Book of Common Prayer
Delight Yourself in Yahweh
Of David.
Aleph
37 (A)Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not (B)envious toward doers of unrighteousness.
2 For they will (C)wither quickly like the grass
And (D)fade like the green herb.
Beth
3 (E)Trust in Yahweh and do good;
(F)Dwell in the land and [a](G)cultivate faithfulness.
4 (H)Delight yourself in Yahweh;
And He will (I)give you the desires of your heart.
Gimel
5 (J)Commit your way to Yahweh,
Trust in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring forth (K)your righteousness as the light
And your judgment (L)as the noonday.
Daleth
7 Be still in Yahweh and (M)wait [b]patiently for Him;
(N)Do not fret because of him who (O)prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out schemes of wickedness.
He
8 Cease from anger and (P)forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9 For (Q)evildoers will be cut off,
But those who hope for Yahweh, they will (R)inherit the land.
Vav
10 Yet (S)a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
You will look carefully at (T)his place, and he will not be there.
11 But (U)the lowly will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in (V)abundant peace.
Zayin
12 The wicked (W)schemes against the righteous
And (X)gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord (Y)laughs at him,
For He sees that (Z)his day is coming.
Heth
14 The wicked have drawn the sword and (AA)bent their bow
To cast down the (AB)afflicted and the needy,
To (AC)slay those who are upright in conduct.
15 Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their (AD)bows will be broken.
Teth
16 (AE)Better is the little of the righteous
Than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the (AF)arms of the wicked will be broken,
But Yahweh (AG)sustains the righteous.
Yodh
18 Yahweh (AH)knows the days of the [c]blameless,
And their (AI)inheritance will be forever.
19 They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
And (AJ)in the days of famine they will be satisfied.
Kaph
20 But the (AK)wicked will perish;
And the enemies of Yahweh will be like the [d]glory of the pastures,
They vanish—(AL)in smoke they vanish away.
Lamedh
21 The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous (AM)is gracious and gives.
22 For (AN)those blessed by Him will (AO)inherit the land,
But those (AP)cursed by Him will be cut off.
Mem
23 (AQ)The footsteps of a man are established by Yahweh,
And He (AR)delights in his way.
24 When (AS)he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because (AT)Yahweh is the One [e]who sustains his hand.
Nun
25 I was young and now I am old,
Yet (AU)I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or (AV)his seed begging bread.
26 All day long (AW)he is gracious and lends,
And (AX)his seed is a blessing.
Samekh
Ayin
28 For Yahweh (BA)loves [f]justice
And (BB)will not forsake His holy ones;
They are (BC)kept forever,
But the (BD)seed of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous will (BE)inherit the land
And (BF)dwell in it forever.
Pe
30 The mouth of the righteous (BG)utters wisdom,
And his tongue (BH)speaks justice.
31 The (BI)law of his God is in his heart;
His (BJ)steps do not slip.
Tsadhe
32 The (BK)wicked spies upon the righteous
And (BL)seeks to put him to death.
33 Yahweh will (BM)not forsake him in his hand;
(BN)He will not condemn him when he is judged.
Qoph
34 (BO)Hope for Yahweh and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the (BP)wicked are cut off, you will see it.
Resh
35 I have (BQ)seen a wicked, ruthless man
Spreading himself like a (BR)luxuriant [g]tree in its native soil.
36 Then [h]he passed away, and behold, he (BS)was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
Shin
37 Observe the [i](BT)blameless man, and behold the (BU)upright;
For the man of peace will have [j]a (BV)posterity.
38 But transgressors will be altogether (BW)destroyed;
The [k]posterity of the wicked will be (BX)cut off.
Tav
32 “Indeed, (A)ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the (B)day that God created [a]man on the earth, and inquire (C)from one end of the heavens to the other. (D)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33 (E)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and lived? 34 (F)Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation (G)with trials, with signs and wonders and with war and (H)with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terrors, [b]as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; (I)there is no other besides Him. 36 (J)Out of the heavens He caused you to hear His voice (K)to discipline you; and on earth He caused you to see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37 [c](L)Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them. And He [d](M)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38 dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and (N)to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that (O)Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40 (P)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, that (Q)it may go well with you and with your children after you, and (R)that you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for all the days.”
Ministers of a New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to (A)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, (B)letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 (C)You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, (D)ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of (E)the living God, not on (F)tablets of stone but on (G)tablets of hearts of (H)flesh.
4 And such (I)confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but (J)our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as (K)ministers of a (L)new covenant, not of (M)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but (N)the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the (O)ministry of death, (P)in letters having been engraved on stones, came [a]with glory, (Q)so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was being brought to an end, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory? 9 For if (R)the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the (S)ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had been glorious, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which was being brought to an end was [b]with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 (T)Therefore having such a hope, (U)we use great boldness, 13 and are not like Moses, (V)who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were (W)hardened; for until this very day at the (X)reading of (Y)the old covenant the same veil [c]remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, 16 but (Z)whenever a person turns to the [d]Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where (AA)the Spirit of the Lord is, (AB)there is freedom. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, (AC)beholding as in a mirror the (AD)glory of the Lord, are being (AE)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from (AF)the Lord, the Spirit.
The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward
16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and this steward was [a]reported to him as (A)squandering his possessions. 2 And he called for him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my [b]master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship people will [c]take me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his [d]master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘One hundred [e]baths of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘One hundred [f]kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his [g]master praised the unrighteous steward because he had acted shrewdly, for the sons of (B)this age are more shrewd in relation to their own [h]kind than the (C)sons of light. 9 And I say to you, (D)make friends for yourselves from the [i](E)wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, (F)they will [j]take you into the eternal dwellings.
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