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.
16 (A)Bind up the testimony, (B)seal the [a]law among (C)my disciples. 17 And I will (D)wait for the Lord (E)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. 18 (F)Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for (G)signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who (H)dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “(I)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people (J)consult their God? Should they (K)consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the [b](L)law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because (M)they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through [c]the land (N)hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse [d]their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will (O)look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be (P)driven away into darkness.
Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace
9 [e]But there will be no more (Q)gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He (R)treated the (S)land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the [f]Gentiles.
Growth in Christian Virtue
1 [a]Simon Peter, a (A)bond-servant and (B)apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received (C)a faith of the same [b]kind as ours, [c]by (D)the righteousness of (E)our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 (F)Grace and peace be multiplied to you in (G)the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His (H)divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true (I)knowledge of Him who (J)called us [d]by His own glory and [e]excellence. 4 [f]For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent (K)promises, so that by them you may become (L)partakers of the divine nature, having (M)escaped the (N)corruption that is in (O)the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith (P)supply (Q)moral [g]excellence, and in your moral excellence, (R)knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, (S)self-control, and in your self-control, (T)perseverance, and in your perseverance, (U)godliness, 7 and in your godliness, (V)brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor (W)unfruitful in the true (X)knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is (Y)blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his (Z)purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His (AA)calling and (AB)choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never (AC)stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into (AD)the eternal kingdom of our (AE)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be (AF)abundantly (AG)supplied to you.
The Garden of Gethsemane
39 (A)And He came out and proceeded (B)as was His custom to (C)the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. 40 (D)When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “(E)Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He (F)knelt down and began to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this (G)cup from Me; (H)yet not My will, but Yours be done.” 43 [a]Now an (I)angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And (J)being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. 45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and (K)pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Jesus Betrayed by Judas
47 (L)While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the (M)sword?” 50 And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered and said, “[b]Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and (N)officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs (O)as you would against a robber? 53 While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but [c]this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”
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