Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88
A Cry of Desperation
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.(A)
1 Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out before You day and night.(B)
2 May my prayer reach Your presence;
listen to my cry.(C)
3 For I have had enough troubles,
and my life is near Sheol.(D)
4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit.(E)
I am like a man without strength,(F)
5 abandoned[a] among the dead.
I am like the slain lying in the grave,(G)
whom You no longer remember,
and who are cut off from Your care.[b](H)
6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.(I)
7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;(J)
You have overwhelmed me with all Your waves.(K)
8 You have distanced my friends from me;
You have made me repulsive to them.(L)
I am shut in and cannot go out.
9 My eyes are worn out from crying.(M)
Lord, I cry out to You all day long;(N)
I spread out my hands to You.(O)
10 Do You work wonders for the dead?
Do departed spirits rise up to praise You?(P)
11 Will Your faithful love be declared in the grave,
Your faithfulness in Abaddon?(Q)
12 Will Your wonders be known in the darkness
or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?(R)
13 But I call to You for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer meets You.(S)
14 Lord, why do You reject me?(T)
Why do You hide Your face from me?(U)
15 From my youth,
I have been afflicted and near death.
I suffer Your horrors; I am desperate.(V)
16 Your wrath sweeps over me;
Your terrors destroy me.(W)
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they close in on me from every side.(X)
18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;
darkness is my only friend.[c](Y)
Psalm 91
The Protection of the Most High
1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High
dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.(A)
3 He Himself will deliver you from the hunter’s net,(C)
from the destructive plague.
4 He will cover you with His feathers;
you will take refuge under His wings.(D)
His faithfulness will be a protective shield.(E)
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
the arrow that flies by day,(F)
6 the plague that stalks in darkness,
or the pestilence that ravages at noon.(G)
7 Though a thousand fall at your side
and ten thousand at your right hand,
the pestilence will not reach you.(H)
8 You will only see it with your eyes
and witness the punishment of the wicked.(I)
9 Because you have made the Lord—my refuge,(J)
the Most High—your dwelling place,(K)
10 no harm will come to you;
no plague will come near your tent.(L)
11 For He will give His angels orders concerning you,
to protect you in all your ways.(M)
12 They will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.(N)
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the young lion and the serpent.(O)
14 Because he is lovingly devoted to Me,
I will deliver him;
I will protect him because he knows My name.(P)
15 When he calls out to Me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.
I will rescue him and give him honor.(Q)
16 I will satisfy him with a long life(R)
and show him My salvation.(S)
Psalm 92
God’s Love and Faithfulness
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to praise Yahweh,
to sing praise to Your name, Most High,(T)
2 to declare Your faithful love in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night,(U)
3 with a ten-stringed harp
and the music of a lyre.(V)
4 For You have made me rejoice, Lord,
by what You have done;
I will shout for joy
because of the works of Your hands.(W)
5 How magnificent are Your works, Lord,
how profound Your thoughts!(X)
6 A stupid person does not know,
a fool does not understand this:(Y)
7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be eternally destroyed.(Z)
8 But You, Lord, are exalted forever.(AA)
9 For indeed, Lord, Your enemies—
indeed, Your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.(AB)
10 You have lifted up my horn(AC)
like that of a wild ox;
I have been anointed[b] with oil.(AD)
11 My eyes look down on my enemies;
my ears hear evildoers when they attack me.(AE)
12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.(AF)
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they thrive in the courts of our God.(AG)
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
healthy and green,(AH)
15 to declare: “The Lord is just;
He is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”(AI)
Esther Intervenes for the Jews
8 That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate(A) of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.(B) Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai.(C) 2 The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman(D) and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate.
3 Then Esther addressed the king again.(E) She fell at his feet, wept, and begged(F) him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite,(G) and his plot he had devised against the Jews.(H) 4 The king extended the gold scepter(I) toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king.
5 She said, “If it pleases the king, and I have found approval before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his sight,(J) let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.(K) 6 For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people?(L) How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?”(M)
7 King Ahasuerus said to Esther the Queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther,(N) and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked[a] the Jews.(O) 8 You may write in the king’s name whatever pleases you(P) concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring.(Q) A document written in the king’s name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”(R)
15 Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal purple and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen.(A) The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced,(B) 16 and the Jews celebrated[a] with gladness, joy, and honor.(C) 17 In every province and every city, wherever the king’s command and his law reached, joy and rejoicing took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday.[b](D) And many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews(E) had overcome them.
The Riot in Ephesus
21 When these events were over, Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well!”(A) 22 So after sending two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.(B)
23 During that time there was a major[a] disturbance about the Way.(C) 24 For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis,[b] provided a great deal of[c] business for the craftsmen. 25 When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. 26 You both see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods!(D) 27 So not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world adore.”
28 When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius(E) and Aristarchus,(F) Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. 30 Though Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. 31 Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to take a chance by going[d] into the amphitheater. 32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Then some of the crowd gave Alexander advice when the Jews pushed him to the front. So motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.(G) 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a united cry went up from all of them for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 However, when the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “Men of Ephesus! What man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great[e] Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our[f] goddess. 38 So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.(H) 39 But if you want something else, it must be decided in a legal assembly. 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disorderly gathering.” 41 After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.
Driving Out an Unclean Spirit
31 Then He went down to Capernaum,(A) a town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. 32 They were astonished at His teaching because His message had authority.(B) 33 In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice,(C) 34 “Leave us alone![a] What do You have to do with us,[b] Jesus—Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus rebuked him(D) and said, “Be quiet and come out of him!”
And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all. 36 Amazement came over them all, and they kept saying to one another, “What is this message? For He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” 37 And news about Him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.
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