Book of Common Prayer
Mem
Loving God’s Word
97 How I love your instruction![a]
Every day it is my meditation.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my adversaries,
since they are always with me.
99 I am more insightful than my teachers,
because your decrees are my meditations.
100 I have more common sense than the elders,
for I observe your precepts.
101 I keep away from every evil choice[b]
so that I may keep your word.[c]
102 I do not avoid your judgments,
for you pointed them out to me.
103 How pleasing is what you have to say to me—
tasting better than honey.
104 I obtain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every false way.
Nun
God’s Word a Light
105 Your word is[d] a lamp for my feet,
a light for my pathway.
106 I have given my word and affirmed it,
to keep your righteous judgments.
107 I am severely afflicted.
Revive me, Lord, according to your word.
108 Lord, please accept my voluntary offerings of praise,[e]
and teach me your judgments.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I do not forget your instruction.[f]
110 Though the wicked lay a trap for me,
I haven’t wandered away from your precepts.
111 I have inherited your decrees forever,
because they are the joy of my heart.
112 As a result, I am determined
to carry out your statutes forever.
Samek
Loving God’s Law
113 I despise the double-minded,
but I love your instruction.[g]
114 You are my fortress and shield;
I hope in your word.
115 Leave me, you who practice evil,
that I may observe the commands of my God.
116 Sustain me, God,[h] as you have promised,
and I will live.
Do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
117 Support me, that I may be saved,
and I will carry out your statutes consistently.
118 You reject all who wander from your statutes,
since their deceitfulness is vain.
119 You remove[i] all the wicked of the earth like[j] dross;
therefore I love your decrees.
120 My flesh trembles out of fear of you,
and I am in awe of[k] your judgments.
For the Director: On the Gittith. By Asaph.
Celebrating and Remembering God
81 Sing joyfully to God, our strength.
Raise a shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Sing a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Blow the ram’s horn when there is a New Moon,
when there is a full moon,
on our festival day,
4 because it is a statute in Israel,
an ordinance by the God of Jacob,
5 a decree that he prescribed for Joseph
when he went throughout the land of Egypt,
speaking a language I did not recognize.[a]
6 I removed the burden from your[b] shoulder;
your[c] hands were freed of the burdensome basket.[d]
7 In a time of need you called out and I delivered you;
I answered you from the dark thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, My people and I will warn you.
Israel, if only you would obey me!
9 You must neither have a foreign god over you
or worship a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
open your mouth that I may fill it.
11 Yet my people didn’t obey my voice;
Israel didn’t submit to me.
12 So I allowed them[e] to continue in their stubbornness,
living by their own advice.
13 If only my people would obey me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies.
I would turn against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord will cringe before him;
their punishment will be permanent.
16 But I will feed Israel[f] with the finest wheat,
satisfying you with honey from the rock.
A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice
2 “How long will you judge partially
by showing favor on the wicked?[i]
3 “Defend the poor and the fatherless.
Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the poor and the needy,
delivering them from the power of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand;
they walk about in the dark
while all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “Indeed I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 However, as all human beings do, you will die,
and like other rulers, you will fall.’
8 Arise, God, to judge the earth,
for all nations belong to you.
Haman’s Plan Begins to Unravel
6 That night the king could not sleep, so he gave instructions to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read to the king. 2 It was found recorded there that Mordecai had reported about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the restricted areas of the palace,[a] and that they had conspired to assassinate[b] King Ahasuerus. 3 So the king asked, “What honor and distinction was bestowed on Mordecai for this?”
The young men who served the king answered, “Nothing was done for him.”
4 The king said, “Who is in the courtyard?” Now Haman had just entered the outer courtyard of the palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the pole he had set up.
5 The king’s young men told him, “Look, Haman is standing in the courtyard.”
The king said, “Let him come in.”
6 After Haman came in, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?”
Haman told himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?” 7 Haman answered the king, “For a man whom the king desires to honor, 8 let them bring royal robes that the king has worn and a horse on which the king has ridden, with a royal crown placed on its head. 9 Then give the robes and the horse to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let them put the robes on the man whom the king desires to honor, and let them put him on the horse in the main[c] square of the city. Then let them announce in front of him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor.’”
10 Then the king told Haman, “Quick! Take the clothes and the horse just as you have suggested and do this for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king’s gate. And don’t let anything you’ve suggested fall through the cracks.”[d]
11 So Haman took the clothes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and put him on the horse in the main[e] square of the city. He cried out in front of him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor.”
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, while Haman hurried to his house, mourning and hiding his face.[f] 13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wise friends and his wife Zeresh told him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is one of the Jewish people,[g] you won’t prevail against him. Instead, you will surely fall before him.”
14 While they were still talking to him, the king’s eunuchs arrived, and they quickly took him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Paul in Ephesus
19 It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul passed through the inland districts and came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 He then asked, “Then into what were you baptized?”
They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, “John baptized when they repented, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in foreign languages[a] and to prophesy. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
8 He went into the synagogue and spoke there boldly for three months, holding discussions and persuading those who heard him[b] about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some people became stubborn, refused to believe, and slandered the Way in front of the people, Paul[c] left them, taking his disciples away with him, and held daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.[d] 10 This went on for two years, so that all who lived in Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.
Jesus is Tempted by Satan(A)
4 Then Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where he was being tempted by the Devil for 40 days. During that time he ate nothing at all, and when they were over he became hungry.
3 The Devil told him, “Since[a] you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘One must not live on bread alone,
but on every word of God.’”[b]
5 The Devil[c] also took him to a high place[d] and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. 6 He told Jesus,[e] “I will give you all this authority, along with their glory, because it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 So if you will worship me, all this will be yours.”
8 But Jesus answered him, “It is written,
9 The Devil[h] also took him into Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the Temple. He told Jesus,[i] “Since[j] you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 because it is written,
‘God[k] will put his angels in charge of you
to watch over you carefully.
11 With their hands they will hold you up,
so that you will never hit your foot against a rock.’”[l]
12 Jesus answered him, “It has been said, ‘You must not tempt the Lord[m] your God.’”[n]
13 After the Devil had finished tempting Jesus in every possible way, he left him until another time.
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