Book of Common Prayer
Joy in the Fellowship of God
A Psalm of David (A)when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
63 O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
(B)My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see (C)Your power and Your glory.
3 (D)Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
4 Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will (E)lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with [a]marrow and [b]fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
6 When (F)I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
7 Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
8 My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall [c]fall by the sword;
They shall be [d]a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
(G)Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
A Song of Praise to the Lord for His Salvation and Judgment
A Psalm.
98 Oh, (A)sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has (B)done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 (C)The Lord has made known His salvation;
(D)His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the [a]nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
(E)All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies
A Psalm of David.
103 Bless (A)the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 (B)Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who (C)heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
(D)Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that (E)your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
7 (F)He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
8 (G)The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 (H)He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 (I)He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He (J)removed our transgressions from us.
13 (K)As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, (L)his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 (M)For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And (N)its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 (O)To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.
19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And (P)His kingdom rules over all.
20 (Q)Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who (R)do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
(S)You [c]ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Remember the Lord Your God
8 “Every commandment which I command you today (A)you must [a]be careful to observe, that you may live and (B)multiply,[b] and go in and possess the land of which the Lord [c]swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God (C)led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and (D)test you, (E)to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, (F)allowed you to hunger, and (G)fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall (H)not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 4 (I)Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 (J)You should [d]know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.
6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, (K)to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, (L)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 (M)When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, (A)not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God(B)
18 For the [a]message of the cross is (C)foolishness to (D)those who are perishing, but to us (E)who are being saved it is the (F)power of God. 19 For it is written:
(G)“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 (H)Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the [b]disputer of this age? (I)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the (J)wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For (K)Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, (L)to the Jews a [c]stumbling block and to the [d]Greeks (M)foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (N)the power of God and (O)the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For [e]you see your calling, brethren, (P)that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [f]noble, are called. 27 But (Q)God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [g]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and (R)righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, (S)“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting(A)
18 (B)The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the [a]friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be (C)taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.