Book of Common Prayer
The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
41 How blessed is he who (A)considers the [a]helpless;
The Lord will deliver him (B)in a day of [b]trouble.
2 The Lord will (C)protect him and keep him alive,
And he shall [c]be called (D)blessed upon the earth;
And (E)do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You [d]restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, 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 [e]when he comes to see me, he (I)speaks [f]falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they (J)devise my hurt, saying,
8 “A wicked 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 Lord, be gracious to me and (M)raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that (N)You are pleased with me,
Because (O)my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, (P)You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me (Q)in Your presence forever.
13 (R)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Futility of Boastful Wickedness.
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 The righteous will (L)see and fear,
And will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in [e]his evil desire.”
Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our (A)fathers have told us
The (B)work that You did in their days,
In the (C)days of old.
2 You with Your own hand (D)drove out the nations;
Then You (E)planted them;
You (F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You (G)spread them abroad.
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]victories for Jacob.
5 Through You we will (N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will (O)trample down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will (P)not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword 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 taken spoil 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]cheaply,
And have not [f]profited by their sale.
13 You make us a (AC)reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing 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]my (AG)humiliation has overwhelmed 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,
And our steps (AM)have not deviated from Your way,
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 extended 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 considered as (AU)sheep to be slaughtered.
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 body cleaves to the earth.
26 (BB)Rise up, be our help,
And (BC)redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
Israel’s Obstinacy
48 “(A)Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel
And who came forth from the [a](B)loins of Judah,
Who (C)swear by the name of the Lord
And invoke the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in (D)righteousness.
2 “For they call themselves after the (E)holy city
And (F)lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name.
3 “I (G)declared the former things long ago
And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them.
(H)Suddenly I acted, and they (I)came to pass.
4 “Because I know that you are [b](J)obstinate,
And your (K)neck is an iron sinew
And your (L)forehead bronze,
5 Therefore I declared them to you long ago,
Before [c]they took place I proclaimed them to you,
So that you would not say, ‘My (M)idol has done them,
And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; look at all this.
And you, will you not declare it?
I proclaim to you (N)new things from this time,
Even hidden things which you have not known.
7 “They are created now and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard them,
So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 “You have not (O)heard, you have not known.
Even from long ago your ear has not been open,
Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;
And you have been called a [d](P)rebel from [e]birth.
9 “(Q)For the sake of My name I (R)delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.
10 “Behold, I have refined you, but (S)not as silver;
I have tested you in the (T)furnace of affliction.
11 “(U)For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My (V)glory I will not give to another.
Introduction
1 Paul, (A)an apostle ((B)not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but (C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who (D)raised Him from the dead), 2 and all (E)the brethren 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 forevermore. Amen.
Perversion of the Gospel
6 I am amazed 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 preach to you a gospel [d]contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be [e](P)accursed! 9 As we (Q)have said before, so I say again now, (R)if any man is preaching to you a gospel [f]contrary to what you received, he is to 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)bond-servant of Christ.
Paul Defends His Ministry
11 For (V)I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me 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 manner of life 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 [h]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my (AE)ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even 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)preach Him among the Gentiles, (AH)I did not immediately consult with [i](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.
Miracles and Healing
21 (A)When Jesus had crossed over again in (B)the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He [a]stayed (C)by the seashore. 22 (D)One of (E)the synagogue [b]officials named Jairus *came up, and on seeing Him, *fell at His feet 23 and *implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and (F)lay Your hands on her, so that she will [c]get well and live.” 24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.
25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse— 27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His [d]cloak. 28 For she [e]thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will [f]get well.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her (G)affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that (H)the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, (I)your faith has [g]made you well; (J)go in peace and be healed of your (K)affliction.”
35 While He was still speaking, they *came from the house of the (L)synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” 36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the (M)synagogue official, “(N)Do not be afraid any longer, only [h]believe.” 37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except (O)Peter and [i]James and John the brother of [j]James. 38 They *came to the house of the (P)synagogue official; and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 39 And entering in, He *said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” 40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was. 41 Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, (Q)I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. 43 And He (R)gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.
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