Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 85
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Lord, You have [at last] been favorable and have dealt graciously with Your land [of Canaan]; You have brought back [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven and taken away the iniquity of Your people, You have covered all their sin. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!
3 You have withdrawn all Your wrath and indignation, You have turned away from the blazing anger [which You had let loose].
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease [forever].
5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger [and disfavor] and spread it out to all generations?
6 Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
7 Show us Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.
8 I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)—but let them not turn again to [self-confident] folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, [and is ready to be appropriated] that [the manifest presence of God, His] glory may tabernacle and abide in our land.
10 Mercy and loving-kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.
Psalm 87
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.
1 On the holy hills stands the city [of Jerusalem and the temple] God founded.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel).
3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!
4 I will make mention of Rahab [the poetic name for Egypt] and Babylon as among those who know [the city of God]—behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia (Cush)—[saying], This man was born there.
5 Yes, of Zion it shall be said, This man and that man were born in her, for the Most High Himself will establish her.
6 The Lord shall count, when He registers the peoples, that this man was born there. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
7 The singers as well as the players on instruments shall say, All my springs (my sources of life and joy) are in you [city of our God].
Psalm 89
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.
2 For I have said, Mercy and loving-kindness shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness will You establish in the very heavens [unchangeable and perpetual].
3 [You have said] I have made a [a]covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant,
4 Your Seed I will establish forever, and I will build up your throne for all generations. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
5 Let heaven (the angels) praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones (the holy angels).
6 For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the mighty [heavenly beings] can be likened to the Lord,
7 A God greatly feared and revered in the council of the holy (angelic) ones, and to be feared and worshipfully revered above all those who are round about Him?
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a mighty one like unto You, O Lord? And Your faithfulness is round about You [an essential part of You at all times].
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves arise, You still them.
10 You have broken Rahab (Egypt) in pieces; with Your mighty arm You have scattered Your enemies.
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them; Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon joyously praise Your name.
13 You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, Your right hand is soaring high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.
15 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment], and by Your favor our horn is exalted and we walk with uplifted faces!
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once You spoke in a vision to Your devoted ones and said, I have endowed one who is mighty [a hero, giving him the power to help—to be a champion for Israel]; I have exalted one chosen from among the people.
20 I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him,(B)
21 With whom My hand shall be established and ever abide; My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact from him or do him violence or outwit him, nor shall the wicked afflict and humble him.
23 I will beat down his foes before his face and smite those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy and loving-kindness shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].
25 I will set his hand in control also on the [Mediterranean] Sea, and his right hand on the rivers [Euphrates with its tributaries].
26 He shall cry to Me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!
27 Also I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.(C)
28 My mercy and loving-kindness will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast and be faithful with him.
29 His [b]Offspring also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.(D)
3 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back or west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb or Sinai, the mountain of God.
2 The [a]Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, yet was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.
4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I.
5 God said, Do not come near; put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.
6 Also He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials.
8 And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now behold, the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
11 And Moses said to God, [b]Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
12 God said, I will surely be with you; and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain [Horeb, or Sinai].
23 [Prompted] by faith Moses, after his birth, was kept concealed for three months by his parents, because they saw how comely the child was; and they were not overawed and terrified by the king’s decree.(A)
24 [Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and [a]become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,(B)
25 Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.
26 He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense).
27 [Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.(C)
28 By faith (simple trust and confidence in God) he instituted and carried out the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood [on the doorposts], so that the destroyer of the firstborn (the angel) might not touch those [of the children of Israel].(D)
29 [Urged on] by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as [though] on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do the same thing they were swallowed up [by the sea].(E)
30 Because of faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encompassed for seven days [by the Israelites].(F)
31 [Prompted] by faith Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed along with those who refused to believe and obey, because she had received the spies in peace [without enmity].(G)
6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
7 If you had known Me [had learned to recognize Me], you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.
8 Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father [cause us to see the Father—that is all we ask]; then we shall be satisfied.
9 Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you I do not say on My own authority and of My own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the ([a]His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power).
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the [very] works themselves. [If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father’s name convince you.]
12 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.
13 And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as [b]presenting all that I Am], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.(A)
14 [Yes] I will grant [I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name [as [c]presenting all that I Am].
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