Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 20
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;
may the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
2 may He send you help from the sanctuary,
and strengthen you from Zion;
3 may He remember all your offerings,
and accept your burnt offering. Selah
4 May He grant you according to your own heart,
and fulfill all your counsel.
5 We will rejoice in your salvation,
and in the name of our God we will set up our banners;
may the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
with the saving strength of His right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen,
but we arise and stand upright.
9 Save, Lord!
May the King answer us when we call.
Psalm 21
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The king will rejoice in Your strength, O Lord,
and in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You, and You gave it him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation;
honor and majesty You set on him.
6 For You place blessings on him forever;
You make him rejoice with gladness with Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and by the lovingkindness of the Most High
he will not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven
in the time of Your appearance;
the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
and fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against You;
they devised evil thoughts they will not be able to accomplish.
12 For You will make them turn their back,
when You aim with Your bowstrings against their face.
13 Be exalted, Lord, by Your strength;
may we sing and make music to Your might.
Psalm 110
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
until I make your enemies
your footstool.”
2 The Lord shall send your mighty scepter out of Zion;
rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people will follow you
in the day of your battle;
on the holy mountains
at dawn of the morning,
the dew of your youth belongs to you.
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
He shall strike down kings in the day of His wrath.
6 He shall judge among the nations; He shall fill them with dead bodies;
He shall scatter heads all over the land.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the path;
then He shall lift up the head.
Psalm 116
1 I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice
and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,
therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death encircled me,
and the pains of Sheol took hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I plead with You, deliver my soul.”
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
indeed, our God is merciful.
6 The Lord protects the simple;
I was brought low, and He helped me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul;
for the Lord has vindicated you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, indeed I have spoken:
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 I said in my haste,
“All men are liars.”
12 What shall I render unto the Lord
for all His benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of His godly ones.
16 O Lord, I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your female servant;
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Exalt Him, all you peoples!
2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Water From the Rock
17 All the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin, from place to place, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, “Give us water so that we may drink.”
And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why is it that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Pass over before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. And take in your hand your rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Indeed, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and there water shall come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Then Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contending of the children of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
The Amalekites Defeated
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought against Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy. So they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua laid low Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and rehearse it to Joshua, for I will utterly wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Then Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner; 16 for he said, “For the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be solemn and sober so you can pray. 8 Above all things, have unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 10 As everyone has received a gift, even so serve one another with it, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone serves, let him serve with the strength that God supplies, so that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though some strange thing happened to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may rejoice and be glad also in the revelation of His glory. 14 If you are reproached because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or even as a busybody. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of it. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins first with us, what shall the end be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”[a]
19 So then, let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.
Sorrow Will Turn Into Joy
16 “In a little while you will not see Me. And then after a little while you will see Me, because I am going to the Father.”
17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this He is telling us: ‘In a little while you will not see Me; and then after a little while you will see Me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’? ” 18 Then they said, “What is this He is telling us: ‘In a little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”
19 Then Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him. So He said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning what I said: ‘In a little while you will not see Me; and then after a little while you will see Me’? 20 Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has pain, because her hour has come. But as soon as she delivers the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 On that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
I Have Overcome the World
25 “I have told you these things in proverbs. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, for I will speak to you plainly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying to you that I shall ask the Father on your behalf. 27 For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. As I said, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”
29 His disciples said to Him, “Yes! Now You are speaking plainly and with no figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know everything and do not need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Listen, the hour is coming. Yes, it has now come that you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.
33 “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.