Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
Assurance of God’s Help and a Plea for Healing
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 Happy are those who consider the poor;[a]
the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.(A)
2 The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.(B)
3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
in their illness you heal all their infirmities.[b](C)
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”(D)
5 My enemies wonder in malice
when I will die and my name perish.(E)
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words
while their hearts gather mischief;
when they go out, they tell it abroad.(F)
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.(G)
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
that I will not rise again from where I lie.(H)
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.(I)
10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.(J)
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me:
because my enemy has not triumphed over me.(K)
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity
and set me in your presence forever.(L)
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.(M)
Psalm 52
Judgment on the Deceitful
To the leader. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?[a]
All day long(A) 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.(B)
3 You love evil more than good
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah(C)
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.(D)
5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah(E)
6 The righteous will see and fear
and will laugh at the evildoer,[b] saying,(F)
7 “See the one who would not take
refuge in God
but trusted in abundant riches
and sought refuge in wealth!”[c](G)
Psalm 44
National Lament and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our ancestors have told us
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:(A)
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;(B)
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory,
but your right hand, and your arm,
and the light of your countenance,
for you delighted in them.(C)
4 You are my King and my God;
you command[a] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down our assailants.(D)
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to confusion those who hate us.(E)
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah(F)
9 Yet you have rejected us and shamed us
and have not gone out with our armies.(G)
10 You made us turn back from the foe,
and our enemies have gotten spoil.(H)
11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.(I)
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.(J)
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.(K)
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(L)
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.(M)
17 All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.(N)
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way,(O)
19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with deep darkness.(P)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a strange god,(Q)
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.(R)
22 Because of you we are being killed all day long
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(S)
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!(T)
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?(U)
25 For we sink down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.(V)
26 Rise up, come to our help.
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.(W)
13 “If you will only heed his every commandment[a] that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul(A)— 14 then he[b] will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil,(B) 15 and he[c] will give grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat your fill.(C) 16 Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them,(D) 17 for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its produce; then you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.(E)
18 “You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.(F) 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise up.(G)
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.(A) 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.(B) 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.(C) 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.(D) 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;[a] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,[b] we no longer know him in that way.(E) 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there[c] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;(G) 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[e] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.(H) 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.(I) 21 For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.(J)
6 As we work together with him,[f] we entreat you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.(K) 2 For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!(L)
Some Sayings of Jesus
17 Jesus[a] said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin[b] are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come!(A) 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.[c](B) 3 Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.(C) 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”(D)
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”(E) 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a[d] mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.(F)
7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?(G) 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.