Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
41 How blessed[b] is the one who treats the poor properly.[c]
When trouble comes,[d] may[e] the Lord deliver him.[f]
2 May the Lord protect him and save his life.[g]
May he be blessed[h] in the land.
Do not turn him over[i] to his enemies.[j]
3 The Lord supports[k] him on his sickbed;
you have healed him from his illness.[l]
4 As for me, I said:[m]
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
5 My enemies ask this cruel question about me,[n]
‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’[o]
6 When someone comes to visit,[p] he pretends to be friendly;[q]
he thinks of ways to defame me,[r]
and when he leaves he slanders me.[s]
7 All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another;[t]
they plan ways to harm me.
8 They say,[u]
‘An awful disease[v] overwhelms him,[w]
and now that he is bedridden he will never recover.’[x]
9 Even my close friend[y] whom I trusted,
he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.[z]
10 As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!”[aa]
11 By this[ab] I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does[ac] not triumph[ad] over me.
12 As for me, you uphold[ae] me because of my integrity;[af]
you allow[ag] me permanent access to your presence.[ah]
13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise[ai]
in the future and forevermore.[aj]
We agree! We agree![ak]
Psalm 52[a]
For the music director, a well-written song[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”[c]
52 Why do you boast about your evil plans,[d] O powerful man?
God’s loyal love protects me all day long.[e]
2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans;[f]
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.[g]
3 You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth.[h] (Selah)
4 You love to use all the words that destroy,[i]
and the tongue that deceives.
5 Yet[j] God will make you a permanent heap of ruins.[k]
He will scoop you up[l] and remove you from your home;[m]
he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,
and will mock the evildoer, saying:[n]
7 “Look, here is the man who would not make[o] God his protector.
He trusted in his great wealth
and was confident about his plans to destroy others.”[p]
8 But I[q] am like a flourishing[r] olive tree in the house of God;
I continually[s] trust in God’s loyal love.
9 I will continually[t] thank you when[u] you execute judgment;[v]
I will rely on[w] you,[x] for your loyal followers know you are good.[y]
Psalm 44[a]
For the music director, by the Korahites; a well-written song.[b]
44 O God, we have clearly heard;[c]
our ancestors[d] have told us
what you did[e] in their days,
in ancient times.[f]
2 You, by your power,[g] defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;[h]
you crushed[i] the people living there[j] and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.[k]
3 For they did not conquer[l] the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength,[m]
but rather by your power,[n] strength,[o] and good favor,[p]
for you were partial to[q] them.
4 You are my[r] king, O God.
Decree[s] Jacob’s[t] deliverance.
5 By your power[u] we will drive back[v] our enemies;
by your strength[w] we will trample down[x] our foes.[y]
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
7 For you deliver[z] us from our enemies;
you humiliate[aa] those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
9 But[ab] you rejected and embarrassed us.
You did not go into battle with our armies.[ac]
10 You made us retreat[ad] from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.[ae]
11 You handed us[af] over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold[ag] your people for a pittance;[ah]
you did not ask a high price for them.[ai]
13 You made us[aj] an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.[ak]
14 You made us[al] an object of ridicule[am] among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.[an]
15 All day long I feel humiliated[ao]
and am overwhelmed with shame,[ap]
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.[aq]
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you[ar]
or violated your covenant with us.[as]
18 We have not been unfaithful,[at]
nor have we disobeyed your commands.[au]
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;[av]
you have covered us with darkness.[aw]
20 If we had rejected our God,[ax]
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,[ay]
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows[az] a person’s secret thoughts?[ba]
22 Yet because of you[bb] we are killed all day long;
we are treated like[bc] sheep at the slaughtering block.[bd]
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up![be] Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way,[bf]
and ignore[bg] the way we are oppressed and mistreated?[bh]
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.[bi]
26 Rise up and help us.
Rescue us[bj] because of your loyal love.
13 Now, if you pay close attention[a] to my commandments that I am giving you today and love[b] the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being,[c] 14 then he promises,[d] “I will send rain for your land[e] in its season, the autumn and the spring rains,[f] so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 I will provide pasture[g] for your livestock and you will eat your fill.”
Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience
16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods![h] 17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt[i] against you, and he will close up the sky[j] so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed[k] from the good land that the Lord[l] is about to give you. 18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being,[m] tie them as a reminder on your hands, and let them be symbols[n] on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road,[o] as you lie down, and as you get up.
The Message of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord,[a] we try to persuade[b] people,[c] but we are well known[d] to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too. 12 We are not trying to commend[e] ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us,[f] so that you may be able to answer those who take pride[g] in outward appearance[h] and not in what is in the heart. 13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ[i] controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ[j] died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.[k] 16 So then from now on we acknowledge[l] no one from an outward human point of view.[m] Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view,[n] now we do not know him in that way any longer. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away[o]—look, what is new[p] has come![q] 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us[r] the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea[s] through us. We plead with you[t] on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God[u] made the one who did not know sin[v] to be sin for us, so that in him[w] we would become the righteousness of God.
God’s Suffering Servants
6 Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.[x] 2 For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”[y] Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!
Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service
17 Jesus[a] said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe[b] to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him to have a millstone[c] tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea[d] than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.[e] 3 Watch[f] yourselves! If[g] your brother[h] sins, rebuke him. If[i] he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive[j] him.”
5 The[k] apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”[l] 6 So[m] the Lord replied,[n] “If[o] you had faith the size of[p] a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry[q] tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’[r] and it would obey[s] you.
7 “Would any one of you say[t] to your slave[u] who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’?[v] 8 Won’t[w] the master[x] instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready[y] to serve me while[z] I eat and drink. Then[aa] you may eat and drink’? 9 He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told,[ab] will he?[ac] 10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise;[ad] we have only done what was our duty.’”[ae]
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