Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
41 How blessed[b] is the one who treats the poor properly.[c]
When trouble comes,[d] may[e] the Lord deliver him.[f]
2 May the Lord protect him and save his life.[g]
May he be blessed[h] in the land.
Do not turn him over[i] to his enemies.[j]
3 The Lord supports[k] him on his sickbed;
you have healed him from his illness.[l]
4 As for me, I said:[m]
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
5 My enemies ask this cruel question about me,[n]
‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’[o]
6 When someone comes to visit,[p] he pretends to be friendly;[q]
he thinks of ways to defame me,[r]
and when he leaves he slanders me.[s]
7 All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another;[t]
they plan ways to harm me.
8 They say,[u]
‘An awful disease[v] overwhelms him,[w]
and now that he is bedridden he will never recover.’[x]
9 Even my close friend[y] whom I trusted,
he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.[z]
10 As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!”[aa]
11 By this[ab] I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does[ac] not triumph[ad] over me.
12 As for me, you uphold[ae] me because of my integrity;[af]
you allow[ag] me permanent access to your presence.[ah]
13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise[ai]
in the future and forevermore.[aj]
We agree! We agree![ak]
Psalm 52[a]
For the music director, a well-written song[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”[c]
52 Why do you boast about your evil plans,[d] O powerful man?
God’s loyal love protects me all day long.[e]
2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans;[f]
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.[g]
3 You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth.[h] (Selah)
4 You love to use all the words that destroy,[i]
and the tongue that deceives.
5 Yet[j] God will make you a permanent heap of ruins.[k]
He will scoop you up[l] and remove you from your home;[m]
he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,
and will mock the evildoer, saying:[n]
7 “Look, here is the man who would not make[o] God his protector.
He trusted in his great wealth
and was confident about his plans to destroy others.”[p]
8 But I[q] am like a flourishing[r] olive tree in the house of God;
I continually[s] trust in God’s loyal love.
9 I will continually[t] thank you when[u] you execute judgment;[v]
I will rely on[w] you,[x] for your loyal followers know you are good.[y]
Psalm 44[a]
For the music director, by the Korahites; a well-written song.[b]
44 O God, we have clearly heard;[c]
our ancestors[d] have told us
what you did[e] in their days,
in ancient times.[f]
2 You, by your power,[g] defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;[h]
you crushed[i] the people living there[j] and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.[k]
3 For they did not conquer[l] the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength,[m]
but rather by your power,[n] strength,[o] and good favor,[p]
for you were partial to[q] them.
4 You are my[r] king, O God.
Decree[s] Jacob’s[t] deliverance.
5 By your power[u] we will drive back[v] our enemies;
by your strength[w] we will trample down[x] our foes.[y]
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
7 For you deliver[z] us from our enemies;
you humiliate[aa] those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
9 But[ab] you rejected and embarrassed us.
You did not go into battle with our armies.[ac]
10 You made us retreat[ad] from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.[ae]
11 You handed us[af] over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold[ag] your people for a pittance;[ah]
you did not ask a high price for them.[ai]
13 You made us[aj] an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.[ak]
14 You made us[al] an object of ridicule[am] among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.[an]
15 All day long I feel humiliated[ao]
and am overwhelmed with shame,[ap]
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.[aq]
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you[ar]
or violated your covenant with us.[as]
18 We have not been unfaithful,[at]
nor have we disobeyed your commands.[au]
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;[av]
you have covered us with darkness.[aw]
20 If we had rejected our God,[ax]
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,[ay]
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows[az] a person’s secret thoughts?[ba]
22 Yet because of you[bb] we are killed all day long;
we are treated like[bc] sheep at the slaughtering block.[bd]
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up![be] Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way,[bf]
and ignore[bg] the way we are oppressed and mistreated?[bh]
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.[bi]
26 Rise up and help us.
Rescue us[bj] because of your loyal love.
The Blessing of Victory for God’s People
14 At that time[a] Amraphel king of Shinar,[b] Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations[c] 2 went to war[d] against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).[e] 3 These last five kings[f] joined forces[g] in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).[h] 4 For twelve years[i] they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year[j] they rebelled.[k] 5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated[l] the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert.[m] 7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again,[n] and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met[o] 9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations,[p] Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against[q] five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits.[r] When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them,[s] but some survivors[t] fled to the hills.[u] 11 The four victorious kings[v] took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 12 They also took Abram’s nephew[w] Lot and his possessions when[x] they left, for Lot[y] was living in Sodom.[z]
13 A fugitive[aa] came and told Abram the Hebrew.[ab] Now Abram was living by the oaks[ac] of Mamre the Amorite, the brother[ad] of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty[ae] with Abram.)[af] 14 When Abram heard that his nephew[ag] had been taken captive, he mobilized[ah] his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders[ai] as far as Dan.[aj] 15 Then, during the night,[ak] Abram[al] divided his forces[am] against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north[an] of Damascus. 16 He retrieved all the stolen property.[ao] He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of[ap] the people.
17 After Abram[aq] returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram[ar] in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley).[as] 18 Melchizedek king of Salem[at] brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.)[au] 19 He blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by[av] the Most High God,
Creator[aw] of heaven and earth.[ax]
20 Worthy of praise is[ay] the Most High God,
who delivered[az] your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek[ba] a tenth of everything.
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand[bb] to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow[bc] 23 that I will take nothing[bd] belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I[be] who made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing[bf] except compensation for what the young men have eaten.[bg] As for the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—let them take their share.”
The High Priest of a Better Covenant
8 Now the main point of what we are saying is this:[a] We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,[b] 2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer[c] the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 The place where they serve is[d] a sketch[e] and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design[f] shown to you on the mountain.”[g] 6 But[h] now Jesus[i] has obtained a superior ministry, since[j] the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted[k] on better promises.[l]
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.[m] 8 But[n] showing its fault,[o] God[p] says to them,[q]
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
9 “It will not be like the covenant[r] that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put[s] my laws in their minds[t] and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.[u]
11 “And there will be no need at all[v] for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.[w]
12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”[x]
13 When he speaks of a new covenant,[y] he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.[z]
Onward to Galilee
43 After the two days he departed from there to Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)[a] 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem[b] at the feast[c] (for they themselves had gone to the feast).[d]
Healing the Royal Official’s Son
46 Now he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine.[e] In[f] Capernaum[g] there was a certain royal official[h] whose son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him[i] to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people[j] see signs and wonders you will never believe!”[k] 49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus told him, “Go home;[l] your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.[m]
51 While he was on his way down,[n] his slaves[o] met him and told him that his son was going to live. 52 So he asked them the time[p] when his condition began to improve,[q] and[r] they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon[s] the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that it was the very time[t] Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household. 54 Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign[u] when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
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