Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Victory over Enemies.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
20 May the Lord answer you (A)on a day of trouble!
May the (B)name of the (C)God of Jacob [a]protect you!
2 May He send you help (D)from the sanctuary,
And (E)support you from Zion!
3 May He (F)remember all your meal offerings
And [b](G)accept your burnt offering! Selah
4 May He grant you your (H)heart’s desire
And (I)fulfill your whole plan!
5 [c]We will (J)sing for joy over your [d]victory,
And in the name of our God we will (K)set up our banners.
May the Lord (L)fulfill all your desires.
6 Now (M)I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will (N)answer him from His holy heaven
With the [e](O)saving strength of His right hand.
7 Some praise their chariots and some their (P)horses,
But (Q)we will praise the name of the Lord, our God.
8 They have (R)bowed down and fallen,
But we have (S)risen and stood upright.
9 [f](T)Save, Lord;
May the (U)King answer us on the day we call.
Praise for Salvation.
For the music director. A Psalm of David.
21 Lord, in Your strength the king will (V)be glad,
And in Your [g]salvation how greatly he will rejoice!
2 You have (W)given him his heart’s desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For You (X)meet him with the blessings of good things;
You set a (Y)crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked for life from You,
You (Z)gave it to him,
(AA)Length of days forever and ever.
5 His (AB)glory is great through Your [h]salvation,
(AC)Splendor and majesty You place upon him.
6 For You make him [i]most (AD)blessed forever;
You make him joyful (AE)with the joy of Your presence.
7 For the king (AF)trusts in the Lord,
And through the faithfulness of the Most High (AG)he will not be shaken.
8 Your hand will (AH)find all your enemies;
Your right hand will find those who hate you.
9 You will make them (AI)as a fiery oven in the time [j]of your anger;
The Lord will (AJ)swallow them up in His wrath,
And (AK)fire will devour them.
10 You will eliminate their [k]descendants from the earth,
And their [l](AL)children from among the sons of mankind.
11 Though they [m](AM)intended evil against You
And (AN)devised a plot,
They will not succeed.
12 For You will (AO)make them turn their back;
You will take aim at their faces (AP)with Your bowstrings.
13 Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength;
We will (AQ)sing and praise Your power.
The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.
A Psalm of David.
23 The Lord is my (A)shepherd,
I will (B)not be in need.
2 He lets me lie down in (C)green pastures;
He (D)leads me beside [a](E)quiet waters.
3 He (F)restores my soul;
He (G)guides me in the [b](H)paths of righteousness
For the sake of His name.
4 Even though I (I)walk through the [c]valley of the shadow of death,
I (J)fear no [d]evil, for (K)You are with me;
Your (L)rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You (M)prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You [e]have (N)anointed my head with oil;
My (O)cup overflows.
6 [f]Certainly (P)goodness and [g]faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life,
And my (Q)dwelling will be in the house of the Lord [h]forever.
A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.
A Psalm of David.
27 The Lord is my (A)light and my (B)salvation;
Whom should I fear?
The Lord is the [a](C)defense of my life;
(D)Whom should I dread?
2 When evildoers came upon me to (E)devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they (F)stumbled and fell.
3 If an (G)army encamps against me,
My heart will not fear;
If war arises against me,
In spite of this I am (H)confident.
4 (I)One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may (J)dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold (K)the [b]beauty of the Lord
And to [c](L)meditate in His temple.
5 For on the (M)day of trouble He will (N)conceal me in His [d]tabernacle;
He will (O)hide me in the secret place of His tent;
He will (P)lift me up on a rock.
6 And now (Q)my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer (R)sacrifices in His tent [e]with shouts of joy;
I will (S)sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 (T)Hear, Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and (U)answer me.
8 When You said, “(V)Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“(W)I shall seek Your face, Lord.”
9 (X)Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in (Y)anger;
You have been (Z)my help;
(AA)Do not abandon me nor (AB)forsake me,
God of my salvation!
10 [f]For my father and (AC)my mother have forsaken me,
But (AD)the Lord will take me up.
11 (AE)Teach me Your way, Lord,
And lead me on a (AF)level path
Because of my enemies.
12 Do not turn me over to the [g](AG)desire of my enemies,
For (AH)false witnesses have risen against me,
And the violent (AI)witness.
13 I certainly believed that I would see the (AJ)goodness of the Lord
In the (AK)land of the living.
14 (AL)Wait for the Lord;
Be (AM)strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.
Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son
17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his [a]condition became very grave, until at the end [b]he was no longer breathing. 18 So she said to Elijah, “[c](A)Why is my business any of yours, you (B)man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!” 19 But he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her [d]arms and carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am [e]staying, by causing her son to die?” 21 (C)Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, please, let this boy’s life return [f]to him.” 22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, (D)and the life of the boy returned [g]to him and he revived. 23 Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “(E)Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
A Good Report
1 (A)The elder to the beloved (B)Gaius, whom I (C)love in truth.
2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I (D)was overjoyed when (E)brothers came and testified to your truth, that is, how you (F)are walking in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than [a]this, to hear of (G)my children (H)walking in the truth.
5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the (I)brothers and sisters, and [b]especially when they are (J)strangers; 6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to [c](K)send them on their way in a manner (L)worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of (M)the Name, (N)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to [d]support such people, so that we may [e]prove to be fellow workers [f]with the truth.
9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to (O)be first among them, does not accept [g]what we say. 10 For this reason, (P)if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with malicious words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not (Q)receive the (R)brothers either, and he forbids those who want to do so and (S)puts them out of the church.
11 Beloved, (T)do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. (U)The one who does what is good is of God; (V)the one who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius (W)has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we testify too, and (X)you know that our testimony is true.
13 (Y)I had many things to write to you, but I do not want to write to you with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak [h]face to face.
15 (Z)Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends (AA)by name.
Healing an Official’s Son
46 Therefore He came again to (A)Cana of Galilee, (B)where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at (C)Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come (D)from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see [a](E)signs and (F)wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “[b]Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “(G)Go; your son [c]is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [d]son was [e]alive. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the [f]seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and (H)his entire household. 54 This is again a (I)second [g]sign that Jesus performed when He had (J)come from Judea into Galilee.
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