Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed are those who consider the poor;
the Lord will deliver them in the day of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve them and keep them alive,
and they will be blessed on the earth,
and You will not deliver them to the will of their enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain them on the sickbed;
You will restore all his lying down in his illness.
4 I said, “Lord, be gracious to me;
heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if people come to see me, they speak insincerely;
their heart gathers iniquity to itself,
when they go outside, they tell it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
they devise harm against me.
8 “An evil disease clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will not rise up again.”
9 Yes, my own close friend,
in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread,
has lifted up the heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You favor me,
because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
and set me before You forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting and to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 52
For the Music Director. A Contemplative Maskil. A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelek.”
1 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
2 Your tongue devises calamities,
like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
4 You love all devouring words,
O you deceitful tongue.
5 God will likewise break you down forever;
He will snatch you away and pluck you from your home,
and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous also will see and fear,
and will laugh in contempt,
7 “See, this is the man
who did not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of riches,
and grew strong in his own wickedness.”
8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
9 I will give thanks to You forever, because You have acted;
and I will wait on Your name,
for it is good before Your saints.
Psalm 44
For the Music Director. A Contemplative Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our fathers have told us
what work You did in their days,
in the days of old:
2 how You drove out the nations with Your hand,
and planted others instead;
how You afflicted peoples,
and sent them away.
3 For they did not take possession of the land by their own sword,
nor did their own arm save them;
but it was Your right hand, and Your arm,
and the light of Your countenance, because You had favor on them.
4 You are my King, O God;
command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through You we will push down our opponents;
through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
nor will my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our opponents,
and have put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah
9 But You have rejected us and put us to shame,
and do not go out with our armies.
10 You make us to turn back from the opponent,
and those who hate us make us their spoil.
11 You have placed us like sheep for prey,
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell Your people for nothing,
and do not increase Your wealth by their sale.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and a derision to those who surround us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the people.
15 All day long my reproach is before me,
and the shame of my face covers me,
16 from the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come on us,
yet we have not forgotten You,
nor have we dealt falsely in Your covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
nor have our steps deviated from Your way,
19 though You have crushed us in the place of jackals,
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yes, for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are considered like sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake; why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise; do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face,
and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our body cleaves to the earth.
26 Arise, be our help,
and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
16 Bind up the testimony;
seal the law among My disciples.
17 I will wait on the Lord,
who hides His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will eagerly look for Him.
18 See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “Seek after the mediums and the wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek after their God? Should they consult the dead for the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony; if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21 They shall pass through the land hard-pressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they shall be furious and curse their king and their God as they look upward. 22 Then they shall look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish. And they shall be driven away into darkness.
The Coming King
9 Nevertheless there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He contemptuously treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
Salutation
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
The Christian’s Call and Election
3 His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence, 4 by which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that through these things you might become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 For this reason make every effort to add virtue to your faith; and to your virtue, knowledge; 6 and to your knowledge, self-control; and to your self-control, patient endurance; and to your patient endurance, godliness; 7 and to your godliness, brotherly kindness; and to your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these things reside in you and abound, they ensure that you will neither be useless nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But the one who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted because he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brothers, diligently make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. 11 For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly provided for you.
The Prayer on the Mount of Olives(A)
39 According to His custom, He came out and went to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples followed Him. 40 When He came there, He said to them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45 When He rose from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you fall into temptation.”
The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus(B)
47 While He was yet speaking, a crowd came. And he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When those who were around Him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus said, “This is enough!” And He touched his ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, and captains of the temple guard, and the elders who had come for Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as against a rebel? 53 Daily, while I was with you in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.