Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 38
A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance and make memorial.
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows have sunk into me and stick fast, and Your hand has come down upon me and pressed me sorely.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; neither is there any health or rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head [like waves of a flood]; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5 My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent and bowed down greatly; I go about mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with burning; and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am faint and sorely bruised [deadly cold and quite worn out]; I groan by reason of the disquiet and moaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my neighbors and my near ones stand afar off.(A)
12 They also that seek and demand my life lay snares for me, and they that seek and require my hurt speak crafty and mischievous things; they meditate treachery and deceit all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, hear not; and I am like a dumb man who opens not his mouth.
14 Yes, I have become like a man who hears not, in whose mouth are no arguments or replies.
15 For in You, O Lord, do I hope; You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I pray, Let them not rejoice over me, who when my foot slips boast against me.
17 For I am ready to halt and fall; my pain and sorrow are continually before me.
18 For I do confess my guilt and iniquity; I am filled with sorrow for my sin.(B)
19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong, and those who hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20 They also that render evil for good are adversaries to me, because I follow the thing that is good.
21 Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me.
22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my Salvation.
25 My earthly life cleaves to the dust; revive and stimulate me according to Your word!(A)
26 I have declared my ways and opened my griefs to You, and You listened to me; teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on and talk of Your wondrous works.(B)
28 My life dissolves and weeps itself away for heaviness; raise me up and strengthen me according to [the promises of] Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness [to You], and graciously impart Your law to me.
30 I have chosen the way of truth and faithfulness; Your ordinances have I set before me.
31 I cleave to Your testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame!
32 I will [not merely walk, but] run the way of Your commandments, when You give me a heart that is willing.
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep it to the end [steadfastly].
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law; yes, I will observe it with my whole heart.(C)
35 Make me go in the path of Your commandments, for in them do I delight.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetousness (robbery, sensuality, unworthy riches).(D)
37 Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity (idols and idolatry); and restore me to vigorous life and health in Your ways.
38 Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant, which is for those who reverently fear and devotedly worship You.(E)
39 Turn away my reproach which I fear and dread, for Your ordinances are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; in Your righteousness give me renewed life.
41 Let Your mercy and loving-kindness come also to me, O Lord, even Your salvation according to Your promise;
42 Then shall I have an answer for those who taunt and reproach me, for I lean on, rely on, and trust in Your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I hope in Your ordinances.
44 I will keep Your law continually, forever and ever [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
45 And I will walk at liberty and at ease, for I have sought and inquired for [and desperately required] Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings and will not be put to shame.(F)
47 For I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
48 My hands also will I lift up [in fervent supplication] to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes.
20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said to Jonathan, What have I done? Of what am I guilty? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?
2 Jonathan said, God forbid! You shall not die. My father does nothing great or small but what he tells me. And why should [he] hide this thing from me? It is not so.
3 But David replied, Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
4 Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever you desire, I will do for you.
5 David said to Jonathan, Tomorrow is the New Moon [festival], and I should not fail to sit at the table with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening.
6 If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
7 If he says, All right, then it will be well with your servant; but if he is angry, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought [me] into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?
9 And Jonathan said, Far be it from you! If I knew that evil was determined for you by my father, would I not tell you?
10 Then said David to Jonathan, Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?
11 Jonathan said, Come, let us go into the field. So they went into the field.
12 Jonathan said to David, The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness. When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well inclined toward David, and I do not send and let you know it,
13 The Lord do so, and much more, to Jonathan. But if it please my father to do you harm, then I will disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father.
14 While I am still alive you shall not only show me the loving-kindness of the Lord, so that I die not,
15 But also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever—no, not even when the Lord has cut off every enemy of David from the face of the earth.
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, And the Lord will require that this covenant be kept at the hands of David’s enemies.
17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again by his love for him, for Jonathan loved him as he loved his own life.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the New Moon festival; and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.
19 On the third day you will go quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand, and remain by the stone Ezel.
20 And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
21 And I will send a lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them—then you are to come, for it is safe for you and there is no danger, as the Lord lives.
22 But if I say to the youth, Look, the arrows are beyond you—then go, for the Lord has sent you away.
23 And as touching the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.
18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.
19 And when Herod had looked for him and could not find him, he placed the guards on trial and commanded that they should be led away [to execution]. Then [Herod] went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed on there.
20 Now [Herod] cherished bitter animosity and hostility for the people of Tyre and Sidon; and [their deputies] came to him in a united body, and having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was nourished by and depended on the king’s [country] for food.
21 On an appointed day Herod arrayed himself in his royal robes, took his seat upon [his] throne, and addressed an oration to them.
22 And the assembled people shouted, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!
23 And at once an angel of the Lord smote him and cut him down, because he did not give God the glory (the preeminence and kingly majesty that belong to Him as the supreme Ruler); and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the Word of the Lord [concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God] continued to grow and spread.
25 And Barnabas and Saul came back from Jerusalem when they had completed their mission, bringing with them John whose surname was Mark.(A)
13 [Jesus] went out again along the seashore; and all the multitude kept gathering about Him, and He kept teaching them.
14 And as He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me! [Be [a]joined to Me as a disciple, side with My party!] And he arose and joined Him as His disciple and sided with His party and accompanied Him.
15 And as Jesus, together with His disciples, sat at table in his [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and persons [[b]definitely stained] with sin were dining with Him, for there were many who walked the same road (followed) with Him.
16 And the scribes [belonging to the party] of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with [those [c]definitely known to be especially wicked] sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and [notorious] sinners?
17 And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the [d]erring ones and [e]all those not free from sin).
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were observing a fast; and [some people] came and asked Jesus, Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?
19 Jesus answered them, Can the wedding guests fast (abstain from food and drink) 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 taken away from them, and they will fast in that day.
21 No one sews a patch of unshrunken (new) goods on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and the rent (tear) becomes bigger and worse [than it was before].
22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.
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