Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
1 Blessed is the one who has concern for helpless people.
Yahweh will rescue him in times of trouble.
2 Yahweh will protect him and keep him alive.
He will be blessed in the land.
Do not place him at the mercy of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will support him on his sickbed.
You will restore this person to health when he is ill.
4 I said, “O Yahweh, have pity on me!
Heal my soul because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies say terrible things about me:
“When will he die, and when will his family name disappear?”
6 When one of them comes to visit me, he speaks foolishly.
His heart collects gossip.
Then he leaves to tell others.
7 Everyone who hates me whispers about me.
They think evil things about me and say,
8 “A devilish disease has attached itself to him.
He will never leave his sickbed.”
9 Even my closest friend whom I trusted,
the one who ate my bread,
has lifted his heel against me.
10 Have pity on me, O Yahweh!
Raise me up so that I can pay them back
11 and my enemy cannot shout in triumph over me.
When you do this, I know that you are pleased with me.
12 You defend my integrity,
and you set me in your presence forever.
13 Thank Yahweh Elohim of Israel through all eternity!
Amen and amen!
Psalm 52
For the choir director; a maskil; a psalm by David when Doeg (who was from Edom) told Saul that David had come to Ahimelech’s home.
1 Why do you brag about the evil you’ve done, you hero?
The mercy of El lasts all day long!
2 Your tongue makes up threats.
It’s like a sharp razor, you master of deceit.
3 You prefer evil to good.
You prefer lying to speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love every destructive accusation, you deceitful tongue!
5 But El will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and drag you out of your tent.
He will pull your roots out of this world of the living. Selah
6 Righteous people will see this and be struck with fear.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look at this person who refused to make Elohim his fortress!
Instead, he trusted his great wealth
and became strong through his greed.”
8 But I am like a large olive tree in Elohim’s house.
I trust the mercy of Elohim forever and ever.
9 I will give thanks to you forever
for what you have done.
In the presence of your godly people,
I will wait with hope in your good name.
Psalm 44
For the choir director; a maskil by Korah’s descendants.
1 O Elohim,
we have heard it with our own ears.
Our ancestors have told us
about the miracle you performed in their day,
in days long ago.
2 By your power you forced nations out of the land,
but you planted our ancestors there.
You shattered many groups of people,
but you set our ancestors free.[a]
3 It was not with their swords that they took possession of the land.
They did not gain victory with their own strength.
It was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your presence that did it,
because you were pleased with them.
4 You alone are my Melek, O Elohim.
You won those victories for Jacob.
5 With you we can walk over our enemies.
With your name we can trample those who attack us.
6 I do not rely on my bow,
and my sword will never save me.
7 But you saved us from our enemies.
You put to shame those who hate us.
8 All day long we praise our Elohim.
We give thanks to you forever. Selah
9 But now you have rejected and disgraced us.
You do not even go along with our armies.
10 You make us retreat from the enemy.
Those who hate us rob us at will.
11 You hand us over to be butchered like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.
12 You sell your people for almost nothing,
and at that price you have gained nothing.
13 You made us a disgrace to our neighbors
and an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us.
14 You made our defeat a proverb among the nations
so that people shake their heads at us.
15 All day long my disgrace is in front of me.
Shame covers my face
16 because of the words of those who insult and slander us,
because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
17 Although all of this happened to us,
we never forgot you.
We never ignored your promise.[b]
18 Our hearts never turned away.
Our feet never left your path.
19 Yet, you crushed us in a place for jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we forgot the name of our Elohim
or stretched out our hands to pray to another god,
21 wouldn’t Elohim find out,
since he knows the secrets in our hearts?
22 Indeed, we are being killed all day long because of you.
We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up! Why are you sleeping, O Adonay?
Awake! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our suffering and misery?
25 Our souls are bowing in the dust.
Our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Arise! Help us!
Rescue us because of your mercy!
Joseph’s Brothers Sell Him into Slavery
37 Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived.
2 This is the account of Jacob and his descendants.
Joseph was a seventeen-year-old young man. He took care of the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph told his father about the bad things his brothers were doing.
3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because Joseph had been born in Israel’s old age. So he made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves. 4 Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated Joseph and couldn’t speak to him on friendly terms.
5 Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to the dream I had. 7 We were tying grain into bundles out in the field, and suddenly mine stood up. It remained standing while your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it.”
8 Then his brothers asked him, “Are you going to be our king or rule us?” They hated him even more for his dreams and his words.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream: I saw the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father and his brothers, his father criticized him by asking, “What’s this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers come and bow down in front of you?” 11 So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about these things.
Greeting
1 From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Yeshua by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother in the Christian faith.
2 To God’s church that was made holy by Christ Yeshua and called to be God’s holy people in the city of Corinth and to people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Yeshua Christ.
3 Good will[a] and peace from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua Christ are yours!
4 I always thank God for you because Christ Yeshua has shown you God’s good will. 5 Through Christ Yeshua you have become rich in every way—in speech and knowledge of every kind. 6 Our message about Christ has been verified among you. 7 Therefore, you don’t lack any gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord Yeshua Christ to be revealed. 8 He will continue to give you strength until the end so that no one can accuse you of anything on the day of our Lord Yeshua Christ. 9 God faithfully keeps his promises. He called you to be partners with his Son Yeshua Christ our Lord.
God’s Wisdom Is Better Than the World’s Wisdom
10 Brothers and sisters, I encourage all of you in the name of our Lord Yeshua Christ to agree with each other and not to split into opposing groups. I want you to be united in your understanding and opinions. 11 Brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s family have made it clear to me that you are quarreling among yourselves. 12 This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,”[b] or “I follow Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God that[c] I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 I also baptized Stephanas and his family. Beyond that, I’m not sure whether I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ didn’t send me to baptize. Instead, he sent me to spread the Good News. I didn’t use intellectual arguments. That would have made the cross of Christ lose its meaning.
18 The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 Scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.”
John Prepares the Way(A)
1 This is the beginning of the Good News about Yeshua Christ, the Son of God.
2 The prophet Isaiah wrote,
“I am sending my messenger ahead of you
to prepare the way for you.”
3 “A voice cries out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord!
Make his paths straight!’”
4 John the Baptizer was in the desert telling people about a baptism of repentance[a] for the forgiveness of sins. 5 All Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went to him. As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
6 John was dressed in clothes made from camel’s hair. He wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
7 He announced, “The one who comes after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to bend down and untie his sandal straps. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John Baptizes Jesus(B)
9 At that time Yeshua came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10 As Yeshua came out of the water, he saw heaven split open and the Spirit coming down to him as a dove. 11 A voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with you.”
Satan Tempts Jesus(C)
12 At once the Spirit brought him into the desert, 13 where he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. He was there with the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.