Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 75[a]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a psalm of Asaph, a song.
75 We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks.
You reveal your presence;[c]
people tell about your amazing deeds.
2 God says,[d]
“At the appointed times,[e]
I judge[f] fairly.
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear,[g]
I make its pillars secure.”[h] (Selah)
4 [i] I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”
and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory.[j]
5 Do not be so certain you have won.[k]
Do not speak with your head held so high.[l]
6 For victory does not come from the east or west,
or from the wilderness.[m]
7 For God is the judge.[n]
He brings one down and exalts another.[o]
8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices,[p]
and pours it out.[q]
Surely all the wicked of the earth
will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”[r]
9 As for me, I will continually tell what you have done;[s]
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 God says,[t]
“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;
the godly will be victorious.”[u]
Psalm 76[v]
For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song.
76 God has revealed himself in Judah;[w]
in Israel his reputation[x] is great.
2 He lives in Salem;[y]
he dwells in Zion.[z]
3 There he shattered the arrows,[aa]
the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war.[ab] (Selah)
4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,
as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey.[ac]
5 The bravehearted[ad] were plundered;[ae]
they “fell asleep.”[af]
All the warriors were helpless.[ag]
6 At the sound of your battle cry,[ah] O God of Jacob,
both rider[ai] and horse “fell asleep.”[aj]
7 You are awesome! Yes, you!
Who can withstand your intense anger?[ak]
8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be.[al]
The earth[am] was afraid and silent
9 when God arose to execute judgment,
and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)
10 Certainly[an] your angry judgment upon men will bring you praise;[ao]
you reveal your anger in full measure.[ap]
11 Make vows to the Lord your God and repay them.
Let all those who surround him[aq] bring tribute to the awesome one.
12 He humbles princes;[ar]
the kings of the earth regard him as awesome.[as]
Psalm 23[a]
A psalm of David.
23 The Lord is my shepherd,[b]
I lack nothing.[c]
2 He takes me to lush pastures,[d]
he leads me to refreshing water.[e]
3 He restores my strength.[f]
He leads me down[g] the right paths[h]
for the sake of his reputation.[i]
4 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley,[j]
I fear[k] no danger,[l]
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff reassure me.[m]
5 You prepare a feast before me[n]
in plain sight of my enemies.
You refresh[o] my head with oil;
my cup is completely full.[p]
6 Surely your goodness and faithfulness[q] will pursue[r] me all my days,[s]
and I will live in[t] the Lord’s house[u] for the rest of my life.[v]
Psalm 27[a]
By David.
27 The Lord is my light[b] and my salvation.
I fear no one.[c]
The Lord protects my life.
I am afraid of no one.[d]
2 When evil men attack me[e]
to devour my flesh,[f]
when my adversaries and enemies attack me,[g]
they stumble and fall.[h]
3 Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear.[i]
Even when war is imminent,[j]
I remain confident.[k]
4 I have asked the Lord for one thing—
this is what I desire!
I want to live[l] in the Lord’s house[m] all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor[n] of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
5 He will surely[o] give me shelter[p] in the day of danger;[q]
he will hide me in his home.[r]
He will place me[s] on an inaccessible rocky summit.[t]
6 Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me.[u]
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy.[v]
I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 Hear me,[w] O Lord, when I cry out.
Have mercy on me and answer me.
8 My heart tells me to pray to you,[x]
and I do pray to you, O Lord.[y]
9 Do not reject me.[z]
Do not push your servant away in anger.
You are my deliverer.[aa]
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me.
10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me,[ab]
the Lord would take me in.[ac]
11 Teach me how you want me to live,[ad] Lord;
lead me along a level path[ae] because of those who wait to ambush me.[af]
12 Do not turn me over to my enemies,[ag]
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me.[ah]
13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living?[ai]
14 Rely[aj] on the Lord!
Be strong and confident![ak]
Rely on the Lord!
22 The Philistines again came up and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. 23 So David asked the Lord what he should do.[a] This time[b] the Lord[c] said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.[d] 24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army[e] of the Philistines.” 25 David did just as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Gibeon all the way to Gezer.[f]
David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem
6 David again assembled[g] all the best[h] men in Israel, 30,000 in number. 2 David and all the men who were with him traveled[i] to[j] Baalah[k] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name[l] of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it. 3 They loaded the ark of God on a new cart and carried it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart. 4 They brought[m] it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Ahio was walking in front of the ark, 5 while David and all Israel[n] were energetically celebrating before the Lord, singing[o] and playing various stringed instruments,[p] tambourines, rattles,[q] and cymbals.
6 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon,[r] Uzzah reached out and grabbed hold of[s] the ark of God,[t] because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah,[u] he[v] killed him on the spot[w] for his negligence.[x] He died right there beside the ark of God.
8 David was angry because the Lord attacked[y] Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah,[z] which remains its name to this very day. 9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How will the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months. The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his family.[aa]
Paul at Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset[a] because he saw[b] the city was full of idols. 17 So he was addressing[c] the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles[d] in the synagogue,[e] and in the marketplace[f] every day[g] those who happened to be there. 18 Also some of the Epicurean[h] and Stoic[i] philosophers were conversing[j] with him, and some were asking,[k] “What does this foolish babbler[l] want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.”[m] (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)[n] 19 So they took Paul and[o] brought him to the Areopagus,[p] saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some surprising things[q] to our ears, so we want to know what they[r] mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time[s] in nothing else than telling[t] or listening to something new.)[u]
22 So Paul stood[v] before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious[w] in all respects.[x] 23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship,[y] I even found an altar with this inscription:[z] ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it,[aa] this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it,[ab] who is[ac] Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,[ad] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything,[ae] because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.[af] 26 From one man[ag] he made every nation of the human race[ah] to inhabit the entire earth,[ai] determining their set times[aj] and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,[ak] 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around[al] for him and find him,[am] though he is[an] not far from each one of us. 28 For in him we live and move about[ao] and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’[ap] 29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity[aq] is like gold or silver or stone, an image[ar] made by human[as] skill[at] and imagination.[au] 30 Therefore, although God has overlooked[av] such times of ignorance,[aw] he now commands all people[ax] everywhere to repent,[ay] 31 because he has set[az] a day on which he is going to judge the world[ba] in righteousness, by a man whom he designated,[bb] having provided proof to everyone by raising[bc] him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard about[bd] the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff,[be] but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul left the Areopagus.[bf] 34 But some people[bg] joined him[bh] and believed. Among them[bi] were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus,[bj] a woman[bk] named Damaris, and others with them.
The Feeding of the Four Thousand
8 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So[a] Jesus[b] called his disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 His disciples answered him, “Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” 6 Then[c] he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So[d] they served the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well. 8 Everyone[e] ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 There were about 4,000[f] who ate.[g] Then he dismissed them.[h] 10 Immediately he got into a boat[i] with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.[j]
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