Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 38
A Psalm of David. To bring remembrance.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows pierce me,
and Your hand presses down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation,
nor is there health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have passed over my head;
as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am numb and completely crushed;
I have roared because of the groaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You,
and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My friends and my companions stand back because of my affliction,
and those close to me stand at a distance.
12 The people who seek my life strike at me;
those who seek my harm speak destruction,
and plan treacheries all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, did not hear;
and like a dumb man, did not open my mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man who does not hear,
and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in You, O Lord, do I hope;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Lest otherwise they should rejoice over me.
When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.”
17 For I am ready to stumble,
and my pain is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity;
I am anxious because of my sin.
19 But my enemies are lively, and they are strong;
and those who wrongfully hate me are many.
20 Those also who repay evil for good are my adversaries,
because I pursue good.
21 Do not abandon me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.
ד Daleth
25 My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to Your word.
26 I have declared my ways, and You heard me;
teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me to understand the way of Your precepts;
then I shall contemplate on Your wondrous works.
28 My soul collapses on account of grief;
strengthen me according to Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and graciously grant me Your law.
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31 I have stayed with Your testimonies, O Lord;
may I not be put to shame.
32 I will run in the way of Your commandments,
when You set my heart free.
ה He
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
and I shall keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
for I delight in them.
36 Incline my heart unto Your testimonies,
and not for unjust gain.
37 Turn away my eyes from beholding worthlessness,
and revive me in Your way.
38 Establish Your word to Your servant,
so that You are feared.
39 Turn away my reproach that I dread,
for Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I have a longing for Your precepts;
revive me in Your righteousness.
ו Waw
41 Let Your mercies come to me, O Lord,
even Your deliverance according to Your word.
42 So I shall have an answer for him who reproaches me,
for I trust in Your word.
43 Do not take the word of truth out of my mouth,
for I have hoped in Your judgments.
44 So I shall keep Your law continually,
forever and ever.
45 I will walk in an open space,
for I seek Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings
and will not be ashamed.
47 I will delight in Your commandments,
which I have loved.
48 My hands I will lift up unto Your commandments, which I have loved;
I will meditate on Your statutes.
David and Jonathan
20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my offense? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Look, my father does nothing either great or small that he does not reveal to me. Why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.”
3 David vowed again and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight. And he says, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be distressed.’ However, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do it for you.”
5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field until the evening of the third day. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David asked for leave from me that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good,’ it will be well for your servant. But if he gets angry, know that evil is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any guilt in me, kill me yourself. For why should you bring me to your father?”
9 Then Jonathan said, “Far be it from you. For if I indeed knew that my father had determined evil against you, would I not tell it you?”
10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you roughly?”
11 So Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” And the two of them went out to the field.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or by the third day, and if he is favorable toward David, then will I not send and reveal it to you? 13 May the Lord do so to Jonathan and much more. If it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will reveal it you and send you away that you may go in peace. And may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. 14 And if I live, not only will you show me the kindness of the Lord, that I shall not die, 15 but you will not cut off your faithfulness from my house forever, even when the Lord has cut off each one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, “May the Lord require it at the hand of the enemies of David.” 17 Jonathan made David swear again, because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 When you have stayed three days, you will surely go down and come to the place where you hid yourself on the day this happened, and wait there beside the stone Ezel. 20 And I will shoot three arrows to its side, as though I shot at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the boy, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then come, for it will be safe for you. And as the Lord lives, it is nothing of concern. 22 But if I say to the young man, ‘See, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the Lord has sent you away. 23 As for the matter upon which you and I have spoken, the Lord is between you and me forever.”
18 Now when day came, there was a great disturbance among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.
Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
The Death of Herod
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. But they came to him in unity, and having made Blastus, the king’s personal servant, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was fed by the king’s country.
21 On an appointed day, Herod, dressed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave a public speech to them. 22 The mob shouted, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God spread and increased.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their ministry, they returned from Jerusalem and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.
The Calling of Levi(A)
13 He went out again by the seaside, and the whole crowd came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s station, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him.
15 As Jesus was at supper in his house, many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they followed Him. 16 When the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The Question About Fasting(B)
18 Now the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
21 “No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece that covered it tears away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins will be marred. But new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.