Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61
A Soldier’s Prayer From the End of the Earth
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For the choir director. On a stringed instrument. By David.
A Prayer From the End of the Earth
1 Hear my cry, O God.
Pay attention to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me up onto the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been a refuge for me,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
4 I want to keep living in your tent forever. Interlude
I will take refuge under the cover of your wings.
5 For you, God, have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 Add days to the days of the king.
His years will last through all generations.
7 Let him be seated in God’s presence forever.
Appoint your mercy and truth to protect him.
8 Then will I make music to your name forever,
to fulfill my vows day after day.
Psalm 62
My Soul Rests in God Alone
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For the choir director. According to Jeduthun.[a] A psalm by David.
God Alone Is My Refuge
1 My soul rests quietly in God alone.
My salvation is from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I will not be disturbed.
3 How long will you threaten a man?
Do all of you want to murder him,
like a leaning wall, like a fence to be pushed down?
4 Yes, they plan to push him down from his lofty place.
They are delighted with deceit.
With their mouths they bless,
but inside they curse. Interlude
God Alone Is My Refuge
5 My soul, rest quietly in God alone,
for my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I will not be disturbed.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God, my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people.
Pour out your hearts before him. Interlude
God is a refuge for us.
Strength in God, Not in Man
9 Yes, the sons of Adam are only a breath.
The sons of man are a delusion.
On a scale they weigh nothing.
They are nothing but air.[b]
10 Do not trust in extortion.
Do not put empty confidence in stolen goods.
If your wealth grows, do not set your heart on it.
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things that I have heard:
that God has strength
12 and that you, Lord, have mercy.
Surely you will repay each person
according to what he has done.
Psalm 68
The Procession of God
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For the choir director. By David. A psalm. A song.
Judgment on God’s Enemies
1 May God arise. May his enemies scatter.
May those who hate him flee from his presence.
2 As smoke is blown away, may you blow them away.
As wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.
Blessing on God’s People
3 But the righteous rejoice and celebrate in the presence of God.
They will be happy and joyful.
4 Sing to God. Make music to his name.
Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts.[a]
His name is the Lord.[b] Celebrate before him.
5 In his holy dwelling, God is a father for the fatherless
and a judge who defends widows.
6 God causes the lonely to dwell together as a household.
He leads out the prisoners with music,
but the rebellious dwell in a scorched land.
God Brings His People Into His Land
7 God, when you went out in front of your people,
when you marched through the wasteland, Interlude
8 the earth shook.
Yes, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, this one from Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 You dispersed plentiful showers, O God.
You strengthened your inheritance when it was weary.[c]
10 Your people settled in it.
In your goodness you provided for the oppressed, O God.
The Lord Defeats the Kings of the Land
11 The Lord provided the message.
The women who proclaimed it were a great army:[d]
12 “Kings with armies flee—they flee!”
The woman who stays home shares in the plunder.
13 Even while you lie among the campfires,
the wings of a dove are sheathed with silver,
and its feathers with yellow gold.[e]
14 When the Almighty scattered the kings there,
it snowed on Zalmon.
The Lord Makes His Dwelling in Zion
15 The mountain of Bashan is a mountain of God.
The mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks.[f]
16 O mountains with many peaks, why do you look jealously
at the mountain God desires for his home?
Indeed, the Lord will dwell there forever.
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands.
Among them the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary.[g]
18 You ascended on high. You led captivity captive.
You received gifts among men,
so that even among the rebellious the Lord[h] God might dwell.
God’s Daily Care
19 Blessed be the Lord.
Day by day he bears our burdens.
He is the God who saves us. Interlude
God’s Future Victories
20 Our God is a God who saves.
From God the Lord comes escape from death.
21 Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies,
the scalps of those who walk around in their guilt.
22 The Lord says, “I will bring them from Bashan.
I will bring them from the depths of the sea,
23 so that you may stomp your foot in blood.
The tongues of your dogs get their share of the enemies’ blood.”
God’s Procession Into the Temple
24 They see your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
25 The singers lead the way.
After them come the musicians.
In the middle are virgins playing hand drums.
26 In the assemblies bless God, the Lord,
who is the Fountain of Israel.[i]
27 There is little Benjamin, leading them.
The officers of Judah are their noisy crowd.
There are the officers of Zebulun and the officers of Naphtali.
Prayer for Future Victory
28 Your God commands your strength.
Show strength, O God, as you have done for us before.
God Rules the Nations
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings will bring tribute to you.
30 Threaten the beast among the reeds,
the herd of strong bulls among the calves (that is, the peoples),
until they submit with bars of silver.[j]
He scatters the peoples who delight in battles.
31 Envoys[k] will come from Egypt.
Cush[l] will run to stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Interlude
Make music to the Lord,
33 to him who rides in the highest heavens,
in the ancient heavens.
Yes, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
34 Proclaim God’s strength.
His majesty is over Israel,
and his power is in the skies.
Closing Praise
35 You are awesome, O God, from your sanctuary.
The God of Israel, he is the one
who gives power and strength to the people.
Blessed be God!
11 Certainly, this commandment that I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not far away. 12 It is not up in the heavens, so that you have to say, “Which one of us will go up to the heavens and get it for us so we can listen to it and carry it out?” 13 It is not across the sea, so that you have to say, “Which one of us will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us so we can listen to it and carry it out?” 14 Instead, the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so you can obey it.
Life or Death
15 See now, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. 16 This is what I am commanding you today: Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, and keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and increase in number, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are going to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you do not listen, and you are lured away, and you bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 then I declare to you today that you will most certainly perish. You will not live a long life on the land that you are about to enter and possess by crossing over the Jordan.
19 I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live 20 by loving the Lord your God, by listening to his voice, and by clinging to him, because that means life for you, and you will live a long life on your land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Bear With Me
11 I wish that you would be patient with me in regard to a little foolishness—but you are already being patient with me. 2 You see, I am jealous about you, with a godly jealousy, because I promised to present you as a pure virgin to one husband, Christ. 3 But I am afraid that somehow, just as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so also your minds might be led astray from a sincere[a] and pure devotion to Christ. 4 In fact, if someone comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you accept a different spirit, which you did not accept before, or a different “gospel,” which you did not welcome before, you put up with it all too well. 5 I do not think that I am in any way inferior to the “super-apostles.” 6 But even if I am an amateur in speech, yet I am not an amateur in knowledge. No, in everything we have clearly demonstrated that to you in every way.
7 Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself, so that you would be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches, by receiving support from them to minister to you! 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I did not burden anyone, because when the brothers came from Macedonia, they supplied what I needed. In every way I kept myself from ever being a burden to you, and I will continue to do so. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting about me will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do. 12 But what I am doing, and will continue to do, is being done in order to cut off the opportunity of those who want an opportunity to boast that they should be considered equal to us.
13 In fact, such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great surprise if his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their works.
16 I say again, no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I may boast a little. 17 What I am saying when I boast so confidently is not the way the Lord speaks; rather, it is a foolish manner of speaking. 18 Since many are boasting as the sinful flesh does, I will also boast. 19 You gladly put up with fools, since you are just so wise! 20 In fact, you put up with it if anyone makes you his slave, robs you, takes advantage of you, looks down on you, or strikes you in the face! 21 I am ashamed to say that we were too weak for that!
However bold anyone might be (I am speaking in a foolish way), I am going to be bold too.
Zacchaeus
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but since he was short, he could not see because of the crowd. 4 He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was about to pass by that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 He came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. 7 When the people saw it, they were all grumbling because he went to be a guest of a sinful man.
8 Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I am going to give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.