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.
The Introduction to the Visions
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius’ second year,[a] the Lord’s message came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:
The Content of the First Vision
8 I was attentive that night and saw a man seated[b] on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees[c] in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel,[d] and white horses.
The Interpretation of the First Vision
9 Then I asked one nearby, “What are these, sir?” The angelic messenger[e] who replied to me said, “I will show you what these are.” 10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk about[f] on the earth.” 11 The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord,[g] who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.” 12 The angel of the Lord then asked, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[h] how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that you have been so angry with for these seventy years?”[i] 13 The Lord then addressed good, comforting words to the angelic messenger who was speaking to me. 14 Turning to me, the messenger then said, “Cry out that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘I am very much moved[j] for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted.[k] I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.
The Oracle of Response
16 “‘Therefore,’ this is what the Lord has said, ‘I have become compassionate[l] toward Jerusalem and will rebuild my temple[m] in it,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ‘Once more a surveyor’s measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’ 17 Speak up again with the message of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: ‘My cities will once more overflow with prosperity, and once more the Lord will comfort Zion and validate his choice of Jerusalem.’”
4 From John,[a] to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia:[b] Grace and peace to you[c] from “he who is,”[d] and who was, and who is still to come,[e] and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ—the faithful[f] witness,[g] the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free[h] from our sins at the cost of[i] his own blood 6 and has appointed[j] us as a kingdom,[k] as priests[l] serving his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever![m] Amen.
7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds,[n]
and every eye will see him,
even[o] those who pierced him,[p]
and all the tribes[q] on the earth will mourn because[r] of him.
This will certainly come to pass![s] Amen.)[t]
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”[u] says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come—the All-Powerful![v]
9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares[w] with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that[x] are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.[y] 10 I was in the Spirit[z] on the Lord’s Day[aa] when[ab] I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna,[ac] Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I[ad] turned to see whose voice was speaking to me,[ae] and when I did so,[af] I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man.[ag] He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt[ah] around his chest. 14 His[ai] head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow,[aj] and his eyes were like a fiery[ak] flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze[al] refined[am] in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar[an] of many waters. 16 He held[ao] seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His[ap] face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When[aq] I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but[ar] he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who lives! I[as] was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades![at] 19 Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things.[au] 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this:[av] The seven stars are the angels[aw] of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
The Return of the Unclean Spirit
43 “When[a] an unclean spirit[b] goes out of a person,[c] it passes through waterless places[d] looking for rest but[e] does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’[f] When it returns,[g] it finds the house[h] empty, swept clean, and put in order.[i] 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so[j] the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”
Jesus’ True Family
46 While Jesus[k] was still speaking to the crowds,[l] his mother and brothers[m] came and stood outside, asking[n] to speak to him. 47 [o] Someone[p] told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting[q] to speak to you.” 48 To the one who had said this, Jesus[r] replied,[s] “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 And pointing[t] toward his disciples he said, “Here[u] are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is[v] my brother and sister and mother.”
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