Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
Victory in Spite of Betrayal
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Happy is one who cares for the poor;
the Lord will save him in a day of adversity.(A)
2 The Lord will keep him and preserve him;
he will be blessed in the land.(B)
You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies.(C)
3 The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed;
You will heal him on the bed where he lies.(D)
4 I said, “Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against You.”(E)
5 My enemies speak maliciously about me:
“When will he die and be forgotten?”(F)
6 When one of them comes to visit, he speaks deceitfully;
he stores up evil in his heart;
he goes out and talks.(G)
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they plan to harm me.(H)
8 “Lethal poison has been poured into him,
and he won’t rise again from where he lies!”(I)
9 Even my friend[a] in whom I trusted,
one who ate my bread,
has raised his heel against me.(J)
10 But You, Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up;
then I will repay them.(K)
11 By this I know that You delight in me:(L)
my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.(M)
12 You supported me because of my integrity(N)
and set me in Your presence forever.(O)
13 May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be praised
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.(P)
Psalm 52
God Judges the Proud
For the choir director. A Davidic Maskil. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”(A)
1 Why brag about evil, you hero!(B)
God’s faithful love is constant.(C)
2 Like a sharpened razor,
your tongue devises destruction,
working treachery.(D)
3 You love evil instead of good,
lying instead of speaking truthfully.(E)
4 You love any words that destroy,
you treacherous tongue!(F)
5 This is why God will bring you down forever.
He will take you, ripping you out of your tent;
He will uproot you from the land of the living.(G)
6 The righteous will look on with awe
and will ridicule him:(H)
7 “Here is the man
who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”[a](I)
Psalm 44
Israel’s Complaint
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 God, we have heard with our ears—
our ancestors have told us—
the work You accomplished in their days,
in days long ago:(A)
2 to plant them,
You drove out the nations with Your hand;
to settle them,
You crushed the peoples.(B)
3 For they did not take the land by their sword—
their arm did not bring them victory—
but by Your right hand, Your arm,
and the light of Your face,
for You were pleased with them.(C)
4 You are my King, my God,
who ordains[a] victories for Jacob.(D)
5 Through You we drive back our foes;
through Your name we trample our enemies.(E)
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not bring me victory.(F)
7 But You give us victory over our foes
and let those who hate us be disgraced.(G)
8 We boast in God all day long;
we will praise Your name forever.(H)
9 But You have rejected and humiliated us;
You do not march out with our armies.(I)
10 You make us retreat from the foe,
and those who hate us
have taken plunder for themselves.(J)
11 You hand us over to be eaten like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.(K)
12 You sell Your people for nothing;
You make no profit from selling them.(L)
13 You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.(M)
14 You make us a joke among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(N)
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and shame has covered my face,(O)
16 because of the voice of the scorner and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.(P)
17 All this has happened to us,
but we have not forgotten You
or betrayed Your covenant.(Q)
18 Our hearts have not turned back;
our steps have not strayed from Your path.(R)
19 But You have crushed us in a haunt of jackals
and have covered us with deepest darkness.(S)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread out our hands to a foreign god,(T)
21 wouldn’t God have found this out,
since He knows the secrets of the heart?(U)
22 Because of You we are slain all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.(V)
Elihu’s Angry Response
32 So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.(A) 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite(B) from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified(C) himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry at Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute him and yet had condemned him.[a]
4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he. 5 But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.
6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied:
I am young in years,
while you are old;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to tell(D) you what I know.
7 I thought that age should speak
and maturity should teach wisdom.
8 But it is a spirit in man[b]
and the breath(E) of the Almighty
that give him understanding.
9 It is not only the old who are wise
or the elderly who understand how to judge.
10 Therefore I say, “Listen to me.
I too will declare what I know.”
19 My heart[a] is like unvented wine;
it is about to burst like new wineskins.(A)
20 I must speak so that I can find relief;
I must open my lips and respond.
21 I will be partial to no one,(B)
and I will not give anyone an undeserved title.
22 For I do not know how to give such titles;
otherwise, my Maker would remove me in an instant.
Elihu Confronts Job
33 But now, Job, pay attention to my speech,
and listen to all my words.
19 A person may be disciplined on his bed(A) with pain
and constant distress in his bones,(B)
20 so that he detests bread,
and his soul despises his favorite food.(C)
21 His flesh wastes away to nothing,[a]
and his unseen bones stick out.
22 He draws near to the Pit,
and his life to the executioners.
23 If there is an angel(D) on his side,
one mediator out of a thousand,
to tell a person what is right for him[b]
24 and to be gracious to him and say,
“Spare him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom,”(E)
25 then his flesh will be healthier[c] than in his youth,
and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor.(F)
26 He will pray to God, and God will delight in him.
That man will see His face(G) with a shout of joy,
and God will restore his righteousness to him.(H)
27 He will look at men and say,
“I have sinned and perverted what was right;
yet I did not get what I deserved.[d]
28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and I will continue to see the light.”
44 The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the message of the Lord.[a] 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him.(A)
46 Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles!(B) 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. 49 So the message of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the prominent women, who worshiped God, and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.(D) 51 But they shook the dust off their feet(E) against them(F) and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.(G)
19 Again a division(A) took place among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon(B) and He’s crazy! Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”(C)
Jesus at the Festival of Dedication
22 Then the Festival of Dedication[a] took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 Jesus was walking in the temple complex in Solomon’s Colonnade.[b](D) 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and asked, “How long are You going to keep us in suspense?[c] If You are the Messiah,(E) tell us plainly.”[d](F)
25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works(G) that I do in My Father’s name testify about Me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not My sheep.[e](H) 27 My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life,(I) and they will never perish(J)—ever! No one will snatch(K) them out of My hand. 29 My Father,(L) who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”[f](M)
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