Book of Common Prayer
41 Blessed is he who judges wisely of the poor. The LORD shall deliver him in the time of trouble.
2 The LORD will keep him and preserve him alive. He shall be blessed upon the Earth; and You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of sorrow. You have turned all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, “LORD have mercy upon me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me, saying, “When shall he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he come to see me, he speaks lies; his heart heaps iniquity within him. When he comes forth, he tells it.
7 All those who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine my hurt against me, saying,
8 “A mischief lies upon him,” and, “He who lies shall rise no more.”
9 Indeed, my familiar friend whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up the heel against me.
10 Therefore, O LORD, have mercy upon me and raise me up. So shall I reward them.
11 By this I know that You favor me: because my enemy does not triumph against me.
12 And as for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, world without end! So be it. Even so be it! To him who excels: A Psalm to give instruction, committed to the sons of Korah.
52 Why do you boast of your wickedness, O man of power? The lovingkindness of God endures daily.
2 Your tongue imagines mischief, like a sharp razor that cuts deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good, lies more than to speak the truth. Selah.
4 You love all words that may destroy. O deceitful tongue!
5 So shall God destroy you forever. He shall take you and pluck you out of your tabernacle, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 Also, the righteous shall see it, and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold the man who did not take God for His strength but trusted in the multitude of his riches and put his strength in his malice.”
8 But I shall be like a green olive tree in the House of God. I trusted in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will always praise You because You have done this. And I will hope in Your Name because it is good before Your saints. To him who excels on Mahalath: A Psalm of David to give instruction
44 We have heard with our ears, O God. Our fathers have told us the works that You have done in their days, in the old time.
2 You have driven out the heathen with Your hand and planted them. You have destroyed the people and caused them to go.
3 For they did not inherit the land by their own sword (nor did their own arm save them) but by Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your countenance; because You favored them.
4 You are my King, O God! Send help to Jacob!
5 Through You we have thrust back our adversaries. By Your Name we have trodden down those who rose up against us.
6 For I do not trust in my bow; nor can my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our adversaries and have put those who hate us to confusion.
8 We will praise God continually and will confess Your Name forever. Selah.
9 But now, You are far off and put us to confusion, and do not go forth with our armies.
10 You make us turn back from the adversary, and those who hate us get plunder for themselves.
11 You give us as sheep to be eaten and scatter us among the nations.
12 You sell Your people without gain, and do not increase their price.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a jest and laughing stock to those who surround us.
14 You make us a proverb among the nations, and a nodding of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is daily before me and the shame of my face has covered me,
16 because of the voice of the slanderer and rebuker, because of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this has come upon us. Still, we do not forget You. Nor do we deal falsely concerning Your Covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, nor have our steps gone out of Your paths;
19 even though You have struck us down into the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the Name of our God, and held up our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Surely, for Your sake we are killed continually and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Up! Why do You sleep, O LORD? Awake! Be not far off forever.
24 Why do you hide Your face and forget our misery and our affliction?
25 For our soul is beaten down to the dust. Our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up for our succor; and redeem us for Your mercy’s sake. To him who excels on Shoshannim: a song of love to give instruction, committed to the sons of Korah.
7 Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the Word of the LORD came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the Prophet, saying,
8 I saw by night and beheld a man riding upon a red horse. And he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a hollow. And there were red horses behind him, speckled and white.
9 Then I said, “O my lord, what are these?” And the Angel that talked with me, said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees, answered and said, “These are those whom the LORD has sent to go through the world.”
11 And they answered the Angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone through the world. And behold, all the world sits still and is at rest.”
12 Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, “O LORD of Hosts! How long will You be unmerciful to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah with whom You have been displeased now these seventy years?”
13 And the LORD answered the Angel that talked with me with good Words and comfortable Words.
14 So, the Angel that communed with me said to me, “Cry out and speak, ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “I am jealous over Jerusalem and Zion with a great zeal!
15 “And I am greatly angry against the careless heathen. For I was only angry a little, and they helped increase the affliction.”
16 ‘Therefore thus says the LORD: “I will return to Jerusalem with tender mercy. My House shall be built in it,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and a line shall be stretched upon Jerusalem.”’
17 “Cry, still, and speak, ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “My cities shall still be comforted with plenty. The LORD shall still comfort Zion and shall still choose Jerusalem!”’”
4 John, To the seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be with you, and peace, from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, Who is that faithful witness and that first begotten of the dead and that Prince of the Kings of the Earth. To Him - who loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood
6 and made us kings and priests to God, even His Father—to Him, I say, be glory and dominion forevermore! Amen.
7 Behold, He comes with clouds. And every eye shall see Him (indeed, even those who pierced Him through). And all kindreds of the Earth shall wail before Him. Even so, Amen.
8 “I am Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the ending,” says the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; even the Almighty.
9 I, John, even your brother and companion in tribulation - and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ - was on the Isle called Patmos for the Word of God and for the witnessing of Jesus Christ.
10 And I was ravished in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice, as if it had been of a trumpet,
11 Saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And write that which you see in a book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned back to see the voice that spoke with me. And when I had turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks,
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and His chest wrapped with a golden girdle.
14 His head and hairs were white as white wool, and as snow. And His eyes were as a flame of fire,
15 And His feet were like fine brass, burning as in a furnace. And His voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And He had in His right hand seven stars. And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His face shone as the Sun shines in His strength.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. Then He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, “Fear not. I am the first and the last.
18 And I am alive, but I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hell and of death.
19 “Write these things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall come hereafter.
20 “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand - and the seven golden candlesticks - is this: ‘The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. And the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven Churches.
43 “Now when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it walks throughout dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house, from where I came.’ And when he has come, he finds it empty, swept and garnished.
45 “Then it goes, and takes with it seven other spirits, worse than itself. And they enter in, and dwell there. And the end of that man is worse than the beginning. Even so shall it be with this wicked generation.”
46 While he was still speaking to the multitude, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, desiring to speak with him.
47 Then one said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to speak with you.”
48 But He answered and said to him who told Him, “Who is My mother. And who are My brothers?”
49 And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, “Behold My mother and My brothers.
50 “For whoever shall do My Father’s will (Who is in Heaven), the same is My brother and sister and mother.”
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