⁵ Being a Jew is worth something if you obey God’s laws; but if you don’t, then you are no better off than the heathen. ²⁶ And if the heathen obey God’s laws, won’t God give them all the rights and honors he planned to give the Jews? ²⁷ In fact, those heathen will be much better off^[a] than you Jews who know so much about God and have his promises but don’t obey his laws.

²⁸ For you are not real Jews just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision. ²⁹ No, a real Jew is anyone whose heart is right with God. For God is not looking for those who cut their bodies in actual body circumcision, but he is looking for those with changed hearts and minds. Whoever has that kind of change in his life will get his praise from God, even if not from you.

3 Then what’s the use of being a Jew? Are there any special benefits for them from God? Is there any value in the Jewish circumcision ceremony? ² Yes, being a Jew has many advantages.

First of all, God trusted them with his laws so that they could know and do his will.^{[b] 3} True, some of them were unfaithful, but just because they broke their promises to God, does that mean God will break his promises? ⁴ Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this?^[c] That God’s words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them.

⁵ “But,” some say, “our breaking faith with God is good, our sins serve a good purpose, for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair, then, for him to punish us when our sins are helping him?” (That is the way some people talk.) ⁶ God forbid! Then what kind of God would he be, to overlook sin? How could he ever condemn anyone? ⁷ For he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies. ⁸ If you follow through with that idea you come to this: the worse we are, the better God likes it! But the damnation of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach!

²¹ Then Peter came to him and asked, “Sir, how often should I forgive a brother who sins against me? Seven times?”

²² “No!” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven!

²³ “The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date. ²⁴ In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him $10 million!$10 million, literally, “10,000 talents.” Approximately £3 million. ²⁵ He couldn’t pay, so the king ordered him sold for the debt, also his wife and children and everything he had.

²⁶ “But the man fell down before the king, his face in the dust, and said, ‘Oh, sir, be patient with me and I will pay it all.’

²⁷ “Then the king was filled with pity for him and released him and forgave his debt.

²⁸ “But when the man left the king, he went to a man who owed him $2,000$2,000, approximately £700. and grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

²⁹ “The man fell down before him and begged him to give him a little time. ‘Be patient and I will pay it,’ he pled.

³⁰ “But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt would be paid in full.

³¹ “Then the man’s friends went to the king and told him what had happened. ³² And the king called before him the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil-hearted wretch! Here I forgave you all that tremendous debt, just because you asked me to— ³³ shouldn’t you have mercy on others, just as I had mercy on you?’

³⁴ “Then the angry king sent the man to the torture chamber until he had paid every last penny due. ³⁵ So shall my heavenly Father do to you if you refuse to truly forgive your brothers.”