Book of Common Prayer
Assurance of God’s Help and a Plea for Healing
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he who considers the poor![a]
The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.[b]
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against thee!”
5 My enemies say of me in malice:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
while his heart gathers mischief;
when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.
8 They say, “A deadly thing has fastened upon him;
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted,
who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10 But do thou, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may requite them!
11 By this I know that thou art pleased with me,
in that my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But thou hast upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in thy presence for ever.
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
Judgment on the Deceitful
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you boast, O mighty man,
of mischief done against the godly?[a]
All the day 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth.Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down for ever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.Selah
6 The righteous shall see, and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
and sought refuge in his wealth!”[b]
8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
for ever and ever.
9 I will thank thee for ever,
because thou hast done it.
I will proclaim[c] thy name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
National Lament and Prayer for Help
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds thou didst perform in their days,
in the days of old:
2 thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations,
but them thou didst plant;
thou didst afflict the peoples,
but them thou didst set free;
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory;
but thy right hand, and thy arm,
and the light of thy countenance;
for thou didst delight in them.
4 Thou art my King and my God,
who ordainest[a] victories for Jacob.
5 Through thee we push down our foes;
through thy name we tread down our assailants.
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our foes,
and hast put to confusion those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to thy name for ever.Selah
9 Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us,
and hast not gone out with our armies.
10 Thou hast made us turn back from the foe;
and our enemies have gotten spoil.
11 Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter,
and hast scattered us among the nations.
12 Thou hast sold thy people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those about us.
14 Thou hast made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face,
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten thee,
or been false to thy covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from thy way,
19 that thou shouldst have broken us in the place of jackals,
and covered us with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
or spread forth our hands to a strange god,
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long,
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!
24 Why dost thou hide thy face?
Why dost thou forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our body cleaves to the ground.
26 Rise up, come to our help!
Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!
Elihu Rebukes Job’s Friends
32 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Eli′hu the son of Bar′achel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; 3 he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. 4 Now Eli′hu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. 5 And when Eli′hu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he became angry.
6 And Eli′hu the son of Bar′achel the Buzite answered:
“I am young in years,
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, ‘Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit in a man,
the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
9 It is not the old[a] that are wise,
nor the aged that understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.’
19 Behold, my heart is like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
20 I must speak, that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 I will not show partiality to any person
or use flattery toward any man.
22 For I do not know how to flatter,
else would my Maker soon put an end to me.
Elihu Rebukes Job
33 “But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.
19 “Man is also chastened with pain upon his bed,
and with continual strife in his bones;
20 so that his life loathes bread,
and his appetite dainty food.
21 His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
and his bones which were not seen stick out.
22 His soul draws near the Pit,
and his life to those who bring death.
23 If there be for him an angel,
a mediator, one of the thousand,
to declare to man what is right for him;
24 and he is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit,
I have found a ransom;
25 let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
26 then man prays to God, and he accepts him,
he comes into his presence with joy.
He recounts[a] to men his salvation,
27 and he sings before men, and says:
‘I sinned, and perverted what was right,
and it was not requited to me.
28 He has redeemed my soul from going down into the Pit,
and my life shall see the light.’
44 The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and went to Ico′nium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and he is mad; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the sayings of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Jesus Is Rejected by the Jews
22 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me,[a] is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.