Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 37
Do Not Fret Because of Evildoers
Heading
By David.
Do Not Be Frustrated by the Wicked
1 Do not fret because of evildoers.
Do not be envious of those who do wrong,
2 for like grass they will wither quickly.
Like green plants they will wilt.
Trust in God’s Goodness
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good.
Dwell in the land and feed on faithfulness.[a]
4 Take pleasure in the Lord,
and he will grant your heart’s desires.
5 Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your righteousness shine like light,
your justice like noon.
7 Be silent before the Lord. Wait patiently for him.
Do not fret when an evil man succeeds in his ways,
when he carries out his wicked schemes.
Consider the Final Destiny of the Wicked
8 Let go of anger and abandon rage.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the earth.
10 After a little while the wicked will be no more.
When you search for them at their place, they are not there.
11 But the meek[b] will inherit the earth.
They will enjoy plenty of peace.
12 The wicked person plots against the righteous.
He gnashes his teeth at him,
13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
because he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their sword,
and they bend their bow
to make the poor and needy fall,
to slaughter those whose ways are upright.
15 Their swords will pierce their hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
Be Satisfied With God’s Blessings
16 Better the little that one righteous person has
than the wealth of many wicked people,
17 because the arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless.
Their inheritance will last forever.
19 They will not be ashamed in time of disaster.
In days of famine they will be full.
20 Surely the wicked will perish.
The enemies of the Lord will be
like beautiful flowers in the pastures.
But they will vanish. Like smoke they will vanish.
Continue to Live a Godly Life
21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous are gracious and give.
22 So those God blesses will inherit the earth,
but those he curses will be cut off.
23 By the Lord the steps of a person are made secure.
Then he will delight in his way.
24 Though he falls, he will not stay down,
because the Lord holds him by his hand.
25 I was a young man. Now I am old.
But I have never seen a righteous person forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
26 Every day he is gracious and lends.
His children will be blessed.
27 Turn back from evil and do good.
Then you will remain forever.
28 For the Lord loves justice.
He will not forsake his favored ones.[c]
They will be protected forever,
but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous will inherit the earth.
They will dwell on it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom.
His tongue speaks what is just.
31 The law of his God is in his heart.
His steps do not slip.
Review of the Theme
32 The wicked spy on the righteous one and seek to kill him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in their hand.
He will not let him be condemned when he is put on trial.
34 Wait for the Lord and keep to his way.
He will raise you up to take possession of the earth.
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I saw a wicked, ruthless man.
He was rooted like a green plant in its native soil,
36 but he passed away. Just like that, he was gone!
I searched for him, but he could not be found.
37 Take note of the blameless. Look at the upright.
Yes, there is a future for the man of peace.
38 But rebels will be completely destroyed.
The future of the wicked will be cut off.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord.
He is their stronghold in times of stress.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them.
He delivers them from the wicked.
He saves them, because they have taken refuge in him.
24 So David hid in the countryside. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal. 25 The king sat at his usual seat next to the wall. Jonathan was across from him,[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day, since he thought, “Something has happened to him to make him ceremonially unclean. That’s what it is—he must be unclean.”
27 On the day after the new moon, the second day of the month, David’s place was still empty. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David begged me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has ordered me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please excuse me so I can go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverted, unfaithful woman! Don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?[b] 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingship. So send for him and bring him to me, because he must surely die!”
32 Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33 Saul threw his spear at him to hit him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. 34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger, and he ate no food on the second day of the month, for he grieved for David, because his father had treated David so shamefully.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out into the field at the time he had set with David. He took a young servant boy with him. 36 He said to his boy, “Run out and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy reached the area where Jonathan’s arrow had landed, Jonathan yelled to the boy, “Isn’t the arrow farther out from you?” 38 Jonathan shouted to the boy, “Go faster! Hurry up! Don’t be slow!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrows and came back to his master. 39 The boy did not know anything about what was going on. Only Jonathan and David knew. 40 Jonathan gave his equipment to his boy and told him, “Go on ahead. Carry these things into the city.”
41 As soon as the boy was gone, David got up from the south side of the mound.[c] He fell down with his face to the ground and bowed three times. They kissed one another and wept together, but David wept more. 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the Lord’s name. May the Lord stand between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” David got up and left, and Jonathan went back into the city.
The Holy Spirit Calls Paul and Barnabas
13 Now in the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas; Simeon, who was called Niger; Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch; and Saul. 2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.
4 So they were sent out by the Holy Spirit and went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.
6 When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
8 Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and looking straight at him, 10 said, “You are full of every kind of deceit and fraud, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all righteousness! Will you never stop twisting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now look! The hand of the Lord is against you. You will be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching of the Lord.
Lord of the Sabbath
23 Once on a Sabbath day, Jesus was passing through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick heads of grain as they walked along. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”
25 He replied to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry (he and his companions)? 26 He entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except for the priests. He also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man With a Withered Hand
3 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered[a] hand. 2 They were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Step forward!”[b] 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 Then he looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees left and immediately began to conspire against Jesus with the Herodians, plotting how they might kill him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.