Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
1 Blessed is the one who has concern for helpless people.
Yahweh will rescue him in times of trouble.
2 Yahweh will protect him and keep him alive.
He will be blessed in the land.
Do not place him at the mercy of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will support him on his sickbed.
You will restore this person to health when he is ill.
4 I said, “O Yahweh, have pity on me!
Heal my soul because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies say terrible things about me:
“When will he die, and when will his family name disappear?”
6 When one of them comes to visit me, he speaks foolishly.
His heart collects gossip.
Then he leaves to tell others.
7 Everyone who hates me whispers about me.
They think evil things about me and say,
8 “A devilish disease has attached itself to him.
He will never leave his sickbed.”
9 Even my closest friend whom I trusted,
the one who ate my bread,
has lifted his heel against me.
10 Have pity on me, O Yahweh!
Raise me up so that I can pay them back
11 and my enemy cannot shout in triumph over me.
When you do this, I know that you are pleased with me.
12 You defend my integrity,
and you set me in your presence forever.
13 Thank Yahweh Elohim of Israel through all eternity!
Amen and amen!
Psalm 52
For the choir director; a maskil; a psalm by David when Doeg (who was from Edom) told Saul that David had come to Ahimelech’s home.
1 Why do you brag about the evil you’ve done, you hero?
The mercy of El lasts all day long!
2 Your tongue makes up threats.
It’s like a sharp razor, you master of deceit.
3 You prefer evil to good.
You prefer lying to speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love every destructive accusation, you deceitful tongue!
5 But El will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and drag you out of your tent.
He will pull your roots out of this world of the living. Selah
6 Righteous people will see this and be struck with fear.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look at this person who refused to make Elohim his fortress!
Instead, he trusted his great wealth
and became strong through his greed.”
8 But I am like a large olive tree in Elohim’s house.
I trust the mercy of Elohim forever and ever.
9 I will give thanks to you forever
for what you have done.
In the presence of your godly people,
I will wait with hope in your good name.
Psalm 44
For the choir director; a maskil by Korah’s descendants.
1 O Elohim,
we have heard it with our own ears.
Our ancestors have told us
about the miracle you performed in their day,
in days long ago.
2 By your power you forced nations out of the land,
but you planted our ancestors there.
You shattered many groups of people,
but you set our ancestors free.[a]
3 It was not with their swords that they took possession of the land.
They did not gain victory with their own strength.
It was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your presence that did it,
because you were pleased with them.
4 You alone are my Melek, O Elohim.
You won those victories for Jacob.
5 With you we can walk over our enemies.
With your name we can trample those who attack us.
6 I do not rely on my bow,
and my sword will never save me.
7 But you saved us from our enemies.
You put to shame those who hate us.
8 All day long we praise our Elohim.
We give thanks to you forever. Selah
9 But now you have rejected and disgraced us.
You do not even go along with our armies.
10 You make us retreat from the enemy.
Those who hate us rob us at will.
11 You hand us over to be butchered like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.
12 You sell your people for almost nothing,
and at that price you have gained nothing.
13 You made us a disgrace to our neighbors
and an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us.
14 You made our defeat a proverb among the nations
so that people shake their heads at us.
15 All day long my disgrace is in front of me.
Shame covers my face
16 because of the words of those who insult and slander us,
because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
17 Although all of this happened to us,
we never forgot you.
We never ignored your promise.[b]
18 Our hearts never turned away.
Our feet never left your path.
19 Yet, you crushed us in a place for jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we forgot the name of our Elohim
or stretched out our hands to pray to another god,
21 wouldn’t Elohim find out,
since he knows the secrets in our hearts?
22 Indeed, we are being killed all day long because of you.
We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up! Why are you sleeping, O Adonay?
Awake! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our suffering and misery?
25 Our souls are bowing in the dust.
Our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Arise! Help us!
Rescue us because of your mercy!
God’s Two Witnesses
11 Then I was given a stick like a measuring stick. I was told, “Stand up and measure the temple of God and the altar. Count those who worship there. 2 But do not measure the temple courtyard. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will allow my two witnesses who wear sackcloth to speak what God has revealed. They will speak for 1,260 days.”
4 These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing in the presence of the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wants to hurt them, fire comes out of the witnesses’ mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed the same way. 6 These witnesses have authority to shut the sky in order to keep rain from falling during the time they speak what God has revealed. They have authority to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague as often as they want.
7 When the witnesses finish their testimony, the beast which comes from the bottomless pit will fight them, conquer them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the important city where their Lord was crucified. The spiritual names of that city are Sodom and Egypt. 9 For 3½ days some members of the people, tribes, languages, and nations will look at the witnesses’ dead bodies and will not allow anyone to bury them. 10 Those living on earth will gloat over the witnesses’ death. They will celebrate and send gifts to each other because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.
11 After 3½ days the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who watched them. 12 The witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 At that moment a powerful earthquake struck. One-tenth of the city collapsed, 7,000 people were killed by the earthquake, and the rest were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second catastrophe is over. The third catastrophe will soon be here.
Jesus Is Accused of Working with Beelzebul(A)
14 Yeshua was forcing a demon out of a man. The demon had made the man unable to talk. When the demon had gone out, the man began to talk.
The people were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “He can force demons out of people only with the help of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” 16 Others wanted to test Yeshua and demanded that he show them some miraculous sign from heaven.
17 Since Yeshua knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is ruined. A house divided against itself falls. 18 Now, if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last? I say this because you say Beelzebul helps me force demons out of people. 19 If I force demons out with the help of Beelzebul, who helps your followers force them out? That’s why they will be your judges. 20 But if I force out demons with the help of God’s power, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own mansion, his property is safe. 22 But a stronger man than he may attack him and defeat him. Then the stronger man will take away all the weapons in which the strong man trusted and will divide the loot.
23 “Whoever isn’t with me is against me. Whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters.
24 “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it goes through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the home I left.’ 25 When it comes, it finds the house swept clean and in order. 26 Then the spirit goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself. They enter and take up permanent residence there. In the end the condition of that person is worse than it was before.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.