Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.
When Things Go Wrong
41 Blessed is the one who is considerate of the destitute;[a]
the Lord will deliver him when the times are evil.
2 The Lord will protect him and keep him alive;
he will be blessed in the land;
and he will not be handed over to the desires of his enemies.
3 The Lord will uphold him even on his sickbed;
you will transform his bed of illness into health.
4 As for me, I said,
“Lord, be gracious to me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
5 As for my enemies, with malice they said,
“When will he die and memory of[b] his name perish?”
6 The one who comes to visit me speaks lies;
in his heart he thinks slanderous things about me
and goes around spreading them.
7 As for all who hate me,
they whisper together against me;
they desire to do me harm.
8 They say, “Wickedness is entrenched in him.
Once he is brought low,
he will not rise again.”
9 As for my best friend,
the one in whom I trusted,
the one who ate my bread,
even he has insulted[c] me!
10 But you, Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up
so that I may pay them back!
11 In this way I will know that you are pleased with me,
and that my enemies will not shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, you will maintain my just cause,
and you will cause me to stand in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
from eternity to eternity.
Amen and amen!
To the Director: A Davidic instruction[a] about Doeg, the Edomite, when he went to Saul and told him, “David went to the house of Abimelech.”
A Rebuke to the Deceitful
52 Why do you make evil
the foundation of your boasting, mighty one?[b]
God’s gracious love never ceases.[c]
2 Your tongue, like a sharp razor, devises wicked things
and crafts treachery.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking uprightly.
4 You love all words that destroy, you deceitful tongue!
5 But God will tear you down forever;
he will take you away,
even snatching you out of your tent!
He will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will fear when they see this,
but then they will laugh at him, saying,
7 “Look, here is a young man who refused to make God his strength;
instead, he trusted in his great wealth
and made his wickedness his strength.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the gracious love of God forever and ever.
9 Therefore I will praise you forever
because of what you did;
I will proclaim that your name is good
in the midst of your faithful ones.
To the Director: An instruction[a] of the Sons of Korah.
A Prayer in Times of Defeat
44 God, we heard it with our ears;
our ancestors told us about what you did in their day—
a long time ago.
2 With your hand you expelled the nations
and established our ancestors.[b]
You afflicted nations
and cast them out.
3 It was not with their sword that they inherited the land,
nor did their own arm deliver them.
But it was by your power,[c] your strength,
and by the light of your face;
because you were pleased with them.
4 You are my king, God,
command[d] victories[e] for Jacob.
5 Through you we will knock down our oppressors;
through your name we will tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For I place no confidence in my bow,
nor will my sword deliver me.
7 For you delivered us from our oppressors
and put to shame those who hate us.
8 We will praise God all day long;
and to your name we will give thanks forever.
9 However, you cast us off and made us ashamed!
You did not even march with our armies!
10 You made us retreat from our oppressors.
Our enemies ransacked us.
11 You handed us over to be slaughtered like sheep
and you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold out your people for nothing,
and made no profit at that price.
13 You made us a laughing stock to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and derision to those around us.
14 You made us an object lesson among the nations;
people shake their heads at us.[f]
15 My dishonor tortures[g] me continuously;[h]
the shame on my face overwhelms[i] me
16 because of the voice of the one who mocks and reviles,
because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this came upon us,
yet we did not forsake you,
and we have not dealt falsely with your covenant;
18 Our hearts have not turned away;
our steps have not swerved from your path.
19 Nevertheless, you crushed us in the lair of jackals,
and covered us in deep darkness.[j]
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or lifted our hands to a foreign god,
21 wouldn’t God find out
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 For your sake we are being killed all day long.
We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up! Why are you asleep, Lord?
Get up! Don’t cast us off forever!
24 Why are you hiding your face?
Why are you ignoring our affliction and oppression?
25 For we[k] have collapsed in the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Arise! Deliver us!
Redeem us according to your gracious love!
16 “Bind up the testimony,
and seal up the teaching among my disciples.
17 I’ll wait for the Lord,
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob,
and I’ll put my trust in him.
18 Watch out! I and the children
whom the Lord has given me
are a sign and a wonder[a] in Israel
from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
who resides on Mount Zion.”
Rejecting Occultic Wisdom
19 “So when they advise you,
‘Ask the mediums your questions,
and quiz the spiritists who chirp and mutter,’
shouldn’t a people instead be consulting their God—[b]
and not the dead—
on behalf of those who are living
20 for instruction and for testimony?
Surely they are speaking like this
because the truth[c] hasn’t dawned on them.
21 “They’ll pass through the land,[d]
while[e] greatly distressed and hungry.
When they are hungry,
they’ll become enraged,
and they’ll curse their king and their god.[f]
They’ll turn their faces upwards,
22 or they’ll look toward the[g] earth,
but they’ll see only distress and darkness,
the gloom that comes from anguish,
and then they’ll be thrown into total darkness.”
The Prince of Peace
9 [h]But there will be no gloom for her who was[i] in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future[j] he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan—Galilee of the nations.[k]
Greetings
1 From:[a] Simeon[b] Peter, a servant[c] and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.[d]
To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.[e]
2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
We are Called to Holy Living
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4 Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, 6 your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, 7 your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.[f] 9 For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.
10 So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail. 11 For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.[g]
Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives(A)
39 Then he left and went to the Mount of Olives, as usual. The disciples went with him. 40 When he arrived, he told them, “Keep on praying that you may not be tempted.” 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like large drops of blood falling on the ground.[a]
45 When he got up from prayer, he went to the disciples and found them asleep from sorrow. 46 He asked them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and keep on praying that you may not be tempted.”
Jesus is Arrested(B)
47 While Jesus[b] was still speaking, a crowd arrived. The man called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them, and he came close to Jesus to kiss[c] him. 48 But Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When those who were around Jesus[d] saw what was about to take place, they asked, “Lord, should we attack with our swords?” 50 Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” So he touched the wounded man’s[e] ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus told the high priests, the Temple police, and the elders, who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit?[f] 53 While I was with you day after day in the Temple, you didn’t lay a hand on me. But this is your hour, when darkness reigns!”[g]
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