Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 30
A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the Temple. [A Psalm] of David.
1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me.
3 O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit (the grave).
4 Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
5 For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.(A)
6 As for me, in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
7 By Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried to You, O Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication.
9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit (the grave)? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth and faithfulness to men?
10 Hear, O Lord, have mercy and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
12 To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 32
[A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.(A)
3 When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
6 For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.
7 You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
8 I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Book Two
Psalm 42
To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of the sons of Korah.
1 As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.
2 My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?(A)
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God?
4 These things I [earnestly] remember and pour myself out within me: how I went slowly before the throng and led them in procession to the house of God [like a bandmaster before his band, timing the steps to the sound of music and the chant of song], with the voice of shouting and praise, a throng keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.
6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.
7 [Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.
8 Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
10 As with a sword [crushing] in my bones, my enemies taunt and reproach me, while they say continually to me, Where is your God?
11 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Psalm 43
1 Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead and defend my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength [my Stronghold—in Whom I take refuge]; why have You cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling.
4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy; yes, with the lyre will I praise You, O God, my God!
5 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my [sad] countenance, and my God.
22 So David departed and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
2 And everyone in distress or in debt or discontented gathered to him, and he became a commander over them. And there were with him about 400 men.
3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father [of Moabite descent] and my mother, I pray you, come out [of Judah] and be with you till I know what God will do for me.(A)
4 And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the stronghold [in Moab].
5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, Do not remain in the stronghold; leave, and get into the land of Judah. So David left and went into the forest of Hareth.
6 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him. Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height, his spear in his hand and all his servants standing about him.
7 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all commanders of thousands and hundreds,
8 That all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait, as he does this day?
9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood with Saul’s servants, said, I saw the son of Jesse come to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub.
10 And [Ahimelech] inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and they all came to the king.
12 Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. He replied, Here I am, my lord.
13 Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so he could rise against me to lie in wait, as he does this day?
14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, And who is so faithful among all your servants as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and is taken into your council and honored in your house?
15 Have I only today begun inquiring of God for him? No! Let not the king impute any wrong to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, little or much.
16 [Saul] said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.
17 And the king said to the guard that stood about him, Turn and slay the Lord’s priests, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hands against the Lord’s priests.
18 The king said to Doeg, You turn and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests and slew that day eighty-five persons who wore the priest’s linen ephod.
19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the sword; both men and women, children and sucklings, oxen and donkeys and sheep, he put to the sword.
20 And one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub named Abiathar escaped and fled after David.
21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the Lord’s priests.
22 David said to Abiathar, I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all your father’s house.
23 Stay with me, fear not; for he who seeks my life seeks your life. But with me you shall be safeguarded.
26 Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and all those others among you who reverence and fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation [the salvation obtained through Jesus Christ].(A)
27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know or recognize Him or understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have actually fulfilled these very predictions by condemning and sentencing [Him].
28 And although they could find no cause deserving death with which to charge Him, yet they asked Pilate to have Him executed and put out of the way.
29 And when they had finished and fulfilled everything that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 But God raised Him from the dead.
31 And for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are His witnesses to the people.
32 So now we are bringing you the good news (Gospel) that what God promised to our forefathers,
33 This He has [a]completely fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are My Son; today I have begotten You [[b]caused You to arise, to be born; [c]formally shown You to be the Messiah by the resurrection].(B)
34 And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, now no more to return to [undergo] putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave], He spoke in this way, I will fulfill and give to you the holy and sure mercy and blessings [that were promised and assured] to David.(C)
35 For this reason He says also in another psalm, You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption [to undergo putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].(D)
36 For David, after he had served God’s will and purpose and counsel in his own generation, fell asleep [[d]in death] and was buried among his forefathers, and he did see corruption and undergo putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave].
37 But He Whom God raised up [to life] saw no corruption [did not experience putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].
38 So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you;
39 And that through Him everyone who believes [who [e]acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him] is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which he could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses and given right standing with God.
40 Take care, therefore, lest there come upon you what is spoken in the prophets:
41 Look, you scoffers and scorners, and marvel and perish and vanish away; for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never have confidence in or believe, [even] if someone [[f]clearly describing it in detail] declares it to you.(E)
42 As they [Paul and Barnabas] went out [of the synagogue], the people earnestly begged that these things might be told to them [further] the next Sabbath.
43 And when the congregation of the synagogue dispersed, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to continue [to trust themselves to and to stand fast] in the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God.
19 And Judas Iscariot, he who betrayed Him.
20 Then He went to a house [probably Peter’s], but a throng came together again, so that Jesus and His disciples could not even take food.
21 And when those [a]who belonged to Him ([b]His kinsmen) heard it, they went out to take Him by force, for they kept saying, He is out of [c]His mind (beside Himself, deranged)!
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He is possessed by Beelzebub, and, By [the help of] the prince of demons He is casting out demons.
23 And He summoned them to Him and said to them in parables (illustrations or comparisons put beside truths to explain them), How can Satan drive out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom is divided and rebelling against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house is divided (split into factions and rebelling) against itself, that house will not be able to last.
26 And if Satan has raised an insurrection against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is [surely] coming to an end.
27 But no one can go into a strong man’s house and ransack his household goods right and left and seize them as plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may [thoroughly] plunder his house.(A)
28 Truly and solemnly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever abusive and blasphemous things they utter;
29 But whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit can never get forgiveness, but is guilty of and is in the grasp of [d]an everlasting trespass.
30 For they [e]persisted in saying, [f]He has an unclean spirit.
31 Then His mother and His brothers came and, standing outside, they sent word to Him, calling [for] Him.
32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside asking for You.
33 And He replied, Who are My mother and My brothers?
34 And looking around on those who sat in a circle about Him, He said, See! Here are My mother and My brothers;
35 For whoever does the things God wills is My brother and sister and mother!
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