Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who considers the weak and the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the time of evil and trouble.
2 The Lord will protect him and keep him alive; he shall be called blessed in the land; and You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain, refresh, and strengthen him on his bed of languishing; all his bed You [O Lord] will turn, change, and transform in his illness.
4 I said, Lord, be merciful and gracious to me; heal my inner self, for I have sinned against You.
5 My enemies speak evil of me, [saying], When will he die and his name perish?
6 And when one comes to see me, he speaks falsehood and empty words, while his heart gathers mischievous gossip [against me]; when he goes away, he tells it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me; against me do they devise my hurt [imagining the worst for me].
8 An evil disease, say they, is poured out upon him and cleaves fast to him; and now that he is bedfast, he will not rise up again.
9 Even my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted (relied on and was confident), who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.(A)
10 But You, O Lord, be merciful and gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
11 By this I know that You favor and delight in me, because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, You have upheld me in my integrity and set me in Your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting [from this age to the next, and forever]! Amen and Amen (so be it).
Psalm 52
To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. [A Psalm] of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.
1 Why boast you of mischief done against the loving-kindness of God [and the godly], O mighty [sinful] man, day after day?
2 Your tongue devises wickedness; it is like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness, justice, and right. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
4 You love all destroying and devouring words, O deceitful tongue.
5 God will likewise break you down and destroy you forever; He will lay hold of you and pluck you out of your tent and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
6 The [uncompromisingly] righteous also shall see [it] and be in reverent fear and awe, but about you they will [scoffingly] laugh, saying,
7 See, this is the man who made not God his strength (his stronghold and high tower) but trusted in and confidently relied on the abundance of his riches, seeking refuge and security for himself through his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in and confidently rely on the loving-kindness and the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank You and confide in You forever, because You have done it [delivered me and kept me safe]. I will wait on, hope in and expect in Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your saints (Your kind and pious ones).
Psalm 44
To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us [what] work You did in their days, in the days of old.
2 You drove out the nations with Your hand and it was Your power that gave [Israel] a home by rooting out the [heathen] peoples, but [Israel] You spread out.
3 For they got not the land [of Canaan] in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance [did it], because You were favorable toward and did delight in them.
4 You are my King, O God; command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).
5 Through You shall we push down our enemies; through Your name shall we tread them under who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in and lean on my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our foes and have put them to shame who hate us.
8 In God we have made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies.
10 You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves.
11 You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations.
12 You sell Your people for nothing, and have not increased Your wealth by their price.
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the heads among the people.
15 My dishonor is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face
16 At the words of the taunter and reviler, by reason of the enemy and the revengeful.
17 All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You, neither have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].
18 Our hearts are not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your path,
19 Though You have distressingly broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with deep darkness, even with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 Would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(A)
23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast us not off forever!
24 Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our lives are bowed down to the dust; our bodies cleave to the ground.
26 Rise up! Come to our help, and deliver us for Your mercy’s sake and because of Your steadfast love!
7 But the Israelites committed a trespass in regard to the devoted things; for Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the things devoted [for destruction]. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel.
2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the land. So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the men go up; but let about two thousand or three thousand go up and attack Ai; do not make the whole army toil up there, for they of Ai are few.
4 So about three thousand Israelites went up there, but they fled before the men of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and slew them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
6 Then Joshua rent his clothes and lay on the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
7 Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all only to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!
8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned to flee before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?
10 The Lord said to Joshua, Get up! Why do you lie thus upon your face?
11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the things devoted [for destruction]; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own baggage.
12 That is why the Israelites could not stand before their enemies, but fled before them; they are accursed and have become devoted [for destruction]. I will cease to be with you unless you destroy the accursed [devoted] things among you.
13 Up, sanctify (set apart for a holy purpose) the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: There are accursed things in the midst of you, O Israel. You can not stand before your enemies until you take away from among you the things devoted [to destruction].
8 Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one’s fellowmen, meeting all its requirements].
9 The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet (have an evil desire), and any other commandment, are summed up in the single command, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.(A)
10 Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law.
11 Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah).
12 The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light.
13 Let us live and conduct ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the [open light of] day, not in reveling (carousing) and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery (sensuality and licentiousness), not in quarreling and jealousy.
14 But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told His disciples, Sit down here while I go over yonder and pray.
37 And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to [a]show grief and distress of mind and was [b]deeply depressed.
38 Then He said to them, My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that [c]I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me.
39 And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, What! Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?
41 All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
42 Again a second time He went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it, Your will be done.
43 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down with sleep.
44 So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, using the same words.
45 Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of [d]especially wicked sinners [[e]whose way or nature it is to act in opposition to God].
46 Get up, let us be going! See, My betrayer is at hand!
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