Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 97[a]
The Divine Ruler of All
I
1 The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.(A)
2 Cloud and darkness surround him;
justice and right are the foundation of his throne.(B)
3 Fire goes before him,
consuming his foes on every side.
4 His lightening illumines the world;
the earth sees and trembles.(C)
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.(D)
6 The heavens proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.(E)
II
7 All who serve idols are put to shame,
who glory in worthless things;
all gods[b] bow down before him.(F)
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O Lord.(G)
9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth,(H)
exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil,
he protects the souls of the faithful,(I)
rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light dawns for the just,
and gladness for the honest of heart.(J)
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you just,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.(K)
Psalm 99[a]
The Holy King
I
1 The Lord is king, the peoples tremble;
he is enthroned on the cherubim,[b] the earth quakes.(A)
2 Great is the Lord in Zion,
exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name:
Holy is he!(B)
II
4 O mighty king, lover of justice,
you have established fairness;
you have created just rule in Jacob.(C)
5 Exalt the Lord, our God;
bow down before his footstool;[c](D)
holy is he!
III
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord, and he answered them.(E)
7 From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they kept his decrees, the law he had given them.(F)
8 O Lord, our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
though you punished their offenses.(G)
9 Exalt the Lord, our God;
bow down before his holy mountain;
holy is the Lord, our God.
Psalm 100[d]
Processional Hymn
1 A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands;
2 serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
3 [e]Know that the Lord is God,
he made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the flock he shepherds.(H)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name;(I)
5 good indeed is the Lord,
His mercy endures forever,
his faithfulness lasts through every generation.
Psalm 94[a]
A Prayer for Deliverance from the Wicked
I
1 Lord, avenging God,
avenging God, shine forth!(A)
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
give the proud what they deserve!(B)
II
3 How long, Lord, shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked glory?(C)
4 How long will they mouth haughty speeches,
go on boasting, all these evildoers?(D)
5 They crush your people, Lord,
torment your very own.
6 They kill the widow and alien;
the orphan they murder.(E)
7 They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob takes no notice.”(F)
III
8 Understand, you stupid people!
You fools, when will you be wise?(G)
9 Does the one who shaped the ear not hear?
The one who formed the eye not see?(H)
10 Does the one who guides nations not rebuke?
The one who teaches man not have knowledge?
11 The Lord knows the plans of man;
they are like a fleeting breath.(I)
IV
12 Blessed the one whom you guide, Lord,(J)
whom you teach by your instruction,
13 To give rest from evil days,
while a pit is being dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people,
nor abandon his inheritance.(K)
15 Judgment shall again be just,
and all the upright of heart will follow it.
V
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord were not my help,
I would long have been silent in the grave.(L)
18 When I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your mercy, Lord, holds me up.(M)
19 When cares increase within me,
your comfort gives me joy.
VI
20 Can unjust judges be your allies,
those who create burdens by decree,
21 Those who conspire against the just
and condemn the innocent to death?
22 No, the Lord is my secure height,
my God, my rock of refuge,
23 (N)Who will turn back their evil upon them(O)
and destroy them for their wickedness.
Surely the Lord our God will destroy them!
Psalm 95[b]
A Call to Praise and Obedience
I
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
cry out to the rock of our salvation.(P)
2 Let us come before him with a song of praise,
joyfully sing out our psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great king over all gods,(Q)
4 Whose hand holds the depths of the earth;
who owns the tops of the mountains.
5 The sea and dry land belong to God,
who made them, formed them by hand.(R)
II
6 Enter, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 For he is our God,
we are the people he shepherds,
the sheep in his hands.(S)
III
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:(T)
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.[c]
9 There your ancestors tested me;
they tried me though they had seen my works.(U)
10 Forty years I loathed that generation;
I said: “This people’s heart goes astray;
they do not know my ways.”(V)
11 Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”[d]
Chapter 14
The Wise Woman of Tekoa. 1 Now Joab, son of Zeruiah, knew how the king felt toward Absalom. 2 Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, to whom he said: “Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may appear to be a woman who has long been mourning someone dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” And Joab told her what to say.
4 So the woman of Tekoa went to the king and fell to the ground in homage, saying, “Help, O king!” 5 (A)The king said to her, “What do you want?” She replied: “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6 Your servant had two sons, who quarreled in the field, with no one to part them, and one of them struck his brother and killed him. 7 Then the whole clan confronted your servant and demanded: ‘Give up the one who struck down his brother. We must put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has killed; we must do away with the heir also.’ Thus they will quench my remaining hope[a] and leave my husband neither name nor posterity upon the earth.”(B) 8 The king then said to the woman: “Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf.” 9 The woman of Tekoa answered him, “Upon me and my family be the blame, my lord king; the king and his throne are innocent.” 10 Then the king said, “If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me, and he shall not touch you again.” 11 But she said, “Please, let the king remember the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my son may not be done away with.” He replied, “As the Lord lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”
12 But the woman continued, “Please let your servant say still another word to my lord the king.” He replied, “Speak.” 13 So the woman said: “Why, then, do you think the way you do against the people of God? In pronouncing as he has, the king shows himself guilty, in not bringing back his own banished son. 14 We must indeed die; we are then like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up. Yet, though God does not bring back to life, he does devise means so as not to banish[b] anyone from him.(C) 15 And now, if I have presumed to speak to the king of this matter, it is because the people have given me cause to fear. And so your servant thought: ‘Let me speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the petition of his servant. 16 For the king must surely listen and rescue his servant from the grasp of one who would destroy both me and my son from the heritage of God.’ 17 And your servant says, ‘Let the word of my lord the king lead to rest;[c] indeed, my lord the king is like an angel of God, discerning good and evil. The Lord your God be with you.’”(D)
18 The king answered the woman, “Now do not conceal from me anything I may ask you!” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.” 19 So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered: “As you live, my lord the king, it is just as my lord has said, and not otherwise. It was your servant Joab who instructed me and told your servant all these things she was to say. 20 Your servant Joab did this in order to approach the matter in a roundabout way. But my lord is wise with the wisdom of an angel of God, knowing all things on earth.”
Chapter 21
Arrival at Tyre. 1 [a]When we had taken leave of them we set sail, made a straight run for Cos, and on the next day for Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 Finding a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went on board and put out to sea. 3 We caught sight of Cyprus but passed by it on our left and sailed on toward Syria and put in at Tyre where the ship was to unload cargo. 4 There we sought out the disciples and stayed for a week. They kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to embark for Jerusalem. 5 At the end of our stay we left and resumed our journey. All of them, women and children included, escorted us out of the city, and after kneeling on the beach to pray, 6 we bade farewell to one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.
Arrival at Ptolemais and Caesarea. 7 We continued the voyage and came from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed a day with them. 8 On the next day we resumed the trip and came to Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven,[b] and stayed with him.(A) 9 He had four virgin daughters gifted with prophecy. 10 We had been there several days when a prophet named Agabus[c] came down from Judea. 11 (B)He came up to us, took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the holy Spirit: This is the way the Jews will bind the owner of this belt in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles.”[d] 12 When we heard this, we and the local residents begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? I am prepared not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 (C)Since he would not be dissuaded we let the matter rest, saying,(D) “The Lord’s will be done.”[e]
Chapter 10
Marriage and Divorce. 1 He set out from there and went into the district of Judea [and] across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. 2 [a]The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him.(A) 3 He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.”(B) 5 But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.(C) 7 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife],(D) 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 10 In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. 11 (E)He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Blessing of the Children. 13 (F)And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.(G) 14 When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child[b] will not enter it.”(H) 16 Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.