Book of Common Prayer
Lead Me to the Rock
For the choir director. On a stringed instrument. Of David.
61 (A)Hear my cry of lamentation, O God;
(B)Give heed to my prayer.
2 From the (C)end of the earth I call to You when my heart is (D)faint;
Lead me to (E)the rock that is higher than I.
3 For You have been a (F)refuge for me,
A (G)tower of strength before the enemy.
4 Let me (H)sojourn in Your tent forever;
Let me (I)take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. [a]Selah.
5 For You, O God, have heard my (J)vows;
You have given me the inheritance of those who (K)fear Your name.
6 You will (L)add days to the king’s [b]life;
His years will be from generation to generation.
7 He will sit enthroned (M)before God forever;
Appoint (N)lovingkindness and truth that they may guard him.
8 So I will (O)sing praise to Your name forever,
As I (P)pay my vows day by day.
God Is a Refuge for Us
For the choir director. According to [c]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
62 (Q)Surely my soul waits in silence for God;
From Him (R)is my salvation.
2 Surely He is my (S)rock and my salvation,
My (T)stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you assail a man,
That you may murder him, all of you,
Like a (U)leaning wall, like a fence thrust down?
4 Surely they have counseled to thrust him down from his high position;
They (V)find pleasure in falsehood;
They (W)bless with [d]their mouth,
But inwardly they curse. [e]Selah.
5 Surely (X)wait in silence for God, O my soul,
For my hope is from Him.
6 Surely He is (Y)my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God my (Z)salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my (AA)refuge is in God.
8 (AB)Trust in Him at all times, O people;
(AC)Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Let God’s Enemies Be Scattered
For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
68 [a]Let (A)God arise, [b]let His enemies be scattered,
And [c]let those who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As (B)smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
As (C)wax melts before the fire,
So let the (D)wicked perish before God.
3 But let the (E)righteous be glad; let them exult before God;
And let them rejoice with gladness.
4 Sing to God, (F)sing praises to His name;
[d](G)Lift up a song for Him who (H)rides through the deserts,
Whose (I)name is [e]Yah, and exult before Him.
5 A (J)father of the fatherless and a (K)judge [f]for the widows,
Is God in His (L)holy habitation.
6 God (M)causes the lonely to inhabit a home;
He (N)leads out the prisoners into prosperity,
Only (O)the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 O God, when You (P)went forth before Your people,
When You (Q)marched through the wasteland, [g]Selah.
8 The (R)earth quaked;
The (S)heavens also dripped rain at the presence of God;
[h](T)Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You (U)caused abundant rain to sprinkle down, O God;
You established Your inheritance when it was [i]parched.
10 Your creatures inhabited it;
You (V)established it in Your goodness for the poor, O God.
11 The Lord gives the word;
The (W)women who proclaim the good news are a great host:
12 “(X)Kings of armies retreat, they retreat,
And she who remains at home will (Y)divide the spoil!”
13 If you men lie down (Z)among the [j]sheepfolds,
You all would be like the wings of a dove covered with silver,
And its pinions with glistening gold.
14 When the Almighty (AA)dispersed the kings [k]there,
It was snowing in (AB)Zalmon.
15 A [l](AC)mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;
A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks,
At the mountain which God has (AD)prized for His habitation?
Surely (AE)Yahweh will dwell there forever.
17 The (AF)chariots of God are [m]myriads, (AG)thousands upon thousands;
[n]The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness.
18 You have (AH)ascended on high, You have (AI)led captive Your captives;
You have received gifts among men,
Even among the rebellious also, that Yah—God—may dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily (AJ)bears our burden,
(AK)The God who is our salvation. Selah.
20 God is to us a (AL)God of [o]salvation;
And (AM)to Yahweh the Lord belong escapes [p]from death.
21 Surely God will (AN)crush the head of His enemies,
The hairy [q]skull of him who goes on in his guilty deeds.
22 The Lord [r]said, “(AO)I will bring them back from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea;
23 That [s](AP)your foot may crush them in blood,
The tongue of your (AQ)dogs may have its portion from your enemies.”
24 They have seen (AR)Your [t]procession, O God,
The [u]procession of my God, my King, [v](AS)into the sanctuary.
25 The (AT)singers went on, the musicians after them,
[w]In the midst of the (AU)maidens beating tambourines.
26 (AV)Bless God in the congregations,
Yahweh, the (AW)fountain of Israel.
27 There is (AX)Benjamin, the [x]youngest, [y]having dominion over them,
The princes of Judah in their throng,
The princes of (AY)Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
28 [z]Your God has (AZ)commanded your strength;
Show Yourself strong, O God, (BA)who has worked [aa]on our behalf.
29 [ab]Because of Your temple at Jerusalem
(BB)Kings will bring gifts to You.
30 Rebuke the (BC)beast [ac]in the reeds,
The herd of (BD)bulls with the calves of the peoples,
Trampling under foot the pieces of silver;
He has (BE)cast out the peoples who delight in war.
31 Envoys will come out of (BF)Egypt;
[ad](BG)Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
32 Sing to God, O (BH)kingdoms of the earth,
(BI)Sing praises to the Lord, Selah.
33 To Him who (BJ)rides upon the [ae](BK)highest heavens, which are from ancient times;
Behold, (BL)He gives forth His voice, a (BM)voice that is strong.
34 (BN)Ascribe strength to God;
His majesty is over Israel
And (BO)His strength is in the [af]skies.
35 [ag]O God, You are (BP)awesome from Your [ah]sanctuary.
The God of Israel Himself (BQ)gives strength and might to the people.
(BR)Blessed be God!
Abner Cuts a Covenant with David
6 Now it happened, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David that (A)Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was (B)Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and [a]Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?” 8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “(C)Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show lovingkindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hands of David; and yet today you charge me with a guilt concerning the woman. 9 (D)May God do so to Abner, and more also, if (E)as Yahweh has sworn to David, I do not do this for him, 10 (F)to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, (G)from Dan even to Beersheba.” 11 And he could no longer respond a word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.
12 Then Abner sent messengers to David in his place, saying, “Whose is the land? Cut your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to turn all Israel over to you.” 13 And he said, “Good! I will cut a covenant with you, but I ask one thing of you, [b]namely, (H)you shall not see my face unless you (I)first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.” 14 So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, to whom I was betrothed (J)for one hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” 15 And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from [c]Paltiel the son of Laish. 16 But her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her as far as (K)Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” So he returned.
17 Now Abner had [d]consultation with (L)the elders of Israel, saying, “In times past you were seeking for David to be king over you. 18 So now, do it! For Yahweh has spoken of David, saying, ‘(M)By the hand of My servant David [e]I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’” 19 Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin; and in addition Abner went to speak in the hearing of David in Hebron all that was good in the sight of Israel and in the sight of (N)the whole house of Benjamin.
20 Then Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 And Abner said to David, “Let me arise and go and (O)gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may cut a covenant with you, and that (P)you may be king over all that your soul desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
The Macedonian Vision
6 And they passed through the [a](A)Phrygian and (B)Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in [b](C)Asia; 7 and after they came to (D)Mysia, they were trying to go into (E)Bithynia, and the (F)Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8 and passing by (G)Mysia, they came down to (H)Troas. 9 (I)And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of (J)Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when he had seen (K)the vision, immediately (L)we sought to [c]go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to (M)proclaim the gospel to them.
Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
11 So setting sail from (N)Troas, we ran (O)a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to (P)Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of (Q)Macedonia, (R)a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. 13 And on (S)the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and sitting down, we began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14 And a woman named Lydia, from the city of (T)Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, (U)a worshiper of God, was listening, whose heart the Lord (V)opened to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and (W)her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
30 (A)And the (B)apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and (C)they did not even have time to eat.) 32 (D)And they went away in (E)the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
33 And the people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 And when Jesus went [a]ashore, He (F)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because (G)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 And when it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and began saying, “[b]This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves [c]something to eat.” 37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat!” (H)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred [d](I)denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” 38 And He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 And He commanded them all to [e]sit down by [f]groups on the green grass. 40 And they [g]sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He (J)blessed the food and broke the loaves. And He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them, and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full (K)baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 And there were (L)five thousand men who ate the loaves.
Jesus Walks on the Sea
45 (M)And immediately Jesus made His disciples get into (N)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to (O)Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46 And after (P)bidding them farewell, He left (Q)for the mountain to pray.
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