Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88[a]
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.[b] A maskil[c] of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;(A)
day and night I cry out(B) to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles(C)
and my life draws near to death.(D)
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;(E)
I am like one without strength.(F)
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off(G) from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.(H)
7 Your wrath(I) lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.[d](J)
8 You have taken from me my closest friends(K)
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined(L) and cannot escape;(M)
9 my eyes(N) are dim with grief.
I call(O) to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands(P) to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?(Q)
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness(R) in Destruction[e]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help,(S) Lord;
in the morning(T) my prayer comes before you.(U)
14 Why, Lord, do you reject(V) me
and hide your face(W) from me?
15 From my youth(X) I have suffered(Y) and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors(Z) and am in despair.(AA)
16 Your wrath(AB) has swept over me;
your terrors(AC) have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;(AD)
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend(AE) and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
Psalm 91
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter(A) of the Most High
will rest in the shadow(B) of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge(C) and my fortress,(D)
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare(E)
and from the deadly pestilence.(F)
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;(G)
his faithfulness will be your shield(H) and rampart.
5 You will not fear(I) the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.(J)
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm(K) will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels(L) concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;(M)
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.(N)
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.(O)
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.(P)
16 With long life(Q) I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.(R)”
Psalm 92[c]
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to praise the Lord
and make music(S) to your name,(T) O Most High,(U)
2 proclaiming your love in the morning(V)
and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre(W)
and the melody of the harp.(X)
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy(Y) at what your hands have done.(Z)
5 How great are your works,(AA) Lord,
how profound your thoughts!(AB)
6 Senseless people(AC) do not know,
fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.(AD)
8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.
9 For surely your enemies(AE), Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.(AF)
10 You have exalted my horn[d](AG) like that of a wild ox;(AH)
fine oils(AI) have been poured on me.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.(AJ)
12 The righteous will flourish(AK) like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;(AL)
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.(AM)
14 They will still bear fruit(AN) in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.(AO)”
The Day of the Lord
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit(A) on all people.(B)
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,(C)
your old men will dream dreams,(D)
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants,(E) both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.(F)
30 I will show wonders in the heavens(G)
and on the earth,(H)
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness(I)
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.(J)
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord(K) will be saved;(L)
for on Mount Zion(M) and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,(N)
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors(O)
whom the Lord calls.[a](P)
The Nations Judged
3 [b]“In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes(Q) of Judah(R) and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather(S) all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[c](T)
There I will put them on trial(U)
for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scattered(V) my people among the nations
and divided up my land.
3 They cast lots(W) for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine(X) to drink.
4 “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon(Y) and all you regions of Philistia?(Z) Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.(AA) 5 For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.[d](AB) 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,(AC) that you might send them far from their homeland.
7 “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,(AD) and I will return(AE) on your own heads what you have done. 8 I will sell your sons(AF) and daughters to the people of Judah,(AG) and they will sell them to the Sabeans,(AH) a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.(AI)
16 Don’t be deceived,(A) my dear brothers and sisters.(B) 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above,(C) coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,(D) who does not change(E) like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth(F) through the word of truth,(G) that we might be a kind of firstfruits(H) of all he created.
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters,(I) take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak(J) and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger(K) does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of(L) all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,(M) which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.(N) 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,(O) and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.(P)
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues(Q) deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after(R) orphans and widows(S) in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.(T)
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
16 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.(A) 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world(B) are more shrewd(C) in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.(D) 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth(E) to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.(F)
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