Book of Common Prayer
O Yahweh, Be Gracious to Me
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
41 How blessed is he who (A)considers the [a]poor;
Yahweh will provide him escape (B)in a day of [b]calamity.
2 Yahweh will (C)keep him and keep him alive,
And he shall be (D)blessed upon the earth;
And (E)do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You [c]restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, “O Yahweh, be gracious to me;
(F)Heal my soul, for (G)I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies (H)speak evil against me,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And [d]when he comes to see me, he (I)speaks [e]worthlessness;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he speaks it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me, they (J)devise for me [f]calamity, saying,
8 “A vile thing is poured out [g]upon him,
That when he lies down, he will (K)not rise up again.”
9 Even my (L)close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Yahweh, be gracious to me and (M)raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that (N)You delight in me,
Because (O)my enemy makes no shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, (P)You uphold me in my integrity,
And You make me (Q)stand firm in Your presence forever.
13 (R)Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of David. [b]When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you (A)boast in evil, O mighty man?
The (B)lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises (C)destruction,
Like a (D)sharp razor, (E)O worker of deceit.
3 You (F)love evil more than good,
(G)Falsehood more than speaking what is right. [c]Selah.
4 You love all words that devour,
O (H)deceitful tongue.
5 [d]But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and (I)tear you away from your tent,
And (J)uproot you from the (K)land of the living, Selah.
6 So that the righteous will (L)see and fear,
And will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in his destruction.”
Rise Up, Be Our Help
For the choir director. Of the sons of Korah. A [a]Maskil.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our (A)fathers have recounted to us
The (B)work that You did in their days,
In the (C)days of old.
2 You with Your own hand (D)dispossessed the nations;
Then You (E)planted them;
You (F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You (G)cast them out.
3 For by their own sword they (H)did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your (I)arm and the (J)light of Your presence,
For You (K)favored them.
4 You are (L)my King, O God;
(M)Command [b]salvation for Jacob.
5 Through You we will (N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will (O)tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will (P)not trust in my bow,
And my sword will not save me.
7 But You (Q)have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have (R)put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have (S)boasted all day long,
And we will (T)give thanks to Your name forever. [c]Selah.
9 Yet You (U)have rejected us and brought us to (V)dishonor,
And (W)do not go out with our armies.
10 You cause us to (X)turn back from the adversary;
And those who hate us (Y)have plundered us for themselves.
11 You give us as (Z)sheep [d]to be eaten
And have (AA)scattered us among the nations.
12 You (AB)sell Your people [e]for no amount,
And You have not [f]profited from their price.
13 You make us a (AC)reproach to our neighbors,
A mockery and a (AD)derision to those around us.
14 You make us (AE)a byword among the nations,
A [g](AF)laughingstock among the peoples.
15 All day long my dishonor is before me
And [h]the (AG)shame of my face has covered me,
16 Because of the voice of him who (AH)reproaches and reviles,
Because of the presence of the (AI)enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us, but we have (AJ)not forgotten You,
And we have not (AK)dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not (AL)turned back,
Nor have our steps (AM)deviated from Your path,
19 Yet You have (AN)crushed us in a place of (AO)jackals
And covered us with (AP)the shadow of death.
20 If we had (AQ)forgotten the name of our God
Or spread our [i]hands to (AR)a strange god,
21 Would not God (AS)find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 But (AT)for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are counted as (AU)sheep for the slaughter.
23 (AV)Arouse Yourself, why (AW)do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, (AX)do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You (AY)hide Your face
And (AZ)forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our (BA)soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our [j]body cleaves to the earth.
26 (BB)Rise up, be our help,
And (BC)redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
The Vanity of Pleasure and Possessions
2 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with (A)gladness, so that you shall see good things.” And behold, it too was vanity. 2 (B)I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of gladness, “What does it do?” 3 I explored with my heart how to [a](C)stimulate my [b]body with wine—while my heart was guiding me wisely—and how to seize (D)simpleminded folly, until I could see (E)where is this good for the sons of men in what they do under heaven the few days of their lives. 4 I made my works great: I (F)built houses for myself; I planted (G)vineyards for myself; 5 I made for myself (H)gardens and (I)parks, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; 6 I made for myself (J)pools of water from which to water a forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and I had [c](K)homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and (L)herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 Also, I collected for myself silver and (M)gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself (N)male and female singers and the pleasures of the sons of men—many concubines.
9 Then I became (O)great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. 10 (P)All that my eyes asked for I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any gladness, for my heart was glad because of all my labor, and this was my (Q)reward for all my labor. 11 Thus I turned to all my works which my hands had done and the labor which I had labored to do, and behold, all was [d](R)vanity and striving after wind, and there was (S)no advantage under the sun.
Wisdom Excels Folly
12 So I turned to (T)see wisdom, madness, and simpleminded folly. What will the man do who will come after the king except (U)what has already been done? 13 And I saw that there is an advantage in (V)wisdom over simpleminded folly as light has an advantage over darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the (W)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that the (X)fate of one becomes the fate of all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “(Y)As is the fate of the fool, so will my fate be also. (Z)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is vanity.”
Greetings and Grace
1 Paul, (A)an apostle—(B)not sent from men nor through man, but (C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who (D)raised Him from the dead— 2 and all (E)the brothers who are with me,
To (F)the churches of Galatia:
3 (G)Grace to you and peace from [a]God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who (H)gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from (I)this present evil [b]age, according to the will of (J)our God and Father, 5 (K)to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Distorting the Gospel
6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting (L)Him who called you [c]by the grace of Christ for a (M)different gospel, 7 which is really not another, only there are some who are (N)disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or (O)an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel [d]contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be [e](P)accursed! 9 As we (Q)have said before, so I say again now, (R)if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel [f]contrary to what you received, let him be [g](S)accursed!
10 For am I now (T)seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a (U)slave of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11 For (V)I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is (W)not according to man. 12 For (X)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a (Y)revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of (Z)my former conduct in Judaism, how I (AA)used to persecute (AB)the church of God beyond measure and (AC)tried to destroy it. 14 And I (AD)was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my (AE)fathers. 15 But when God, who had set me apart from my mother’s womb and (AF)called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might (AG)proclaim Him as good news among the Gentiles, (AH)I did not immediately consult with [h](AI)flesh and blood, 17 (AJ)nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to (AK)Damascus.
A Hidden Treasure
44 “(A)The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and (B)sells all that he has and buys that field.
A Costly Pearl
45 “Again, (C)the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
A Dragnet
47 “Again, (D)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 So it will be at (E)the [a]end of the age; the angels will come forth and [b]take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and (F)will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place (G)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” 52 And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
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