Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 93[a]
Glory of the Lord’s Kingdom
1 The Lord is King,[b] adorned in splendor;
the Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength.
[c]He has made the world firm,
never to be moved.
2 Your throne has stood firm from the beginning;
you have existed throughout eternity, O Lord.
3 The waters[d] have lifted up, O Lord;
the waters have lifted up their voice;
the waters have lifted up their roar.
4 More powerful than the roar of mighty waters,
more powerful than the crashing waves of the sea,
mighty on high is the Lord.[e]
5 Your decrees[f] are firmly established;
holiness adorns your house,
O Lord, throughout the ages.
Psalm 96[a]
God, Sovereign and Judge of the Universe
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;[b]
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord and bless his name;
proclaim his salvation[c] day after day.
3 Declare his glory[d] among the nations,
his wondrous deeds to every people.
4 For great is the Lord and worthy of all praise;
he is more to be feared[e] than all other gods.
5 The gods of the nations are merely idols,
but it was the Lord who made the heavens.[f]
6 Majesty and splendor surround him;
power and beauty[g] are in his sanctuary.
7 Render to the Lord, you families of nations,
render to the Lord glory and power.[h]
8 Render to the Lord the glory due to his name;
bring an offering and enter his courts.[i]
9 Worship[j] the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is King.[k]
The world is firmly established, never to be moved.
He will judge the peoples fairly.”
11 Let the heavens exult and the earth be glad;
let the sea resound and all that fills it.
12 Let the fields rejoice and all that is in them;
let all the trees[l] of the forest shout for joy
13 before the Lord, for he is coming,
coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice
and the nations with equity.[m]
Psalm 34[a]
Presence of God, Protector of the Righteous
1 Of David. When he pretended to be mad before Abimelech, who forced him to depart.[b]
2 [c]I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise will be continually on my lips.
3 My soul[d] will glory in the Lord;
let the lowly hear and be glad.
4 Magnify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
5 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he set me free from all my fears.
6 Look to him and you will be radiant;
your faces will never be covered with shame.
7 In my anguish[e] I cried out;
the Lord heard my plea,
and I was saved from all my troubles.
8 The angel of the Lord[f] encamps around those who fear God,
and he delivers them.
9 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed[g] is the man who takes refuge in him.
10 Fear the Lord,[h] you his saints;
nothing is lacking for those who fear him.
11 The powerful[i] suffer want and go hungry,
but those who seek the Lord want for no good thing.
12 [j]Come, my children,[k] and listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
13 Who among you delights in life
and desires many years to enjoy prosperity?[l]
14 Then keep your tongue[m] from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
15 Shun evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
16 [n]The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
17 The face of the Lord is turned against those who do evil,
to erase all memory of them from the earth.
18 [o]The righteous call out, and the Lord hears them;
he rescues them from all their troubles.
19 The Lord remains close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 [p]The misfortunes of the righteous man are many,
but the Lord delivers him,[q] from all of them.
21 He watches with care over all his bones;
not a single one will be broken.
22 [r]Evil will bring death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
23 The Lord redeems the lives of those who serve him;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.
Chapter 6[a]
Gideon’s Call.[b] 1 The Israelites once again did what is evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. 2 The hand of Midian weighed heavy upon Israel, and because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared refuges for themselves in mountain caverns, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites and other peoples from the East would attack them. 4 They camped against them and devastated the produce of the land all the way up to Gaza. They did not leave a living thing in Israel, not a sheep, nor an ox, nor a donkey. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. They and their camels were impossible to count; they invaded the land and laid it waste.
6 The Midianites oppressed Israel so terribly that the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent the Israelites a prophet[c] who said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from the land of Egypt, bringing you forth from the land of your slavery. 9 I delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians, out of the hands of everyone who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, “I am the Lord, your God. Do not show reverence to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” But you did not listen to my voice.’ ”
11 The angel came and sat under the oak in Ophrah[d] that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. It was there that Gideon, his son, was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide his activities from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared, he said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us into the hands of the Midianites.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in your might and rescue Israel out of the hands of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 15 But he said to him, “O Lord, how can I save Israel. My clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s household.” 16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you,[e] and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were only one man.” 17 He answered him, “If I truly have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you speaking to me. 18 Please do not leave here until I return to you, bringing my offering that I will set before you.” He said, “I will wait here until you come back.”
19 Gideon went off and prepared a kid goat and unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to lay them down under the oak, presenting them to him. 20 The angel of God said, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, then pour out the broth.” He did these things. 21 The angel of the Lord stretched forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, touching the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon realized that it had been the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you will not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, “The Lord is peace.” It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites up to the present.
God Loves a Cheerful Giver. 6 Remember this: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, and if you sow generously, you will reap generously as well. 7 Each person should give as much as he has decided in his heart, not with reluctance or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. 9 As it is written,
“He scatters abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness lasts forever.”
10 Generosity Will Prompt Thanksgiving. The one who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 Enriched in every way, you will be able to practice all your acts of generosity, which, through our intervention, will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 The administering of this public service not only helps to satisfy the needs of the saints but also overflows in countless acts of thanksgiving to God. 13 Through the evidence of such service, you are giving glory to God for your obedient profession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others as well. 14 At the same time, their hearts will go out to you in their prayers for you, because of the surpassing grace that God has bestowed upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.[a]
Contrasting Reactions to the Person of Jesus[a]
20 The Concern of Jesus’ Relatives.[b] Jesus then returned home,[c] and once again such a great crowd collected around them that they did not even find it possible to eat. 21 When his relatives heard about this, they went out to take charge of him, saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
22 The Blasphemy of the Scribes.[d] Meanwhile, the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” 23 Summoning them to him, he spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot survive. 25 And if a household is divided against itself, that household will not be able to survive. 26 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot survive; he is doomed.
27 “But no one can break into a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can ransack the house.
28 “Amen, I say to you, all sins that people commit and whatever blasphemies they utter will be forgiven. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” 30 He said this because they had claimed he was possessed by an unclean spirit.
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