Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 50

A psalm of Asaph.

Psalm 59

For the music leader. Do not destroy. A miktam^[a] of David, when Saul sent men to watch the house in order to kill him.

Psalm 60

For the music leader. According to “Lily.” A testimony. A miktam^[c] of David. For instruction, when he went to war with Aram-naharaim and Aram-sobah, and when Joab returned and defeated Edom, killing twelve thousand in the Salt Valley.

Psalm 114

Psalm 115

⁹ These things have all passed away like a shadow. They’re gone like old news. ¹⁰ They’re gone like a ship passing through a storm-tossed sea: once it has passed, it leaves no trace of its passing; its keel leaves no lasting mark on the waves. ¹¹ That’s all disappeared in the way a bird flies through the air and leaves no hint of its path: it beats its wings against the thin air, dives with a rush, uses its wings to circle round—yet afterward there’s no sign in the air that the bird was ever there. ¹² It’s all vanished like an arrow that’s shot at its target: the air opens up as the arrow flies through it but immediately closes up behind the arrow, and no one can detect any trace of the arrow’s path.

¹³ That’s us! We came into being, and almost immediately afterward, we died. We leave behind no evidence of virtue. We squandered what we had in bad living.

¹⁴ The ungodly person’s hope disappears like dust in the wind, like frost that is stripped away and scattered by a mighty wind, like smoke that rises and is immediately dispersed by the wind, like the memory of a stranger who spends the day and then is gone.

¹⁵ In contrast, those who do the right thing live forever. Their reward comes from the Lord. The Most High takes care of them. ¹⁶ For this reason, they will receive a lovely palace and a beautiful royal crown from the Lord himself. With his right hand he shelters them and with his right arm he protects them. ¹⁷ For his weapon, the Lord will take his zeal. He will arm creation itself for the fight against his foes. ¹⁸ He will put on justice as his body armor. He will strap on honest judgment as his helmet. ¹⁹ He will take up holiness as a shield that can never be beaten down. ²⁰ He will sharpen his fierce anger into a sword.

The cosmos itself will join with him to defeat those who have wandered from reason. ²¹ Shafts of lightning will strike with precision. They will leap from the clouds as if shot from a well-bent bow, and they will hit their target every time. ²² Showers of hail will rain down upon them as if shot from a catapult that never stops firing. The sea’s waters will rage against them, and rivers will rise up and wash over them in a fury. ²³ A powerful wind will blow against them and like a whirlwind, it will scatter them. Lawlessness will turn the whole earth into a desert. Evildoing will pull down the thrones of the powerful.

⁸ See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. ⁹ All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. ¹⁰ And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin. ¹² You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. ¹⁴ He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. ¹⁷ These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming—the body that cast the shadow is Christ. ¹⁸ Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have become unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. ¹⁹ They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰ If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? ²¹ “Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” ²² All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. ²³ They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior.

Avoiding self-deception

³⁹ Jesus also told them a riddle. “A blind person can’t lead another blind person, right? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰ Disciples aren’t greater than their teacher, but whoever is fully prepared will be like their teacher. ⁴¹ Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s or sister’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Brother, Sister, let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You deceive yourselves! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.

⁴³ “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don’t gather figs from thorny plants, nor do they pick grapes from prickly bushes. ⁴⁵ A good person produces good from the good treasury of the inner self, while an evil person produces evil from the evil treasury of the inner self. The inner self overflows with words that are spoken.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ I’ll show what it’s like when someone comes to me, hears my words, and puts them into practice. ⁴⁸ It’s like a person building a house by digging deep and laying the foundation on bedrock. When the flood came, the rising water smashed against that house, but the water couldn’t shake the house because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But those who don’t put into practice what they hear are like a person who built a house without a foundation. The floodwater smashed against it and it collapsed instantly. It was completely destroyed.”