Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician; set to chant mournfully. A didactic or reflective poem of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried to You for help by day; at night I am in Your presence.(A)
2 Let my prayer come before You and really enter into Your presence; incline Your ear to my cry!
3 For I am full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol (the place of the dead).
4 I am counted among those who go down into the pit (the grave); I am like a man who has no help or strength [a mere shadow],
5 Cast away among the dead, like the slain that lie in a [nameless] grave, whom You [seriously] remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand.
6 You have laid me in the depths of the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Your wrath lies hard upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(B)
8 You have put my [familiar] friends far from me; You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9 My eye grows dim because of sorrow and affliction. Lord, I have called daily on You; I have spread forth my hands to You.
10 Will You show wonders to the dead? Shall the departed arise and praise You? Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
11 Shall Your steadfast love be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in Abaddon (Sheol, as a place of ruin and destruction)?
12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the place of forgetfulness [where the dead forget and are forgotten]?
13 But to You I cry, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer come to meet You.
14 Lord, why do You cast me off? Why do You hide Your face from me?(C)
15 I was afflicted and close to death from my youth up; while I suffer Your terrors I am distracted [I faint].
16 Your fierce wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long; together they have closed in upon me.
18 Lover and friend have You put far from me; my familiar friends are darkness and the grave.
Psalm 91
1 He who [a]dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!
3 For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 [Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
8 Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,(A)
10 There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
12 They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.(B)
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.(C)
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
Psalm 92
A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
1 It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High,
2 To show forth Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night,
3 With an instrument of ten strings and with the lute, with a solemn sound upon the lyre.
4 For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing.
5 How great are Your doings, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep.
6 A man in his rude and uncultivated state knows not, neither does a [self-confident] fool understand this:
7 That though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to be destroyed forever.
8 But You, Lord, are on high forever.
9 For behold, Your adversaries, O Lord, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; all the evildoers shall be scattered.
10 But my horn (emblem of excessive strength and stately grace) You have exalted like that of a wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eye looks upon those who lie in wait for me; my ears hear the evildoers that rise up against me.
12 The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful]; they shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic, stable, durable, and incorruptible].
13 Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 [Growing in grace] they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap [of spiritual vitality] and [rich in the] verdure [of trust, love, and contentment].
15 [They are living memorials] to show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.(D)
12 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came and said to him, There were two men in a city, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,
3 But the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought and brought up, and it grew up with him and his children. It ate of his own morsel, drank from his own cup, lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.
4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, and to avoid taking one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.
5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this is a son [worthy] of death.
6 He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no pity.
7 Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king of Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
8 And I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added that much again.
9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, doing evil in His sight? You have slain Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. You have murdered him with the sword of the Ammonites.(A)
10 Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because [you have not only despised My command, but] you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
11 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your [a]own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. [Fulfilled in II Sam. 16:21, 22.]
13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.(B)
14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord and given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that is born to you shall surely die.
21 Now after these events Paul determined in the [Holy] Spirit that he would travel through Macedonia and Achaia (most of Greece) and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must visit Rome also.
22 And having sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself stayed on in [the province of] Asia for a while.
23 But as time went on, there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way [of the Lord].
24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis [a][Diana], brought no small income to his craftsmen.
25 These he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, Men, you are acquainted with the facts and understand that from this business we derive our wealth and livelihood.
26 Now you notice and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over [the province of] Asia this Paul has persuaded and induced people to believe his teaching and has alienated a considerable company of them, saying that gods that are made with human hands are not really gods at all.
27 Now there is danger not merely that this trade of ours may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may come into disrepute and count for nothing, and that her glorious magnificence may be degraded and fall into contempt—she whom all [the province of] Asia and the wide world worship.
28 As they listened to this, they were filled with rage and they continued to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
29 Then the city was filled with confusion; and they rushed together into the amphitheater, dragging along with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were fellow travelers with Paul.
30 Paul wished to go in among the crowd, but the disciples would not permit him to do it.
31 Even some of the Asiarchs (political or religious officials in Asia) who were his friends also sent to him and warned him not to risk venturing into the theater.
32 Now some shouted one thing and some another, for the gathering was in a tumult and most of them did not know why they had come together.
33 Some of the crowd called upon Alexander [to speak], since the Jews had pushed and urged him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand, wishing to make a defense and [planning] to apologize to the people.
34 But as soon as they saw him and recognized that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them as the voice of one man, as for about two hours they cried, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
35 And when the town clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone [image of her] that fell from the sky?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet (keep yourselves in check) and do nothing rashly.
37 For you have brought these men here, who are [guilty of] neither temple robberies nor blasphemous speech about our goddess.
38 Now then, if Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen who are with him have a grievance against anyone, the courts are open and proconsuls are [available]; let them bring charges against one another [legally].
39 But if you require anything further about this or about other matters, it must be decided and cleared up in the regular assembly.
40 For we are in danger of being called to render an account and of being accused of rioting because of [this commotion] today, there being no reason that we can offer to justify this disorder.
41 And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
14 And when they came to the [nine] disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes questioning and disputing with them.
15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus [[a]returning from the holy mount, His face and person yet glistening], they were greatly amazed and ran up to Him [and] greeted Him.
16 And He asked them, About what are you questioning and discussing with them?
17 And one of the throng replied to Him, Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a dumb spirit.
18 And wherever it lays hold of him [so as to make him its own], it dashes him down and convulses him, and he foams [at the mouth] and grinds his teeth, and he [[b]falls into a motionless stupor and] is wasting away. And I asked Your disciples to drive it out, and they were not able [to do it].
19 And He answered them, O unbelieving generation [without any faith]! How long [c]shall I [have to do] with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me.
20 So they brought [the boy] to Him, and when the spirit saw Him, at once it completely convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and kept rolling about, foaming [at the mouth].
21 And [Jesus] asked his father, How long has he had this? And he answered, From the time he was a little boy.
22 And it has often thrown him both into fire and into water, intending to kill him. But if You can do anything, do have pity on us and help us.
23 And Jesus said, [You say to Me], If You can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!
24 At once the father of the boy gave [an [d]eager, [e]piercing, inarticulate] cry with tears, and he said, Lord, I believe! [Constantly] help my [f]weakness of faith!
25 But when Jesus noticed that a crowd [of people] came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you to come out of him and never go into him again.
26 And after giving a [hoarse, clamoring, fear-stricken] shriek of anguish and convulsing him terribly, it came out; and the boy lay [pale and motionless] like a corpse, so that many of them said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took [[g]a strong grip of] his hand and began lifting him up, and he stood.
28 And when He had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we drive it out?
29 And He replied to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer [h]and fasting.
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