Book of Common Prayer
Remembering the Covenant with David, and Sorrow for Lost Blessings
A [a]Contemplation of (A)Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
(B)Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”
3 “I(C) have made a covenant with My chosen,
I have (D)sworn to My servant David:
4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever,
And build up your throne (E)to all generations.’ ” Selah
5 And (F)the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.
6 (G)For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?
7 (H)God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
8 O Lord God of hosts,
Who is mighty like You, O Lord?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
9 (I)You rule the raging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
10 (J)You have broken [b]Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain;
You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
11 (K)The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them;
(L)Tabor and (M)Hermon rejoice in Your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
Strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
15 Blessed are the people who know the (N)joyful sound!
They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength,
And in Your favor our [c]horn is (O)exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then You spoke in a vision to Your [d]holy one,
And said: “I have given help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one (P)chosen from the people.
20 (Q)I have found My servant David;
With My holy oil I have anointed him,
21 (R)With whom My hand shall be established;
Also My arm shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not [e]outwit him,
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 I will beat down his foes before his face,
And plague those who hate him.
24 “But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him,
And in My name his horn shall be exalted.
25 Also I will (S)set his hand over the sea,
And his right hand over the rivers.
26 He shall cry to Me, ‘You are (T)my Father,
My God, and (U)the rock of my salvation.’
27 Also I will make him (V)My firstborn,
(W)The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 (X)My mercy I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
29 His seed also I will make to endure forever,
(Y)And his throne (Z)as the days of heaven.
30 “If(AA) his sons (AB)forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
31 If they [f]break My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33 (AC)Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not [g]utterly take from him,
Nor [h]allow My faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant I will not break,
Nor (AD)alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
35 Once I have sworn (AE)by My holiness;
I will not lie to David:
36 (AF)His seed shall endure forever,
And his throne (AG)as the sun before Me;
37 It shall be established forever like the moon,
Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But You have (AH)cast off and (AI)abhorred,[i]
You have been furious with Your [j]anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant of Your servant;
(AJ)You have [k]profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his hedges;
You have brought his [l]strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way (AK)plunder him;
He is a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
And have not sustained him in the battle.
44 You have made his [m]glory cease,
And cast his throne down to the ground.
45 The days of his youth You have shortened;
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, Lord?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time (AL)is;
For what (AM)futility have You created all the children of men?
48 What man can live and not [n]see (AN)death?
Can he deliver his life from the power of [o]the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses,
Which You (AO)swore to David (AP)in Your truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants—
(AQ)How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
51 (AR)With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord,
With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your [p]anointed.
52 (AS)Blessed be the Lord forevermore!
Amen and Amen.
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, (A)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them, (B)‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12 And you have done (C)worse than your fathers, for behold, (D)each one [a]follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13 (E)Therefore I will cast you out of this land (F)into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
God Will Restore Israel(G)
14 “Therefore behold, the (H)days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the (I)north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For (J)I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I will send for many (K)fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My (L)eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 And first I will repay (M)double for their iniquity and their sin, because (N)they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19 O Lord, (O)my strength and my fortress,
(P)My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and (Q)unprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
(R)Which are not gods?
21 “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that (S)My name is the Lord.
Freed from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law [a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For (A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then (B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become (C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should (D)bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law (E)were at work in our members (F)to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve (G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Sin’s Advantage in the Law
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, (H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, (I)“You shall not covet.” 8 But (J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For (K)apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, (L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore (M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Feeding the Five Thousand(A)
6 After (B)these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of (C)Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were (D)diseased.[a] 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 (E)Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 (F)Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to (G)Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, (H)“Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, (I)Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, (J)but what are they among so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them [b]to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly (K)the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Jesus Walks on the Sea(L)
15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him (M)king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.