Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 93
The Majesty of God’s Rule
1 The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed; he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;(A)
2 your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.(B)
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic than the waves[a] of the sea,
majestic on high is the Lord!(C)
5 Your decrees are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore.(D)
Psalm 96
Praise to God Who Comes in Judgment
1 O sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.(A)
2 Sing to the Lord; bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.(B)
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples.(C)
4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.(D)
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.(E)
6 Honor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.(F)
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.(G)
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts.(H)
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.(I)
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is king!
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity.”(J)
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar and all that fills it;(K)
12 let the field exult and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he is coming,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his truth.(L)
Psalm 34
Praise for Deliverance from Trouble
Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.(A)
3 O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.(B)
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.(C)
5 Look to him, and be radiant,
so your[a] faces shall never be ashamed.(D)
6 This poor soul cried and was heard by the Lord
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.(E)
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.(F)
9 O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.(G)
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.(H)
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.(I)
12 Which of you desires life
and covets many days to enjoy good?(J)
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.(K)
14 Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.(L)
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.(M)
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.(N)
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and rescues them from all their troubles.(O)
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.(P)
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord rescues them from them all.(Q)
20 He keeps all their bones;
not one of them will be broken.(R)
21 Evil brings death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.(S)
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.(T)
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean[a] thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
over its branches.(A)
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;[b]
they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.(B)
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and those full of days.(C)
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.(D)
13 For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(E)
14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(F)
15 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
12 “All things are permitted for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are permitted for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,”[a] and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.(A) 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.(B) 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!(C) 16 Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.”(D) 17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.(E) 18 Shun sexual immorality![b] Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person[c] sins against the body itself.(F) 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple[d] of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?(G) 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.(H)
Jesus Heals a Man Possessed by Demons
5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.(A) 3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain, 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him,(B) 7 and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”(C) 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Jesus[b] asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region. 11 Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding, 12 and the unclean spirits[c] begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.
14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man possessed by demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion, and they became frightened.(D) 16 Those who had seen what had happened to the man possessed by demons and to the swine reported it. 17 Then they began to beg Jesus[d] to leave their neighborhood.(E) 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 But Jesus[e] refused and said to him, “Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy he has shown you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.