Book of Common Prayer
God the Judge[a]
75 We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks to you!
We proclaim how great you are
and tell of[b] the wonderful things you have done.
2 “I have set a time for judgment,” says God,
“and I will judge with fairness.
3 Though every living creature tremble
and the earth itself be shaken,
I will keep its foundations firm.
4 I tell the wicked not to be arrogant;
5 I tell them to stop their boasting.”
6 Judgment does not come from the east or from the west,
from the north or from the south;[c]
7 it is God who is the judge,
condemning some and acquitting others.
8 The Lord holds a cup in his hand,
filled with the strong wine of his anger.
He pours it out, and all the wicked drink it;
they drink it down to the last drop.
9 But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob
or singing praises to him.
10 He will break the power of the wicked,
but the power of the righteous will be increased.
God the Victor[d]
76 God is known in Judah;
his name is honored in Israel.
2 He has his home in Jerusalem;
he lives on Mount Zion.
3 There he broke the arrows of the enemy,
their shields and swords, yes, all their weapons.
4 How glorious you are, O God!
How majestic, as you return from the mountains
where you defeated your foes.
5 Their brave soldiers have been stripped of all they had
and now are sleeping the sleep of death;
all their strength and skill was useless.
6 When you threatened them, O God of Jacob,
the horses and their riders fell dead.
7 But you, Lord, are feared by all.
No one can stand in your presence
when you are angry.
8 You made your judgment known from heaven;
the world was afraid and kept silent,
9 when you rose up to pronounce judgment,
to save all the oppressed on earth.
10 Human anger only results in more praise for you;
those who survive the wars will keep your festivals.[e]
11 Give the Lord your God what you promised him;
bring gifts to him, all you nearby nations.
God makes everyone fear him;
12 he humbles proud princes
and terrifies great kings.
The Lord Our Shepherd[a]
23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
2 (A)He lets me rest in fields of green grass
and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.
3 He gives me new strength.
He guides me in the right paths,
as he has promised.
4 Even if I go through the deepest darkness,
I will not be afraid, Lord,
for you are with me.
Your shepherd's rod and staff protect me.
5 You prepare a banquet for me,
where all my enemies can see me;
you welcome me as an honored guest
and fill my cup to the brim.
6 I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life;
and your house will be my home as long as I live.
A Prayer of Praise[a]
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
I will fear no one.
The Lord protects me from all danger;
I will never be afraid.
2 When evil people attack me and try to kill me,
they stumble and fall.
3 Even if a whole army surrounds me,
I will not be afraid;
even if enemies attack me,
I will still trust God.[b]
4 I have asked the Lord for one thing;
one thing only do I want:
to live in the Lord's house all my life,
to marvel there at his goodness,
and to ask for his guidance.
5 In times of trouble he will shelter me;
he will keep me safe in his Temple
and make me secure on a high rock.
6 So I will triumph over my enemies around me.
With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in his Temple;
I will sing, I will praise the Lord.
7 Hear me, Lord, when I call to you!
Be merciful and answer me!
8 When you said, “Come worship me,”
I answered, “I will come, Lord.”
9 Don't hide yourself from me!
Don't be angry with me;
don't turn your servant away.
You have been my help;
don't leave me, don't abandon me,
O God, my savior.
10 My father and mother may abandon me,
but the Lord will take care of me.
11 Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do,
and lead me along a safe path,
because I have many enemies.
12 Don't abandon me to my enemies,
who attack me with lies and threats.
13 I know that I will live to see
the Lord's goodness in this present life.
14 Trust in the Lord.
Have faith, do not despair.
Trust in the Lord.
22 Then the Philistines went back to Rephaim Valley and occupied it again. 23 Once more David consulted the Lord, who answered, “Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees. 24 When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.” 25 David did what the Lord had commanded, and was able to drive the Philistines back from Geba all the way to Gezer.
The Covenant Box Is Brought to Jerusalem(A)
6 Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men, 2 (B)and led them to Baalah[a] in Judah, in order to bring from there God's Covenant Box, bearing the name of the Lord Almighty, whose throne is above the winged creatures.[b] 3 (C)They took it from Abinadab's home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, 4 with Ahio walking in front. 5 David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might[c] to honor the Lord. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.
6 As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. 7 At once the Lord God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence.[d] Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, 8 and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah[e] ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.
9 Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” 10 So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. 11 (D)It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family.
In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he was greatly upset when he noticed how full of idols the city was. 17 So he held discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentiles who worshiped God, and also in the public square every day with the people who happened to come by. 18 Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, “What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?”
Others answered, “He seems to be talking about foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.[a] 19 So they took Paul, brought him before the city council, the Areopagus, and said, “We would like to know what this new teaching is that you are talking about. 20 Some of the things we hear you say sound strange to us, and we would like to know what they mean.” (21 For all the citizens of Athens and the foreigners who lived there liked to spend all their time telling and hearing the latest new thing.)
22 Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, “I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious. 23 (A)For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, ‘To an Unknown God.’ That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you. 24 (B)God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25 (C)Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone. 26 (D)From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live. 27 (E)He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt around for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us; 28 as someone has said,
‘In him we live and move and exist.’
It is as some of your poets have said,
‘We too are his children.’
29 Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that his nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by human art and skill. 30 God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways. 31 For he has fixed a day in which he will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man he has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!”
32 When they heard Paul speak about a raising from death, some of them made fun of him, but others said, “We want to hear you speak about this again.” 33 And so Paul left the meeting. 34 Some men joined him and believed, among whom was Dionysius, a member of the council; there was also a woman named Damaris, and some other people.
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand People(A)
8 Not long afterward another large crowd came together. When the people had nothing left to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said, 2 “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home without feeding them, they will faint as they go, because some of them have come a long way.”
4 His disciples asked him, “Where in this desert can anyone find enough food to feed all these people?”
5 “How much bread do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven loaves,” they answered.
6 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the crowd; and the disciples did so. 7 They also had a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks for these and told the disciples to distribute them too. 8-9 Everybody ate and had enough—there were about four thousand people. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. Jesus sent the people away 10 and at once got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.