Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 50
A song of Asaph.
1 The Mighty God, the Eternal—God of past, present, and future—
has spoken over the world,
calling together all things from sunrise to sunset.
2 From Zion, that perfectly beautiful holy place,
shines the radiance of God.
3 Our God will come, and He will not enter on a whisper.
A fire will devour the earth before Him;
the wind will storm wildly about Him.
4 He calls heaven above and earth below
to assist in bringing judgment on His people.
5 “Gather up those who are aligned with Me; bring them to Me;
bring everyone who belongs to Me who have made covenant sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens shout of His justice,
for He is the True God, an honest judge.
[pause][a]
7 “Listen, My people, I have something to say:
O Israel, My testimony comes against you;
I am God, your God.
8 I am not going to scold you because of your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are always before Me.
9 I will not accept the best bull from your fields
or goats from your meadow,
10 For they are already Mine, just as the forest beast
and the cattle grazing over a thousand hills are Mine.
11 Every bird flying over the mountains I know;
every animal roaming over the fields belongs to Me.
12 I would not come to you if I were hungry,
for the world and all it contains are Mine.
13 Do you really think I eat bull meat?
Or drink goat’s blood?
14 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
Be true to your word to the Most High.
15 When you are in trouble, call for Me.
I will come and rescue you,
and you will honor Me.”
16 But to those acting against Him, God says,
“Who do you think you are?
Listing off My laws,
acting as if your life is in alignment with My ways?
17 For it’s clear that you despise My guidance;
you throw My wise words over your shoulder.
18 You play with thieves,
spend your time with adulterers.
19 Evil runs out of your mouth;
your tongue is wrapped in deceit.
20 You sit back and gossip about your brother;
you slander your mother’s son.
21 While you did these things, I kept silent;
somehow you got the idea that I was like you.
But now My silence ends, and I am going to indict you.
I’ll state the charge against you clearly, face-to-face.
22 All you who have forgotten Me, your God, should think about what I have said,
or I will tear you apart and leave no one to save you.
23 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
Do this, and you will honor Me.
Those who straighten up their lives
will know the saving grace of God.”
Psalm 59
For the worship leader. A prayer[a] of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,”[b] when Saul sent assassins to David’s house.
Psalm 59 was inspired by the time there was a plan to kill David that was thwarted by David’s wife, Michal, who was Saul’s own daughter. She warned her husband, lowered him out of a window, and then deceived her father’s officers into believing David was bedridden with illness (1 Samuel 19:11–17).
1 Rescue me! Save me, O my God, from my enemies;
set me in a safe place, far above any who come to attack me.
2 Rescue me from those malicious people,
and save me from blood-thirsty murderers.
3 They have staked out my life; they are going to ambush me!
Those brutes are aligned, ready to attack me
For no good cause, my Eternal One.
I have not crossed them.
4 I’ve done nothing wrong, yet they rush ahead to start the assault.
I beg You to help me; come and see for Yourself!
5 I plead with You, Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, True God of Israel,
to get up and punish these people;
do not let any betrayer off the hook; show no mercy to malicious evildoers!
[pause][c]
6 Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;
they prowl about,
howling like dogs.
7 Watch them! Snarling, dribbling their malicious insults.
Their words cut loose from their lips like swords,
and in their backstabbing they say, “Who’s listening anyway?”
8 But You, O Eternal One, laugh at them;
You make fun of all the nations.
9 I will watch for You, for You keep me strong.
God, You are my security!
10 My God is one step ahead of me with His mercy;
He will show me the victory I desire over my enemies.
11 Don’t wipe them out, or my people may one day forget.
Instead, use Your power to scatter and bring them to ruin.
O Lord, You are our protection.
12 Sin pours from their mouths, cruel words from their lips.
May they be caught in their pride.
For their foul curses and lies,
13 devour them with Your wrath,
eat them up, leave no one alive.
Then people will surely know that the one True God rules over Jacob,
even to the far ends of the earth.
[pause]
14 Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;
they prowl about,
howling like dogs.
15 They search through the city, scavenging for meat
as they growl and grumble in dissatisfaction.
16 But me? I will sing of Your strength.
I will awake with the sun to sing of Your loving mercy
Because in my most troubled hour,
You defended me. You were my shelter.
17 I will lift my voice to sing Your praise, O my Strength—
for You came to my defense.
O God, You have shown me Your loving mercy.
Psalm 60
For the worship leader. A prayer[d] of David after his victory over the Arameans, Joab’s return, and the striking down of 12,000 Edomites in the valley of Salt. A song for instruction to the tune “A Lily Reminds Us.”[e]
This is a communal lament recalling David’s battles with Zobah and Naharaim from Aram (Syria) and Joab’s victory over the Edomites (2 Samuel 8).
1 God, You have turned away from us;
You have shattered us into a million tiny pieces;
You have boiled with anger.
Now put us back together, and refresh us with Your mercy.
2 You have made the earth shake; You have cracked it open effortlessly.
Heal the fissures in the earth, for it is unsteady.
3 You have caused Your people to suffer;
You have provided us with wine that makes us stagger.
4 You have unfurled a banner for those who revere You,
a signal to gather in safety out of the enemy’s reach.
[pause][f]
5 So that Your treasured ones may be saved,
rescue us with Your right hand, and answer our pleas!
6 God’s voice has been heard in His holy sanctuary:
“I will celebrate; I will allocate Shechem
and the Succoth Valley to My people.
7 Gilead belongs to Me, and so does Manasseh;
Ephraim is the helmet that protects My head;
Judah is the scepter through which I rule;
8 Moab is the washpot in which I rinse My feet.
I will throw My shoe over Edom in conquest;
prepare for My victory, Philistia. Cry out because of Me!”
9 But who will take me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
10 Have You not turned Your back on us, O God?
Will You stay away and not accompany our armies, O God?
11 Help us against our enemy; we need Your help!
It’s useless to trust in the hand of man for liberation.
12 Only through God can we be successful.
It is God alone who will defeat our enemies and bring us victory!
Psalm 33
1 Release your heart’s joy in sweet music to the Eternal.
When the upright passionately sing glory-filled songs to Him, everything is in its right place.
2 Worship the Eternal with your instruments, strings offering their praise;
write awe-filled songs to Him on the 10-stringed harp.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
play each the best way you can,
and don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.
4 For the word of the Eternal is perfect and true;
His actions are always faithful and right.
5 He loves virtue and equity;
the Eternal’s love fills the whole earth.
6 The unfathomable cosmos came into being at the word of the Eternal’s imagination, a solitary voice in endless darkness.
The breath of His mouth whispered the sea of stars into existence.
7 He gathers every drop of every ocean as in a jar,
securing the ocean depths as His watery treasure.
8 Let all people stand in awe of the Eternal;
let every man, woman, and child live in wonder of Him.
9 For He spoke, and all things came into being.
A single command from His lips, and all creation obeyed and stood its ground.
10 The Eternal cripples the schemes of the other nations;
He impedes the plans of rival peoples.
11 The Eternal’s purposes will last to the end of time;
the thoughts of His heart will awaken and stir all generations.
12 The nation whose True God is the Eternal is truly blessed;
fortunate are all whom He chooses to inherit His legacy.
13 The Eternal peers down from heaven
and watches all of humanity;
14 He observes every soul
from His divine residence.
15 He has formed every human heart, breathing life into every human spirit;
He knows the deeds of each person, inside and out.
16 A king is not delivered by the might of his army.
Even the strongest warrior is not saved by his own strength.
17 A horse is not the way to victory;
its great strength cannot rescue.
18 Listen, the eye of the Eternal is upon those who live in awe of Him,
those who hope in His steadfast love,
19 That He may save them from the darkness of the grave
and be kept alive during the lean seasons.
20 We live with hope in the Eternal. We wait for Him,
for He is our Divine Help and Impenetrable Shield.
21 Our hearts erupt with joy in Him
because we trust His holy name.
22 O Eternal, drench us with Your endless love,
even now as we wait for You.
4 The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me returned and stirred me, as if I had been asleep. It was time for a fifth vision.
Heavenly Messenger: 2 What do you see before you?
A fifth vision shows the lamp of God’s grace completing what has begun.
Zechariah: I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl on top of it and seven oil lamps on it. Each of the seven lamps has a spout, which the wicks lie in to soak up oil as they’re burned. 3 There are also two olive trees nearby: one on the right and the other on the left of the bowl.
4 But what are these things, lord?
Heavenly Messenger: 5 Do you not know what they are?
Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.
Heavenly Messenger (changing the subject): 6 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has said this to Zerubbabel: “Your strength and prowess will not be enough to finish My temple, but My Spirit will be.” And He says this to those thwarting Zerubbabel’s efforts: 7 “Who are you, O mighty mountain of opposition? Before Zerubbabel, you will become nothing more than a smooth plain, and he will quarry the capstone and bring it out to the sound of people shouting, ‘God, grant it Your grace! God bless it!’”
8 The word of the Eternal came to me again to reiterate what was just reported.
Heavenly Messenger: 9 Zerubbabel’s very own hands have laid the foundation of this new temple, and his hands will complete it. When he does, it will be clear to you that the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has sent me to you. 10 Now all who have frowned on the day when only slight progress was made to reconstruct the temple will celebrate when they see the stone that centers the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, who will survey Jerusalem.
(finally answering his earlier question) The seven lamps on top of the lampstand are the eyes of the Eternal One, diligently searching the earth.
Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): 11 What are the two olive trees, the ones on the right and left of the lampstand? What do these mean?
12 (persisting) And the two fruitful olive branches that extend toward the lampstand, the ones supported by the two gold pipes pouring out their gold oil—what do these mean?
Heavenly Messenger: 13 Do you not know what they are?
Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.
Heavenly Messenger: 14 The olive trees are the two men who have been anointed with fresh oil, Zerubabbel and Joshua. They will rule Jerusalem jointly, one over politics and one over religion, and serve the Master over all the earth.
9 And when the living creatures declared glory and honor and thanksgiving to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives throughout all the ages, 10 the twenty-four elders fell prostrate before the One seated on the throne, worshiped the One who lives throughout all the ages, cast their golden wreaths before the throne, and chanted to Him.
11 24 Elders: Worthy are You, O Lord; worthy are You, O God,
to receive glory and honor and power.
You alone created all things,
and through Your will and by Your design, they exist and were created.
Throughout this book of letters and visions, numbers play an important role. Numbers and their multiples are signs of great mysterious realities. The Son of Man moves among seven lampstands and holds seven stars in His right hand because the number “seven” represents perfection and completeness. Another important number is “twelve” because it represents the people of God. The children of Israel consisted of twelve tribes, and Jesus called “the twelve” to follow Him and embody the new covenant. The number “twelve” and multiples of “twelve” recur throughout the book to signify the people of God, so here the twenty-four elders (12 + 12) signify the people of God, both the old and new covenants.
5 And then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated upon the throne, a scroll written both on the inside and on the outside. It had been sealed with seven seals. 2 Then a mighty heavenly messenger proclaimed with a loud voice,
Mighty Messenger: Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?
3 No creature of creation in all heaven, on all the earth, or even under the earth could open the scroll or look into its mysteries. 4 Then I began to mourn and weep bitterly because no creature of creation was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into its mysteries. 5 Then one of the elders consoled me.
One of the 24 Elders: Stop weeping. Look there—the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. He has conquered and is able to break its seven seals and open the scroll.
25 Jesus: Or picture the kingdom of heaven this way. It will be like ten bridesmaids who each picked up a lantern and went out to meet a certain bridegroom. 2-4 Five of these women were sensible, good with details, and remembered to bring small flasks of oil for their lanterns. But five of them were flighty, too caught up in the excitement of their jaunt, and forgot to bring oil with them. 5 The bridegroom did not turn up right away. Indeed, all the women, while waiting, found themselves falling asleep. 6 And then in the middle of the night, they heard someone call, “The bridegroom is here, finally! Wake up and greet him!” 7 The women got up and trimmed the wicks of their lanterns and prepared to go greet the groom. 8 The five women who had no oil turned to their friends for help.
Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Please give us some of your oil! Our lanterns are flickering and will go out soon.
9 But the five women who’d come prepared with oil said they didn’t have enough.
Prepared Bridesmaids: If we give you some of our oil, we’ll all run out too soon! You’d better go wake up a dealer and buy your own supply.
10 So the five ill-prepared women went in search of oil to buy, and while they were gone, the groom arrived. The five who stood ready with their lanterns accompanied him to the wedding party, and after they arrived, the door was shut.
11 Finally the rest of the women turned up at the party. They knocked on the door.
Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Master, open up and let us in!
Bridegroom (refusing): 12 I certainly don’t know you.
13 So stay awake; you neither know the day nor hour [when the Son of Man will come].[a]
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.