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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.

Duration: 861 days

Psalm 116

Psalm 116^[a]

Thanksgiving to God for Help Received

¹I love the Lord because he has heard my voice
    and listened to my cry for mercy,^[b]
²because he has inclined his ear to me
    on the day when I called out to him.^[c]
³The bonds of death^[d] encompassed me;
    the snares of the netherworld held me tightly.
    I was seized by distress and sorrow.
⁴Then I cried out in the name^[e] of the Lord:
    “O Lord, I entreat you to preserve my life.”
⁵Gracious is the Lord and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
⁶The Lord watches over his little ones;^[f]
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷Be at peace once again, O my soul,
    for the Lord has shown mercy to you.
⁸He has delivered my soul^[g] from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    and my feet from stumbling.
⁹I will walk in the presence of the Lord
    in the land of the living.^[h]
¹⁰I believed; therefore, I said,^[i]
    “I am greatly afflicted.”
¹¹In my dismay I cried out,
    “All men are liars.”^[j]
¹²How can I repay the Lord
    for all the good he has done for me?
¹³I will lift up the cup of salvation^[k]
    and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁴I will fulfill my vows^[l] to the Lord
    in the presence of his people.
¹⁵Precious in the eyes of the Lord
    is the death^[m] of his faithful ones.
¹⁶O Lord, I am your servant.
    I am your servant, the child of your handmaid;^[n]
    you have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹in the courts of the house of the Lord,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia.^[o]

Footnotes

Psalm 116:1 Countless are the distresses of human beings and countless too are the deliverances worked by God. This psalm adapts itself to diverse situations; every believer knows the mortal dangers from which the Lord has extricated him in order to bring him to the joy of his presence. In a praying community, all can give thanks. In thanking the divinity it was the custom in the ancient East to pour a cup as a libation, i.e., the “cup of salvation” (that has been granted) (v. 13). The Jews certainly practiced a similar rite during the “peace offerings” (see Lev 7:11ff). By this act of thanksgiving, the Israelites publicly bore witness that God had saved them; this is the loftiest expression of their religion.
It is also the loftiest expression of the Christian religion. It was certainly in this spirit that Jesus recited this psalm with his disciples after having instituted the Eucharist (see Mt 26:30). Who else could have fully relied on God even through the moment of his death? Once this psalm became the prayer of Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed, it proclaimed the hope of a life and a joy that are everlasting. The priest who mystically offers the divine victim anew still says: “We offer to you, God of glory and majesty . . . the cup of eternal salvation” (Eucharistic Prayer I) and “We offer you, Father, . . . this saving cup” (Eucharistic Prayer II).
In the Hebrew text, this psalm is a single psalm, as the sense requires; in the Septuagint and Vulgate, it is two distinct psalms: Pss 114 (comprising vv. 1-9); 115 (comprising vv. 10-19).
Psalm 116:1 The psalmist expresses love for God who has heard his prayer. For a similar expression of God’s care and people’s love of him, see 1 Jn 4:19: “We love because [God] first loved us.”
Psalm 116:2 On the day when I called out to him: see Pss 4:4; 31:23; 34:5; 138:3. Another possible translation is: “I will call on him as long as I live.”
Psalm 116:3 Bonds of death: see note on Ps 18:6.
Psalm 116:4 Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 116:6 Little ones: just like the “poor,” the “little ones” are those who depend on and trust only in the Lord (see Ps 34:7). They have a poverty of spirit, not simply of money. Just as the Spirit of God worked on the primeval darkness to produce all that exists, so the Lord works on his little ones to produce all that is good for them.
Psalm 116:8 The psalmist here spells out salvation in terms of earthly well-being, but in words that are true at the deepest level (see, e.g., Rom 8:10f; 2 Cor 6:10; Jude 24). Soul: see note on Ps 6:4.
Psalm 116:9 The land of the living: reference to this life or to the temple (see Pss 52:7; 116:9; Isa 38:11), where the God of life is present; the psalmist is speaking of the world of the living as opposed to the world of the dead.
Psalm 116:10 I believed; therefore, I said: the psalmist kept faith even in the darkest times (see 2 Cor 4:13 where this text is cited).
Psalm 116:11 All men are liars: the psalmist avers that his enemies are telling falsehoods about him (see Pss 5:10f; 35:11, 15; 109:2-4), because all people are liars. He could also be alluding to the fact that all people offer only a false hope of deliverance. These words are cited in Rom 3:4.
Psalm 116:13 The cup of salvation: probably the libation of wine poured out in gratitude for one’s deliverance (see Ex 25:29; Num 15:1-10). These words are used at Mass in Eucharistic Prayer I and II, as indicated in the note on Ps 116. Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 116:14 Vows: see note on Ps 7:18.
Psalm 116:15 Precious . . . is the death: the psalmist indicates that God consents to the death of his faithful only with difficulty (see Isa 43:4), for death was regarded as taking away their relationship with him (see Pss 6:6; 72:13; 115:17). Some versions interpret this passage according to the dogma of the resurrection: “the death of his faithful ones has worth in the eyes of God.” See the analogous expression, “Their blood is precious in his sight” (Ps 72:14).
Psalm 116:16 Child of your handmaid: see note on Ps 86:16.
Psalm 116:19 Alleluia: i.e., “Hallelujah” or “Bless [or praise] the Lord”; the Septuagint and Vulgate add this line as the opening of Ps 117.

Zephaniah 3:14-20

¹⁴Cry out with joy, daughter of Zion;
    shout aloud, O Israel.
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter, Jerusalem.
¹⁵The Lord has canceled the punishments against you;
    he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you need never again fear any harm.
¹⁶On that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
    Fear not, O Zion;
    do not let your hands grow weak.
¹⁷The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a warrior and a savior.
He will rejoice over you with gladness
    and renew you through his love.
He will exult over you with shouts of joy
¹⁸    as on a day of festival.
I will remove your misfortune
    so that you no longer will need to endure reproach.
¹⁹At that time I will deal
    with all those who oppress you.
I will rescue the lame
    and gather the dispersed.
I will win for them praise and renown
    throughout the whole world.
²⁰At that time I will gather you together
    and bring you home.
For I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes, says the Lord.

Mark 15:47-16:7

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was buried.

Chapter 16

Jesus Is Raised from the Dead.^[a] ¹When the Sabbath was over,^[b] Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome purchased aromatic spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus. ²And very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb.

³They had been asking each other, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴But when they looked up, they observed that the stone, which was extremely large, had already been rolled back. ⁵On entering the tomb, they saw a young man arrayed in a white robe sitting on the right hand side, and they were stunned.

⁶He said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷But go forth and tell his disciples and Peter: ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you.’ ”

Psalm 30

Psalm 30^[a]

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

¹A psalm. A song for the dedication of the temple. Of David.

²I will exalt you, O Lord,
    for you have raised me out of the depths^[b]
    and have not let my enemies exult over me.
³O Lord, my God,
    I called to you and you healed me.^[c]
⁴O Lord, you lifted me up from the netherworld;^[d]
    you saved me from sinking into the pit.
⁵Sing praise to the Lord, O you his saints;^[e]
    give thanks to his holy name.
⁶For his anger lasts for only a moment,
    while his goodwill endures for a lifetime.
Weeping may last throughout the night,^[f]
    but at daybreak there is rejoicing.
⁷In time of good fortune, I said,
    “Nothing can ever sway me.”^[g]
⁸O Lord, in your goodness
    you established me as an impregnable mountain;
however, when you hid your face,
    I was filled with terror.
⁹^[h]To you, O Lord, I cried out,
    and I implored my God for mercy:
¹⁰“What advantage would my death provide
    if I descend into the pit?
Can the dust praise you?
    Can it proclaim your faithfulness?
¹¹Listen, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
    O Lord, be my helper.”
¹²You have turned my mourning into dancing;
    you have taken away my sackcloth^[i]
    and clothed me with joy.
¹³My heart^[j] will therefore sing
    in unceasing praise to you;
O Lord, my God,
    I will praise you forever.

Footnotes

Psalm 30:1 This is a psalm of thanksgiving arising out of the experience of someone who was at death’s door because of an illness, compounded by feelings of haughtiness in time of prosperity and despair in times of humiliation. The Lord listened to his cry and healed him; hence the psalmist calls for praise. This psalm came to be applied to Israel itself, especially in its experience of the Exile, and was chanted at the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple in commemoration of the purification of the temple in 164 B.C. (see Ezr 6:16; 1 Mac 4:36ff).
This psalm reminds us that while we await life eternal and union with Christ, the present life with its adversities offers us the opportunity to receive from the divine goodness a cure, various deliverances, and even spiritual resurrection.
Psalm 30:2 Out of the depths: a common Old Testament phrase of extreme distress (see Pss 69:3, 16; 71:20; 88:6; 130:1; Lam 3:55; Jon 2:2) usually connected with the words “the grave” and “the pit.”
Psalm 30:3 You healed me: other passages that proclaim God as a healer are: Pss 103:3; 107:20; Hos 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:5.
Psalm 30:4 Netherworld: symbol for a life-threatening experience (see Ps 18:6; Jon 2:2). Pit: metaphor for the grave.
Psalm 30:5 Saints: see note on Ps 16:3. Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 30:6 Last throughout the night: literally, “come in at evening to lodge,” like a guest seeking a night’s rest.
Psalm 30:7 In time of good fortune, I said, “Nothing can ever sway me”: security brings forgetfulness of God (see Deut 8:8-10; Hos 13:6; Prov 30:9). The secure psalmist spoke similar words to those of the wicked in Ps 10:6 and so lost the blessing promised to the righteous (see Ps 15:5).
Psalm 30:9 In the stillness and inactivity of the pit, no one gives praise to God; the psalmist prays to be delivered so that he may rejoin those who worship the Lord (see Pss 6:6; 88:11-13; 115:17; Isa 38:18).
Psalm 30:12 Sackcloth: a symbol of mourning (see Ps 35:13; Gen 37:34).
Psalm 30:13 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8.

Psalm 149

Psalm 149^[a]

Glorification of God, Lord and Creator

¹^[b]Alleluia.

Sing to the Lord a new song,^[c]
    his praise in the assembly of the saints.
²Let Israel rejoice in its Maker;
    let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
³Let them praise his name^[d] with dancing
    and make music to him with tambourine and lyre.
⁴For the Lord takes delight in his people,
    and he crowns the humble with salvation.^[e]
⁵Let the saints exult in their glory
    and sing for joy on their beds.^[f]
⁶^[g]May the praises of God be on their lips
    and a double-edged sword in their hands^[h]
⁷to wreak vengeance^[i] on the nations
    and punishment on the peoples,
⁸to shackle their kings with chains
    and their nobles with iron fetters,
⁹to execute the judgments decreed against them:
    such is the glory for all his saints.^[j]
Alleluia.

Footnotes

Psalm 149:1 The spiritual elite of God’s people rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, weapons at the ready (see Neh 4:11); they put up an unyielding resistance to the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (see 1 Mac; 2 Mac). They were conscious of defending the rights of God and the right to worship him. This was their glory: Israel was the sword of God against the advance of blasphemous and wicked forces (see Zec 9:13-16). But the images of war foretell victories, those of God’s elect over the forces of evil at the time of the Messiah. The seer of the Book of Revelation will also describe great battles in heaven (see Rev 11:14).
We can pray this psalm for the Church, the new People of God, enduring in this world an ever-difficult existence, an ever-renascent war. She scores blows and gains victories against her spiritual enemies, but never decisive ones. Happily, it is Christ who leads her and animates her in battle in order to ensure victory for her and renew her fervor (see Mt 16:18; 28:20).
Psalm 149:1 The psalmist calls on the people to sing a new song in view of the restoration and the eschatological expectation of the Lord’s complete victory over evil (see Isa 61:2ff; Rev 14:3). The object of praise is the Maker and King of his people, and the devout among them are the beneficiaries of his mighty acts.
Psalm 149:1 New song: see note on Ps 33:3. Saints: see notes on Pss 4:3; 34:10.
Psalm 149:3 Name: see note on Ps 5:12. Dancing: which formed part of the liturgy (see Pss 87:7; 150:4; Ex 15:20; 2 Sam 6:14; Jer 31:4).
Psalm 149:4 See Ps 73:1; 1 Sam 2:8; Isa 49:13; 61:9; 62:4f.
Psalm 149:5 Beds: the beds, which had before been soaked with tears, share in the Lord’s deliverance (see Pss 4:5; 6:7; 63:7; Hos 7:14). Some take “beds” as “couches” used in worship or at banquets.
Psalm 149:6 The psalmist envisages the eschatological future (see Isa 61:2ff) and presents God’s people as the instruments of the divine vindication (see Zec 9:13-16). The Lord will grant victory to his people, as he did to Nehemiah and his men (see Neh 4:10-12), which will be their glory.
Psalm 149:6 The godly will become the sword of the Lord (see Jdg 3:16; Prov 5:4; Zec 9:13). Some interpret this verse as saying that the praise of God is a fearsome but peaceful weapon in the hands of the godly (see 2 Chr 20:17ff).
Psalm 149:7 Vengeance: see notes on Pss 5:11; 35. The new People of God depends on the “sword of the Spirit” to combat the powers of evil (see 2 Cor 6:7; 10:4; Eph 6:12, 17; Heb 4:12) and will obtain complete victory only at the Last Judgment (see 1 Cor 6:2f).
Psalm 149:9 Allusion to the prophecies against the nations, announcing their final defeat by Israel (see Ps 139:16 and note; Ezek 25:14; 39:10; Joel 4:2; Mic 4:13; Zec 10:5; 12:6; 14:3, 12ff).

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Sufferings and Consolation.^[a] ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation.^[b] ⁴He consoles us in all our afflictions and thereby enables us to console others in their tribulations, offering them the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.

⁵For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so too, through Christ, do we receive our consolation. ⁶If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation. If we are being consoled, it is to help us to console you and give you the patience and the strength to endure the same sufferings that we endure. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the consolations.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 116[a]

Thanksgiving to God for Help Received

Footnotes

Chapter 16

Footnotes

Psalm 30[a]

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

Footnotes

Psalm 149[a]

Glorification of God, Lord and Creator

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 116^[a]

Psalm 30^[a]

Psalm 149^[a]