Book of Common Prayer
O Lord, Be Gracious to Me
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
41 (A)Blessed is the one who considers the poor![a]
(B)In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
you (C)do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health.[b]
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, (D)be gracious to me;
(E)heal me,[c] for I have sinned against you!”
5 My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And when one comes to see me, (F)he utters empty words,
while his heart gathers iniquity;
when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.[d]
8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out[e] on him;
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
9 Even my (G)close friend in whom I trusted,
who (H)ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
11 By this I know that (I)you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
12 But (J)you have upheld me because of (K)my integrity,
and (L)set me in your presence (M)forever.
13 (N)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
The Steadfast Love of God Endures
To the choirmaster. A Maskil[a] of David, when (A)Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2 Your (B)tongue plots destruction,
like (C)a sharp razor, you (D)worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
and (E)lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and (F)tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from (G)the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous shall (H)see and fear,
and shall (I)laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but (J)trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”[b]
Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. (A)A Maskil[a] of the Sons of Korah.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
(B)our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
(C)in the days of old:
2 you with your own hand (D)drove out the nations,
but (E)them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but (F)them you set free;
3 for not (G)by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and (H)the light of your face,
(I)for you delighted in them.
4 (J)You are my King, O God;
(K)ordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we (L)push down our foes;
through your name we (M)tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For not in (N)my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have (O)put to shame those who hate us.
8 (P)In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But you have (Q)rejected us and disgraced us
and (R)have not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us (S)turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us like (T)sheep for slaughter
and have (U)scattered us among the nations.
12 (V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us (W)the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and (X)scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us (Y)a byword among the nations,
(Z)a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and (AA)shame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of (AB)the enemy and the avenger.
17 (AC)All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our (AD)steps (AE)departed from your way;
19 yet you have (AF)broken us in the place of (AG)jackals
and covered us with (AH)the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or (AI)spread out our hands to (AJ)a foreign god,
21 (AK)would not God discover this?
(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet (AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 (AN)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! (AO)Do not reject us forever!
24 Why (AP)do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our (AQ)soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; (AR)come to our help!
(AS)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
The Vanity of Self-Indulgence
2 I (A)said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.[a] 2 I (B)said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I (C)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on (D)folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I (E)built houses and planted (F)vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself (G)gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had (H)slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of (I)herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and (J)gold and the treasure of (K)kings and (L)provinces. I got (M)singers, both men and women, and many (N)concubines,[b] the delight of the sons of man.
9 So I became great and (O)surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my (P)wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart (Q)found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my (R)reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was (S)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing (T)to be gained under the sun.
The Vanity of Living Wisely
12 (U)So I turned to consider (V)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only (W)what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 (X)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the (Y)same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, (Z)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
Greeting
1 Paul, an (A)apostle—(B)not from men nor through man, but (C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, (D)who raised him from the dead— 2 and all (E)the brothers[a] who are with me,
To (F)the churches of Galatia:
3 (G)Grace to you and peace (H)from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 (I)who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present (J)evil age, according to the will of (K)our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are (L)so quickly deserting (M)him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to (N)a different gospel— 7 (O)not that there is another one, but (P)there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or (Q)an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, (R)let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, (S)let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying (T)to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a (U)servant[b] of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11 For (V)I would have you know, brothers, that (W)the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.[c] 12 (X)For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it (Y)through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of (Z)my former life in Judaism, how (AA)I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely (AB)zealous was I for (AC)the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he (AD)who had set me apart (AE)before I was born,[d] and who (AF)called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to[e] me, in order (AG)that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;[f] 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
44 “The kingdom of heaven (A)is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy (B)he goes and sells all that he has and (C)buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding (D)one pearl of great value, (E)went and sold all that he had and (F)bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is (G)like a net that was thrown into the sea and (H)gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, (I)men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at (J)the end of the age. The angels will come out and (K)separate the evil from the righteous 50 (L)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place (M)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
New and Old Treasures
51 (N)“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every (O)scribe (P)who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who (Q)brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.