Book of Common Prayer
O Yahweh, Be Gracious to Me
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
41 How blessed is he who (A)considers the [a]poor;
Yahweh will provide him escape (B)in a day of [b]calamity.
2 Yahweh will (C)keep him and keep him alive,
And he shall be (D)blessed upon the earth;
And (E)do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You [c]restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, “O Yahweh, 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 [d]when he comes to see me, he (I)speaks [e]worthlessness;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he speaks it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me, they (J)devise for me [f]calamity, saying,
8 “A vile 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 Yahweh, be gracious to me and (M)raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that (N)You delight in me,
Because (O)my enemy makes no shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, (P)You uphold me in my integrity,
And You make me (Q)stand firm in Your presence forever.
13 (R)Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God
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 So that the righteous will (L)see and fear,
And will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in his destruction.”
Rise Up, Be Our Help
For the choir director. Of the sons of Korah. A [a]Maskil.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our (A)fathers have recounted to us
The (B)work that You did in their days,
In the (C)days of old.
2 You with Your own hand (D)dispossessed the nations;
Then You (E)planted them;
You (F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You (G)cast them out.
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]salvation for Jacob.
5 Through You we will (N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will (O)tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will (P)not trust in my bow,
And my sword will not 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 plundered us 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]for no amount,
And You have not [f]profited from their price.
13 You make us a (AC)reproach to our neighbors,
A mockery 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]the (AG)shame of my face has covered 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,
Nor have our steps (AM)deviated from Your path,
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 spread 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 counted as (AU)sheep for the slaughter.
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 [j]body cleaves to the earth.
26 (BB)Rise up, be our help,
And (BC)redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
The Two Witnesses
11 Then a [a](A)measuring rod like a staff was given to me, (B)saying, “Get up and measure the sanctuary of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 And [b]leave out the (C)court which is outside the sanctuary and do not measure it, for (D)it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will (E)trample (F)the holy city under foot for (G)forty-two months. 3 And I will give authority to my two (H)witnesses, and they will prophesy for (I)1,260 days, clothed in (J)sackcloth.” 4 These are the (K)two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wishes to harm them, (L)fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wishes to harm them, (M)he must be killed in this way. 6 These have the authority to (N)shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during (O)the days of their prophesying; they also have authority over the waters to (P)turn them into blood, and (Q)to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they wish.
7 And when they have finished their witness, (R)the beast that comes up out of the (S)abyss will (T)make war with them and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the (U)great city which spiritually is called (V)Sodom and (W)Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And those from (X)the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead [c]bodies for three and a half days, and [d](Y)will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And (Z)those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and (AA)send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented (AB)those who dwell on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days, (AC)the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “(AD)Come up here.” Then they (AE)went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great (AF)earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; [e]seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and (AG)gave glory to the (AH)God of heaven.
14 The second (AI)woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
A Kingdom Divided
14 (A)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons (B)by (C)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 And others, testing Him, (D)were seeking from Him [a]a sign from heaven. 17 (E)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “[b]Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against [c]itself falls. 18 But if (F)Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by (G)Beelzebul. 19 And if I by (H)Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons by the (I)finger of God, then (J)the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When [d]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are [e]undisturbed. 22 But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 (K)He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
24 “(L)When the unclean spirit goes out of [f]a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
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