Book of Common Prayer
Promised Faithfulness to the Lord
A Psalm of David.
101 I will sing of mercy and justice;
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will behave wisely in a [a]perfect way.
Oh, when will You come to me?
I will (A)walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set nothing [b]wicked before my eyes;
(B)I hate the work of those (C)who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not (D)know wickedness.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
(E)The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.
6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a [c]perfect way,
He shall serve me.
7 He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not [d]continue in my presence.
8 (F)Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers (G)from the city of the Lord.
Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
109 Do(A) not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a (B)lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me (C)without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus (D)they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let (E)an [a]accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And (F)let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be (G)few,
And (H)let another take his office.
9 (I)Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children [b]continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them [c]seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 (J)Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 (K)Let his [d]posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their (L)name be blotted out.
14 (M)Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother (N)be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may (O)cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the (P)broken in heart.
17 (Q)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it (R)enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone (S)like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My (T)knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become (U)a reproach to them;
When they look at me, (V)they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 (W)That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 (X)Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let (Y)Your servant rejoice.
29 (Z)Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, (AA)I will praise Him among the multitude.
ע AYIN
121 I have done justice and righteousness;
Do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Be (A)surety[a] for Your servant for good;
Do not let the proud oppress me.
123 My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation
And Your righteous word.
124 Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy,
And teach me Your statutes.
125 (B)I am Your servant;
Give me understanding,
That I may know Your testimonies.
126 It is time for You to act, O Lord,
For they have [b]regarded Your law as void.
127 (C)Therefore I love Your commandments
More than gold, yes, than fine gold!
128 Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things
I consider to be right;
I hate every false way.
פ PE
129 Your testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The entrance of Your words gives light;
(D)It gives understanding to the (E)simple.
131 I opened my mouth and (F)panted,
For I longed for Your commandments.
132 (G)Look upon me and be merciful to me,
(H)As Your custom is toward those who love Your name.
133 (I)Direct my steps by Your word,
And (J)let no iniquity have dominion over me.
134 (K)Redeem me from the oppression of man,
That I may keep Your precepts.
135 (L)Make Your face shine upon Your servant,
And teach me Your statutes.
136 (M)Rivers of water run down from my eyes,
Because men do not keep Your law.
צ TSADDE
137 (N)Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
138 (O)Your testimonies, which You have commanded,
Are righteous and very faithful.
139 (P)My zeal has [c]consumed me,
Because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 (Q)Your word is very [d]pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised,
Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is (R)truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have [e]overtaken me,
Yet Your commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting;
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
God Will Restore Israel
14 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 15 “Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, (A)yet I shall be a little [a]sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” ’ 17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: (B)“I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ 18 And they will go there, and they will take away all its (C)detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 Then (D)I will give them one heart, and I will put (E)a new spirit within [b]them, and take (F)the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 (G)that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; (H)and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, (I)I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.
22 So the cherubim (J)lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. 23 And (K)the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood (L)on the mountain, (M)which is on the east side of the city.
24 Then (N)the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into [c]Chaldea, to those in captivity. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 So I spoke to those in captivity of all the things the Lord had shown me.
The King of Righteousness(A)
7 For this (B)Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the [a]spoils. 5 And indeed (C)those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham (D)and blessed (E)him who had the promises. 7 Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, (F)of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
Need for a New Priesthood(G)
11 (H)Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has [b]officiated at the altar.
14 For it is evident that (I)our Lord arose from (J)Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning [c]priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For [d]He testifies:
(K)“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Seventy Return with Joy
17 Then (A)the [a]seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
18 And He said to them, (B)“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, (C)I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but [b]rather rejoice because (D)your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus Rejoices in the Spirit(E)
21 (F)In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 22 (G)All[c] things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and (H)no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, (I)“Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you (J)that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.