Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 38
A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance and make memorial.
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows have sunk into me and stick fast, and Your hand has come down upon me and pressed me sorely.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; neither is there any health or rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head [like waves of a flood]; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5 My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent and bowed down greatly; I go about mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with burning; and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am faint and sorely bruised [deadly cold and quite worn out]; I groan by reason of the disquiet and moaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my neighbors and my near ones stand afar off.(A)
12 They also that seek and demand my life lay snares for me, and they that seek and require my hurt speak crafty and mischievous things; they meditate treachery and deceit all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, hear not; and I am like a dumb man who opens not his mouth.
14 Yes, I have become like a man who hears not, in whose mouth are no arguments or replies.
15 For in You, O Lord, do I hope; You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I pray, Let them not rejoice over me, who when my foot slips boast against me.
17 For I am ready to halt and fall; my pain and sorrow are continually before me.
18 For I do confess my guilt and iniquity; I am filled with sorrow for my sin.(B)
19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong, and those who hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20 They also that render evil for good are adversaries to me, because I follow the thing that is good.
21 Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me.
22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my Salvation.
25 My earthly life cleaves to the dust; revive and stimulate me according to Your word!(A)
26 I have declared my ways and opened my griefs to You, and You listened to me; teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on and talk of Your wondrous works.(B)
28 My life dissolves and weeps itself away for heaviness; raise me up and strengthen me according to [the promises of] Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness [to You], and graciously impart Your law to me.
30 I have chosen the way of truth and faithfulness; Your ordinances have I set before me.
31 I cleave to Your testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame!
32 I will [not merely walk, but] run the way of Your commandments, when You give me a heart that is willing.
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep it to the end [steadfastly].
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law; yes, I will observe it with my whole heart.(C)
35 Make me go in the path of Your commandments, for in them do I delight.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetousness (robbery, sensuality, unworthy riches).(D)
37 Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity (idols and idolatry); and restore me to vigorous life and health in Your ways.
38 Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant, which is for those who reverently fear and devotedly worship You.(E)
39 Turn away my reproach which I fear and dread, for Your ordinances are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; in Your righteousness give me renewed life.
41 Let Your mercy and loving-kindness come also to me, O Lord, even Your salvation according to Your promise;
42 Then shall I have an answer for those who taunt and reproach me, for I lean on, rely on, and trust in Your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I hope in Your ordinances.
44 I will keep Your law continually, forever and ever [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
45 And I will walk at liberty and at ease, for I have sought and inquired for [and desperately required] Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings and will not be put to shame.(F)
47 For I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
48 My hands also will I lift up [in fervent supplication] to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes.
25 When children shall be born to you, and children’s children, and you have grown old in the land, if you corrupt yourselves by making a graven image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you shall soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.
28 There you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29 But if from there you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life.
30 When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to His voice.
31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.
23 But I call upon God as my soul’s witness: it was to avoid hurting you that I refrained from coming to Corinth—
24 Not that we have dominion [over you] and lord it over your faith, but [rather that we work with you as] fellow laborers [to promote] your joy, for in [your] faith ([a]in your strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God) you stand firm.
2 But I definitely made up my mind not to grieve you with another painful and distressing visit.
2 For if I cause you pain [with merited rebuke], who is there to provide me enjoyment but the [very] one whom I have grieved and made sad?
3 And I wrote the same to you so that when I came, I might not be myself pained by those who are the [very] ones who ought to make me glad, for I trusted in you all and felt confident that my joy would be shared by all of you.
4 For I wrote you out of great sorrow and deep distress [with mental torture and anxiety] of heart, [yes, and] with many tears, not to cause you pain but in order to make you realize the overflowing love that I continue increasingly to have for you.
5 But if someone [the one among you who committed incest] has caused [all this] grief and pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely, [he has distressed] all of you.
6 For such a one this censure by the majority [which he has received is] sufficient [punishment].
7 So [instead of further rebuke, now] you should rather turn and [graciously] forgive and comfort and encourage [him], to keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow and despair.
8 I therefore beg you to reinstate him in your affections and assure him of your love for him;
9 For this was my purpose in writing you, to test your attitude and see if you would stand the test, whether you are obedient and altogether agreeable [to following my orders] in everything.
10 If you forgive anyone anything, I too forgive that one; and what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sakes in the presence [and with the approval] of Christ (the Messiah),
11 To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.
12 Now when I arrived at Troas [to preach] the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, a door of opportunity was opened for me in the Lord,
13 Yet my spirit could not rest (relax, get relief) because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave from them and departed for Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
15 For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
16 To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]
17 For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God’s Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight and presence of God.
15 Now the tax collectors and [notorious and [a]especially wicked] sinners were all coming near to [Jesus] to listen to Him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering and indignantly complaining, saying, This man accepts and receives and welcomes [[b]preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them.
11 And He said, There was a certain man who had two sons;
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the part of the property that falls [to me]. And he divided the estate between them.(A)
13 And not many days after that, the younger son gathered up all that he had and journeyed into a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and loose [from restraint] living.
14 And when he had spent all he had, a [a]mighty famine came upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in want.
15 So he went and forced (glued) himself upon one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed hogs.
16 And he would gladly have fed on and [b]filled his belly with the [c]carob pods that the hogs were eating, but [they could not satisfy his hunger and] nobody gave him anything [better].(B)
17 Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have enough food, and [even food] to spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger!
18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants.
20 So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [[d]fervently].
21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son [I no longer deserve to be recognized as a son of yours]!
22 But the father said to his bond servants, Bring quickly the best robe (the festive robe of honor) and put it on him; and give him a ring for his hand and sandals for his feet.(C)
23 And bring out [e]that [wheat-]fattened calf and kill it; and let us [f]revel and feast and be happy and make merry,
24 Because this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to [g]revel and feast and make merry.
25 But his older son was in the field; and as he returned and came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 And having called one of the servant [boys] to him, he began to ask what this meant.
27 And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed [h]that [wheat-]fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and well.
28 But [the elder brother] was angry [with deep-seated wrath] and resolved not to go in. Then his father came out and began to plead with him,
29 But he answered his father, Look! These many years I have served you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me [so much as] a [little] kid, that I might [i]revel and feast and be happy and make merry with my friends;
30 But when this son of yours arrived, who has devoured your estate with immoral women, you have killed for him [j]that [wheat-] fattened calf!
31 And the father said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 But it was fitting to make merry, to [k]revel and feast and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!
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