Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 82
A Plea for Justice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
2 ‘How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I say, ‘You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
and fall like any prince.’[a]
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
for all the nations belong to you!
Psalm 87
The Joy of Living in Zion
Of the Korahites. A Psalm. A Song.
1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
2 the Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God.Selah
4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
Philistia too, and Tyre, with Ethiopia[a]—
‘This one was born there,’ they say.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
‘This one and that one were born in it’;
for the Most High himself will establish it.
6 The Lord records, as he registers the peoples,
‘This one was born there.’Selah
7 Singers and dancers alike say,
‘All my springs are in you.’
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’
8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rearguard.
Exaltation through Abasement
5 Now God[a] did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere,
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,[b]
or mortals, that you care for them?[c]
7 You have made them for a little while lower[d] than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour,[e]
8 subjecting all things under their feet.’
Now in subjecting all things to them, God[f] left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower[g] than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God[h] he might taste death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God,[i] for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Psalm 110
Assurance of Victory for God’s Priest-King
Of David. A Psalm.
1 The Lord says to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.’
2 The Lord sends out from Zion
your mighty sceptre.
Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly
on the day you lead your forces
on the holy mountains.[a]
From the womb of the morning,
like dew, your youth[b] will come to you.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.’[c]
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgement among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter heads
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Psalm 132
The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion
A Song of Ascents.
1 O Lord, remember in David’s favour
all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 ‘I will not enter my house
or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 ‘Let us go to his dwelling-place;
let us worship at his footstool.’
8 Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting-place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your faithful shout for joy.
10 For your servant David’s sake
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
‘One of the sons of your body
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, for evermore,
shall sit on your throne.’
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his habitation:
14 ‘This is my resting-place for ever;
here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions;
I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
but on him, his crown will gleam.’
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[a]
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[b] and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[c] full of grace and truth.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.