Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
Even My Friend
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For the choir director. A psalm by David.
David’s Confidence of Delivery
1 How blessed is the person who understands the plight of the weak!
May the Lord deliver him in the day of trouble.
2 May the Lord guard him and keep him alive.
May he be blessed in the land.
May you not surrender him to the desire of his enemies.
3 May the Lord sustain him on his sickbed.
You raise him up from his bed.
4 I said, “Lord, have mercy on me.
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.”
The Treachery of the Conspirators
5 My enemies speak evil about me:
“When will he die and his name perish?”
6 If one comes to see me, he speaks falsely.
In his heart he collects malicious plans.
He goes out. He speaks about them in the street.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me.
They plan evil for me. They say,
8 “A deadly affliction is poured out on him.
He will never get up from the place where he lies.”
9 Even a man who was at peace with me,
a man whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
has raised up his heel to step on me.
Closing Prayer
10 But you, Lord, have mercy on me.
Raise me up, so that I can repay them.
11 From this I know that you are pleased with me:
My enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me—in my integrity you uphold me,
and you set me up in your presence forever.
Closing Doxology
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity.
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 52
Your Tongue Is a Razor
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For the choir director. A maskil[a] by David.
When Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul
and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”[b]
Doeg’s Sin
1 Why do you boast about evil, you hero?
The mercy of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue plans destruction.
It is like a sharpened razor, you scheming liar.
3 You love evil rather than good. Interlude
You love lying rather than speaking what is right.
4 You lying tongue, you love every word that devours!
Doeg’s Judgment
5 But God will tear you down forever.
He will grab you and pull you out of your tent. Interlude
He will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 Then the righteous will see and fear.
Then they will laugh at him:
7 “Look, here is the man who did not make God his stronghold,
but trusted in the greatness of his wealth.
He grew strong by his destructive deeds!”
David’s Delivery
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever because you have done this.
I will hope in your name in the presence of your favored ones
because it is good.
Psalm 44
Past Victory—Present Defeat
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For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
Past Victory
1 God, our ears have heard.
Our fathers have told us the work you performed
in their days, in days long ago.
2 By your hand you drove out the nations,
but you planted your people.
You crushed the peoples,
but you sent your people forward.
3 For it was not by their sword
that they took possession of the land.
It was not their arm that saved them.
It was your right hand and your arm,
and the light from your face,
because you took pleasure in them.
Present Trust
4 You are the one who is my King, O God.
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we drive back our foes.
Through your name we trample our adversaries.
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not save me.
7 But you save us from our foes,
and you put those who hate us to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day,
and we will praise your name forever. Interlude
Present Defeat
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us,
and you do not go out with our armies.
10 You made us turn back before the foe,
and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves.
11 You give us up for food like sheep,
and you have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for no great price,
and you have not profited from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
scorn and ridicule to those around us.
14 You have made us a laughingstock among the nations,
a reason for the peoples to shake their heads.
15 All day my disgrace is right in front of me,
and the shame on my face covers me,
16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this came on us, though we had not forgotten you.
We had not been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back.
Our steps had not slipped off your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a home for jackals,
and you covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered this,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are considered sheep to be slaughtered.
Present Plea
23 Get up! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up!
Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our misery and our oppression?
25 For our souls bow down to the dust.
Our bellies cling to the earth.
26 Stand up! Help us!
Redeem us because of your mercy.
24 When Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “Here’s some news. David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.”[a] 2 Then Saul took three thousand specially chosen men[b] from all Israel and went to hunt for David and his men along the rocky slopes of the wild goats.[c]
3 Saul came to some sheep pens that were along that route. Saul went into a cave that was there to relieve himself.[d] At that time David and his men were far back in the interior of the cave.
4 David’s men said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about when he said, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.’” So David got up and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe without being noticed.
5 Afterward, David had a guilty conscience, because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “May I be cursed if I do something like this to my master, who is the Lord’s anointed—that I would stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 With these words David restrained his men and did not allow them to attack Saul.
Saul got up, left the cave, and went on his way. 8 David got up and followed him out of the cave and shouted to him, “My lord the king!”
When Saul looked back at him, David bowed facedown to the ground to show respect. 9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Watch out! David is seeking to harm you’? 10 This very day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you, because I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 Take a look at this! My father, take a good look at the piece of your robe that is here in my hand. Because I cut off the edge of your robe but did not kill you, you can be sure that I do not have any evil intent and I am not rebelling. I have not sinned against you, even though you keep hunting for me to take my life. 12 May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you. 13 As the ancient proverb says, ‘Out of the wicked come wicked deeds,’ but my hand will not be against you. 14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? What are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the Lord, therefore, be the judge who renders a verdict between you and me. May he examine my case, plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”
16 When David had finished speaking these words, Saul responded, “Is that your voice, David, my son?” Saul broke down and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. 18 You have made it clear today how you have been good to me, because when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. 19 If a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? May the Lord reward you with good for what you have done for me today. 20 Now I know without a doubt that you will become king, and that the kingship over Israel will be established in your hand. 21 So swear to me now by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”
22 David promised this to Saul with an oath.
Saul went back home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of God.[a] 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with envy and began to contradict what Paul was saying by slandering him.[b]
46 Then Paul and Barnabas responded fearlessly, “It was necessary that God’s word be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look: We are now turning to the Gentiles! 47 For this is what the Lord has instructed us:
I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.”[c]
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were rejoicing and praising the word of the Lord. All who had been appointed for eternal life believed.
49 And the word of the Lord was being carried through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district. 51 So they shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 The disciples continued to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
The Parable of the Sower
4 Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. 2 Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, 3 “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. 6 When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. 7 Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, 12 so that
they will certainly see but not perceive,
and they will certainly hear but not understand.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”[a]
13 Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. 17 Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. 18 Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. 20 But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.