Book of Common Prayer
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 Blessed are those who care about weak people.
When they are in trouble, the Lord saves them.
2 The Lord guards them and keeps them alive.
They are counted among those who are blessed in the land.
The Lord won’t hand them over to the wishes of their enemies.
3 The Lord will take care of them when they are lying sick in bed.
He will make them well again.
4 I said, “Lord, have mercy on me.
Heal me, because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying bad things about me.
They say, “When will he die and his name be forgotten?”
6 When one of them comes to see me,
he says things that aren’t true.
At the same time, he thinks up lies to tell against me.
Then he goes out and spreads those lies around.
7 All my enemies whisper to each other about me.
They want something terrible to happen to me.
8 They say, “He is sick and will die very soon.
He will never get up from his bed again.”
9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, has failed me.
I even shared my bread with him.
10 But Lord, may you have mercy on me.
Make me well, so I can pay them back.
11 Then I will know that you are pleased with me,
because my enemies haven’t won the battle over me.
12 You will take good care of me because I’ve been honest.
You will let me be with you forever.
13 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel,
for ever and ever.
Amen and Amen.
For the director of music. A maskil of David when Doeg, who was from Edom, had gone to Saul. Doeg had told Saul, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”
52 You think you are such a big, strong man!
Why do you brag about the evil things you’ve done?
You are a dishonor to God all the time.
2 You plan ways to destroy others.
Your tongue is like a blade that has a sharp edge.
You are always telling lies.
3 You love evil instead of good.
You would rather lie than tell the truth.
4 You love to harm others with your words, you liar!
5 So God will destroy you forever.
He will grab you and pluck you from your tent.
He will remove you from this life.
6 Those who do what is right will see it and learn a lesson from it.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Just look at this fellow!
He didn’t depend on God for his safety.
He put his trust in all his wealth.
He grew strong by destroying others!”
8 But I am like a healthy olive tree.
My roots are deep in the house of God.
I trust in your faithful love
for ever and ever.
9 I will praise you forever for what you have done.
I will praise you when I’m with your faithful people.
I will put my hope in you because you are good.
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard what you did.
Those who came before us have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 By your power you drove out the nations.
You gave our people homes in the land.
You crushed the people who were there.
And you made our people do well.
3 They didn’t win the land with their swords.
They didn’t gain success by their own power.
Your powerful right hand and your mighty arm gave them victory.
You gave them success because you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God.
You give victories to the people of Jacob.
5 With your help we push back our enemies.
By your power we walk all over them.
6 I put no trust in my bow.
My sword doesn’t bring me victory.
7 But you give us victory over our enemies.
You put them to shame.
8 All day long we talk about how great God is.
We will praise your name forever.
9 But now you have turned your back on us and made us humble.
You don’t march out with our armies anymore.
10 You made us turn and run from our enemies.
They have taken what belongs to us.
11 You handed us over to be eaten up like sheep.
You have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for very little.
You didn’t gain anything when you sold them.
13 You have made us something that our neighbors laugh at.
Those who live around us make fun of us and tease us.
14 The nations make jokes about us.
They shake their heads at us.
15 All day long I have to live with my shame.
My face is covered with it.
16 That’s because they laugh at me and attack me with their words.
They want to get even with me.
17 All of this happened to us,
even though we had not forgotten you.
We had not broken the covenant you made with us.
18 Our hearts had not turned away from you.
Our feet had not wandered from your path.
19 But you crushed us and left us to the wild dogs.
You covered us over with deep darkness.
20 We didn’t forget our God.
We didn’t spread out our hands in prayer to a false god.
21 If we had, God would have discovered it.
He knows the secrets of our hearts.
22 But because of you, we face death all day long.
We are considered as sheep to be killed.
23 Lord, wake up! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t say no to us forever.
24 Why do you turn your face away from us?
Why do you forget our pain and troubles?
25 We are brought down to the dust.
Our bodies lie flat on the ground.
26 Rise up and help us.
Save us because of your faithful love.
The Two Witnesses
11 I was given a long stick that looked like a measuring rod. I was told, “Go and measure the temple of God. And measure the altar where the people are worshiping. 2 But do not measure the outer courtyard. That’s because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will take over the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will appoint my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for 1,260 days. They will be dressed in the rough clothes people wear when they’re sad.” 4 The witnesses are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands. And “they stand in front of the Lord of the earth.” (Zechariah 4:3,11,14) 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and eats up their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These witnesses have power to close up the sky. Then it will not rain while they are prophesying. They also have power to turn the waters into blood. And they can strike the earth with every kind of plague. They can do this as often as they want to.
7 When they have finished speaking, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them. He will overpower them and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the main street of the great city. It is also the city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. The city is sometimes compared to Sodom or Egypt. 9 For three and a half days, people will stare at their bodies. These people will be from every tribe and nation, no matter what language they speak. They will refuse to bury them. 10 Those who live on the earth will be happy about this. That’s because those two prophets had made them suffer. The people will celebrate by sending one another gifts.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the witnesses. They both stood up. Terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then the two witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven. It said to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud. Their enemies watched it happen.
13 At that same time there was a powerful earthquake. A tenth of the city crumbled and fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people were killed. Those who lived through it were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second terrible judgment has passed. The third is coming soon.
Jesus and Beelzebul
14 Jesus was driving out a demon. The man who had the demon could not speak. When the demon left, the man began to speak. The crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “Jesus is driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” 16 Others tested Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven.
17 Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, “Any kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. A family that is divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because of what you claim. You say I drive out demons by the power of Beelzebul. 19 Suppose I do drive out demons with Beelzebul’s help. With whose help do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But suppose I drive out demons with the help of God’s powerful finger. Then God’s kingdom has come upon you.
21 “When a strong man is completely armed and guards his house, what he owns is safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks, he is overpowered. The attacker takes away the armor the man had trusted in. Then he divides up what he has stolen.
23 “Whoever is not with me is against me. And whoever does not gather with me scatters.
24 “What happens when an evil spirit comes out of a person? It goes through dry areas looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives there, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then the evil spirit goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and live there. That person is worse off than before.”
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