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.
13 “It shall come about, (A)if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, (B)to love the Lord your God and to serve Him (C)with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that [a](D)He will give the rain for your land in its season, the [b](E)early and [c]late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15 [d](F)He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and (G)you will eat and be satisfied. 16 [e](H)Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. 17 Or (I)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will (J)shut up the heavens (K)so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and (L)you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
18 “(M)You shall therefore [f]impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as [g]frontals [h]on your forehead. 19 (N)You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
11 Therefore, knowing the (A)fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are (B)made manifest also in your consciences. 12 We are not (C)again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an (D)occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we [a]are (E)beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ (F)controls us, having concluded this, that (G)one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer (H)live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one [b](I)according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ [c]according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is (J)in Christ, [d]he is (K)a new creature; (L)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now (M)all these things are from God, (N)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the (O)ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that (P)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, (Q)not counting their trespasses against them, and [e]He has [f]committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are (R)ambassadors for Christ, (S)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be (T)reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who (U)knew no sin to be (V)sin on our behalf, so that we might become the (W)righteousness of God in Him.
Their Ministry Commended
6 And (X)working together with Him, (Y)we also urge you not to receive (Z)the grace of God in vain— 2 for He says,
“(AA)At the acceptable time I listened to you,
And on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—
Instructions
17 He said to His disciples, “(A)It is inevitable that [a]stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 (B)It [b]would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 [c]Be on your guard! (C)If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you (D)seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ [d]forgive him.”
5 (E)The apostles said to (F)the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And (G)the Lord said, “If you [e]had faith like (H)a mustard seed, you would say to this (I)mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would [f]obey you.
7 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and [g]sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not say to him, ‘(J)Prepare something for me to eat, and properly [h]clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and [i]afterward you [j]may eat and drink’? 9 He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
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