Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 63
Praise God Who Satisfies
A psalm of David. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.(A)
1 God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you.
I thirst for you;
my body faints for you
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.(B)
2 So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.(C)
3 My lips will glorify you
because your faithful love is better than life.(D)
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
at your name, I will lift up my hands.(E)
5 You satisfy me as with rich food;[a](F)
my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.(G)
Psalm 98
Praise the King
A psalm.
1 Sing a new song to the Lord,(A)
for he has performed wonders;
his right hand and holy arm
have won him victory.(B)
2 The Lord has made his victory known;
he has revealed his righteousness
in the sight of the nations.(C)
3 He has remembered his love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth
have seen our God’s victory.(D)
Psalm 103
The Forgiving God
Of David.
1 My soul, bless the Lord,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name.(A)
2 My soul, bless the Lord,
and do not forget all his benefits.(B)
3 He forgives all your iniquity;(C)
he heals all your diseases.(D)
4 He redeems your life from the Pit;(E)
he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.(F)
5 He satisfies you[a] with good things;(G)
your youth is renewed like the eagle.(H)
6 The Lord executes acts of righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.(I)
7 He revealed his ways to Moses,(J)
his deeds to the people of Israel.(K)
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.(L)
9 He will not always accuse us
or be angry forever.(M)
10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our iniquities.(N)
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his faithful love
toward those who fear him.(O)
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.(P)
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.(Q)
14 For he knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.(R)
15 As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;(S)
16 when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.[b](T)
17 But from eternity to eternity
the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him,
and his righteousness toward the grandchildren(U)
18 of those who keep his covenant,
who remember to observe his precepts.(V)
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.(W)
The Fall of Babylon
47 “Go down and sit in the dust,(A)
Virgin Daughter Babylon.(B)
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter Chaldea!
For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.
2 Take millstones and grind flour;(C)
remove your veil,
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
wade through the streams.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered,
and your disgrace will be exposed.(D)
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.”[a]
4 The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer;(E)
The Lord of Armies is his name.
5 “Daughter Chaldea,
sit in silence(F) and go into darkness.
For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people;
I profaned my possession,
and I handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy;
you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.
7 You said, ‘I will be the queen forever.’
You did not take these things to heart
or think about their outcome.
8 “So now hear this, lover of luxury,
who sits securely,(G)
who says to herself,
‘I am, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’(H)
9 These two things will happen to you
suddenly, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will happen to you in their entirety,
in spite of your many sorceries(I)
and the potency of your spells.
10 You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’(J)
Your wisdom and knowledge
led you astray.
You said to yourself,
‘I am, and there is no one else.’
11 But disaster will happen to you;
you will not know how to avert it.
And it will fall on you,
but you will be unable to ward it off.[b]
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.(K)
12 So take your stand with your spells
and your many sorceries,
which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
13 You are worn out with your many consultations.
So let the astrologers stand and save you—
those who observe the stars,(L)
those who predict monthly
what will happen to you.
14 Look, they are like stubble;(M)
fire burns them.(N)
They cannot rescue themselves
from the power of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!
15 This is what they are to you—
those who have wearied you
and have traded with you from your youth—
each wanders on his own way;
no one can save you.
Exhortations to Godliness
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus(A)— 20 he has inaugurated[a] for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh(B))— 21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,(C) 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.(D) 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.(E) 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other,(F) and all the more as you see the day approaching.
Warning against Deliberate Sin
26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,(G) 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.(H) 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.(I) 29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane[b] the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?(J) 30 For we know the one who has said,
and again,
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.(L)
2 By the Sheep Gate(A) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[b]
5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time,(B) he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”(C) the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,(D) 10 and so the Jews(E) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath.(F) The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
11 He replied, “The man who made me well(G) told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was,(H) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[c]
14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple(I) and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.(J) 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting(K) Jesus[d] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.(L)
Honoring the Father and the Son
17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father(M) is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him:(N) Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
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