Book of Common Prayer
33 He (A)turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A (B)fruitful land into [a]barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 (C)He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 (D)He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle (E)decrease.
39 When they are (F)diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
40 (G)He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 (H)Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And (I)makes their families like a flock.
42 (J)The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all (K)iniquity stops its mouth.
43 (L)Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies(M)
A Song. A Psalm of David.
108 O (N)God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 (O)Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the [b]heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 (P)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
6 (Q)That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and [c]hear me.
7 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the [d]helmet for My head;
(R)Judah is My lawgiver.
9 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”
10 (S)Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
12 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
13 (T)Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History
33 Rejoice (A)in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
[a]Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4 For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
6 (B)By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the (C)host of them (D)by the breath of His mouth.
7 (E)He gathers the waters of the sea together [b]as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For (F)He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 (G)The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
11 (H)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has (I)chosen as His own inheritance.
13 (J)The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts individually;
(K)He [c]considers all their works.
16 (L)No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17 (M)A horse is a [d]vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.
18 (N)Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
19 To deliver their soul from death,
And (O)to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.
The People Complain Harshly
13 “Your(A) words have been [a]harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 (B)You have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now (C)we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are [b]raised up;
They even (D)tempt God and go free.’ ”
A Book of Remembrance
16 Then those (E)who feared the Lord (F)spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So (G)a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who [c]meditate on His name.
17 “They(H) shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My (I)jewels.[d]
And (J)I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 (K)Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
The Great Day of God
4 “For behold, (L)the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all (M)the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be (N)stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will (O)leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who (P)fear My name
The (Q)Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 (R)You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
4 “Remember the (S)Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With (T)the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you (U)Elijah the prophet
(V)Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And (W)he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and (X)strike the earth with (Y)a curse.”
Meeting Specific Needs(A)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him (B)pray. Is anyone cheerful? (C)Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, (D)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. (E)And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 [a]Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (F)The effective, [b]fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man (G)with a nature like ours, and (H)he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed (I)again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Bring Back the Erring One
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone (J)turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way (K)will save [c]a soul from death and (L)cover a multitude of sins.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 Also He spoke this parable to some (A)who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee (B)stood and prayed thus with himself, (C)‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; (D)for everyone who exalts himself will be [a]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.