Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
1 The truly happy person
doesn’t follow wicked advice,
doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked!
They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
neither will sinners
in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is destroyed.
Psalm 2
2 Why do the nations rant?
Why do the peoples rave uselessly?
2 The earth’s rulers take their stand;
the leaders scheme together
against the Lord and
against his anointed one.
3 “Come!” they say.
“We will tear off their ropes
and throw off their chains!”
4 The one who rules in heaven laughs;
my Lord makes fun of them.
5 But then God speaks to them angrily;
then he terrifies them with his fury:
6 “I hereby appoint my king on Zion,
my holy mountain!”
7 I will announce the Lord’s decision:
He said to me, “You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Just ask me,
and I will make the nations your possession;
the far corners of the earth will be your property.
9 You will smash them with an iron rod;
you will shatter them like a pottery jar.”
10 So kings, wise up!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord reverently—
trembling, 12 kiss his feet[a]
or else he will become angry,
and your way will be destroyed
because his anger ignites in an instant.
But all who take refuge in the Lord are truly happy!
Psalm 3
A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
3 Lord, I have so many enemies!
So many are standing against me.
2 So many are talking about me:
“Even God won’t help him.” Selah[b]
3 But you, Lord, are my shield!
You are my glory!
You are the one who restores me.
4 I cry out loud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I lie down, sleep, and wake up
because the Lord helps me.
6 I won’t be afraid of thousands of people
surrounding me on all sides.
7 Stand up, Lord!
Save me, my God!
In fact, hit all my enemies on the jaw;
shatter the teeth of the wicked!
8 Rescue comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people! Selah
Psalm 4
For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
4 Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God!
Set me free from my troubles!
Have mercy on me!
Listen to my prayer!
2 How long, you people,
will my reputation be insulted?
How long will you continue
to love what is worthless
and go after lies? Selah
3 Know this: the Lord takes
personal care of the faithful.
The Lord will hear me
when I cry out to him.
4 So be afraid, and don’t sin!
Think hard about it in your bed
and weep over it! Selah
5 Bring righteous offerings,
and trust the Lord!
6 Many people say,
“We can’t find goodness anywhere.
The light of your face has left us, Lord!”[c]
7 But you have filled my heart with more joy
than when their wheat and wine are everywhere!
8 I will lie down and fall asleep in peace
because you alone, Lord, let me live in safety.
Psalm 7
A shiggayon[a] of David, which he sang to the Lord about Cush, a Benjaminite.
7 I take refuge in you, Lord, my God.
Save me from all who chase me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me apart,
dragging me off with no chance of rescue.
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this—
if my hands have done anything wrong,
4 if I have repaid a friend with evil
or oppressed a foe for no reason—
5 then let my enemy
not only chase but catch me,
trampling my life into the ground,
laying my reputation in the dirt. Selah
6 Get up, Lord; get angry!
Stand up against the fury of my foes!
Wake up, my God;[b]
you command that justice be done!
7 Let the assembled peoples surround you.
Rule them from on high![c]
8 The Lord will judge the peoples.
Establish justice for me, Lord,
according to my righteousness
and according to my integrity.
9 Please let the evil of the wicked be over,
but set the righteous firmly in place
because you, the righteous God,
are the one who examines hearts and minds.
10 God is my shield;
he saves those whose heart is right.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry at evil[d] every single day.
12 If someone doesn’t change their ways,
God will sharpen his sword,
will bend his bow,
will string an arrow.
13 God has deadly weapons in store
for those who won’t change;
he gets his flaming arrows ready!
14 But look how the wicked hatch evil,
conceive trouble, give birth to lies!
15 They make a pit, dig it all out,
and then fall right into the hole that they’ve made!
16 The trouble they cause
will come back on their own heads;
the violence they commit
will come down on their own skulls.
17 But I will thank the Lord
for his righteousness;
I will sing praises
to the name of the Lord Most High.
Reuben and Gad request land
32 The livestock owned by the Reubenites and the Gadites were unusually vast and numerous. They saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead were exactly the place for livestock. 2 So the Gadites and the Reubenites came and said to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs of the community: 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon is 4 the land that the Lord struck down before the Israelite community. It is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 They said, “If you approve our request, give this land to your servants as property. Don’t make us cross the Jordan.”
6 Moses said to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Should your brothers go to war, while you stay here?
Conditions for possession of the land
16 So they approached him and said, “We will build walled enclosures here for our livestock and towns for our children. 17 Then we will eagerly fight in front of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Our children will live in the fortified cities because of the land’s inhabitants. 18 And we won’t return to our homes until each one of the Israelites takes possession of his property. 19 We won’t inherit land with them there across the Jordan, because we’ve received our property on the east side of the Jordan.”
20 Moses said to them, “Do this and fight before the Lord in war. 21 All of you who are equipped for war, cross the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him 22 and the land is subdued in the Lord’s presence. Then you may return innocently before the Lord and Israel, and this land will be your property before the Lord. 23 But if you don’t do this, you’ve sinned against the Lord. Know that your sin will find you. 24 So build towns for your children and walled enclosures for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”
25 The Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my master has commanded. 26 Our children, wives, livestock, and all of our animals will remain in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants, everyone equipped for war before the Lord, will go over to do battle as my master said.”
26 In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. 27 The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will. 28 We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 We know this because God knew them in advance, and he decided in advance that they would be conformed to the image of his Son. That way his Son would be the first of many brothers and sisters. 30 Those who God decided in advance would be conformed to his Son, he also called. Those whom he called, he also made righteous. Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified.
Ways of the legal experts and the Pharisees
23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, 2 “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. 4 For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. 6 They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. 7 They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’
8 “But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. 9 Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. 10 Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. 11 But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible