Book of Common Prayer
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
41 Blessed is he who considers the poor.
Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive.
He shall be blessed on the earth,
and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed,
and restore him from his bed of illness.
4 I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies speak evil against me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood.
His heart gathers iniquity to itself.
When he goes abroad, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me.
They imagine the worst for me.
8 “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him.
Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”
9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
who ate bread with me,
has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up,
that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you delight in me,
because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.
12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
from everlasting and to everlasting!
Amen and amen.
For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man?
God’s loving kindness endures continually.
2 Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good,
lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.
4 You love all devouring words,
you deceitful tongue.
5 God will likewise destroy you forever.
He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,
and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous also will see it, and fear,
and laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house.
I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.
9 I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it.
I will hope in your name, for it is good,
in the presence of your saints.
For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.
44 We have heard with our ears, God;
our fathers have told us what work you did in their days,
in the days of old.
2 You drove out the nations with your hand,
but you planted them.
You afflicted the peoples,
but you spread them abroad.
3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword,
neither did their own arm save them;
but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,
because you were favorable to them.
4 God, you are my King.
Command victories for Jacob!
5 Through you, we will push down our adversaries.
Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
neither will my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our adversaries,
and have shamed those who hate us.
8 In God we have made our boast all day long.
We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.
9 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,
and don’t go out with our armies.
10 You make us turn back from the adversary.
Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
11 You have made us like sheep for food,
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell your people for nothing,
and have gained nothing from their sale.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All day long my dishonor is before me,
and shame covers my face,
16 at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,
because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come on us,
yet we haven’t forgotten you.
We haven’t been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
neither have our steps strayed from your path,
19 though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals,
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
or spread out our hands to a strange god,
21 won’t God search this out?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Wake up!
Why do you sleep, Lord?[a]
Arise!
Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face,
and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust.
Our body clings to the earth.
26 Rise up to help us.
Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.
7 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel. 2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the land.”
The men went up and spied out Ai. 3 They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.” 4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water. 6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan! 8 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
10 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? 11 Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,”[a] “You shall not covet,” (A) and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(B) 10 Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light. 13 Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled. 38 Then Jesus said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me.”
39 He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
40 He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.”
43 He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words. 45 Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Arise, let’s be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”
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