Book of Common Prayer
Mem
97 How I love your law, Lord![a]
I study it all day long.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my foes,
as it is forever with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
because I ponder your testimonies.
100 I have more understanding than my elders,
because I keep your precepts.(A)
101 I keep my steps from every evil path,
that I may observe your word.
102 From your judgments I do not turn,
for you have instructed me.
103 How sweet to my tongue is your promise,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!(B)
104 Through your precepts I gain understanding;
therefore I hate all false ways.
Nun
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light for my path.(C)
106 I make a solemn vow
to observe your righteous judgments.
107 I am very much afflicted, Lord;
give me life in accord with your word.
108 Accept my freely offered praise;(D)
Lord, teach me your judgments.
109 My life is always at risk,
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set snares for me,
but from your precepts I do not stray.
111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 My heart is set on fulfilling your statutes;
they are my reward forever.
Samekh
113 I hate every hypocrite;
your law I love.
114 You are my refuge and shield;
in your word I hope.
115 Depart from me, you wicked,(E)
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116 Sustain me by your promise that I may live;
do not disappoint me in my hope.
117 Strengthen me that I may be safe,
ever to contemplate your statutes.
118 You reject all who stray from your statutes,
for vain is their deceit.
119 Like dross you regard all the wicked on earth;
therefore I love your testimonies.
120 My flesh shudders with dread of you;
I fear your judgments.
Psalm 81[a]
An Admonition to Fidelity
1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.”[b] Of Asaph.
I
2 Sing joyfully to God our strength;(A)
raise loud shouts to the God of Jacob!
3 Take up a melody, sound the timbrel,
the pleasant lyre with a harp.
4 [c]Blow the shofar at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our solemn feast.(B)
5 For this is a law for Israel,
an edict of the God of Jacob,(C)
6 He made it a decree for Joseph
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
II
7 [d]I heard a tongue I did not know:
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;[e]
his hands moved away from the basket.(D)
8 In distress you called and I rescued you;
I answered you in secret with thunder;
At the waters of Meribah[f] I tested you:(E) 9 ‘Listen, my people, I will testify against you
Selah
If only you will listen to me, Israel!(F)
10 There shall be no foreign god among you;[g](G)
you shall not bow down to an alien god.
11 ‘I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.’
12 But my people did not listen to my words;
Israel would not submit to me.
13 So I thrust them away to the hardness of their heart;
‘Let them walk in their own machinations.’(H)
14 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways,(I)
15 In a moment I would humble their foes,
and turn back my hand against their oppressors.(J)
16 Those who hate the Lord will try flattering him,
but their fate is fixed forever.
17 But Israel I will feed with the finest wheat,
I will satisfy them with honey from the rock.”(K)
Psalm 82[h]
The Downfall of Unjust Gods
1 A psalm of Asaph.
I
God takes a stand in the divine council,
gives judgment in the midst of the gods.(L)
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and favor the cause of the wicked?(M)
Selah
3 “Defend the lowly and fatherless;
render justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Rescue the lowly and poor;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”(N)
II
5 [i]The gods neither know nor understand,
wandering about in darkness,
and all the world’s foundations shake.
6 I declare: “Gods though you be,[j](O)
offspring of the Most High all of you,
7 Yet like any mortal you shall die;
like any prince you shall fall.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth,[k]
for yours are all the nations.
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch,[a] just after the posting of the guards. They blew the horns and broke the jars they were holding. 20 When the three companies had blown their horns and broken their jars, they took the torches in their left hands, and in their right the horns they had been blowing, and cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They all remained standing in place around the camp, while the whole camp began to run and shout and flee. 22 When they blew the three hundred horns, the Lord set the sword of one against another throughout the camp, and they fled as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zeredah, near the border of Abel-meholah at Tabbath.
23 (A)The Israelites were called to arms from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. 24 Gideon also sent messengers throughout the mountain region of Ephraim to say, “Go down to intercept Midian, and seize the water courses against them as far as Beth-barah, as well as the Jordan.” So all the Ephraimites were called to arms, and they seized the water courses as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well. 25 (B)They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, but they had the heads of Oreb and Zeeb brought to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
Chapter 8
1 (C)But the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not summoning us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they quarreled bitterly with him. 2 But he answered them, “What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?(D) 3 It was into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb.(E) What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.
4 When Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, he and his three hundred men were exhausted and famished. 5 So he said to the people of Succoth, “Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” 6 But the princes of Succoth replied, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?”[b] 7 Gideon said, “Very well; when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will thrash your bodies with desert thorns and briers.” 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the people of Penuel answered him as had the people of Succoth. 9 So to the people of Penuel, too, he said, “When I return in peace, I will demolish this tower.”
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their force of about fifteen thousand men; these were all who were left of the whole Kedemite army, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen having fallen. 11 Gideon went up by the route of the tent-dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the force when it felt secure. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled and Gideon pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, terrifying the entire force.
12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?(A) 13 The God of Abraham, [the God] of Isaac, and [the God] of Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified[a] his servant Jesus whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence, when he had decided to release him.(B) 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One[b] and asked that a murderer be released to you.(C) 15 [c]The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.(D) 16 And by faith in his name, this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong, and the faith that comes through it has given him this perfect health, in the presence of all of you. 17 Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance,[d] just as your leaders did;(E) 18 but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets,[e] that his Messiah would suffer.(F) 19 Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,(G) 20 and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Messiah already appointed for you, Jesus,[f] 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration[g] of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. 22 For Moses said:[h]
‘A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kinsmen;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.(H)
23 Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people.’(I)
24 Moreover, all the prophets who spoke, from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days. 25 You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, ‘In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’(J) 26 For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”(K)
John the Baptist’s Testimony to Jesus. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,[a] who takes away the sin of the world.(A) 30 [b]He is the one of whom I said,(B) ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him,[c] but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove[d] from the sky and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him,(C) but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’(D) 34 [e](E)Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
The First Disciples.(F) 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”[f] 37 The two disciples[g] heard what he said and followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.[h] 40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah”[i] (which is translated Anointed).(G) 42 Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John;[j] you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).(H)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.