Book of Common Prayer
The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed [by God’s grace and compassion] is he who considers the helpless;
The Lord will save him in the day of trouble.
2
The Lord will protect him and keep him alive;
And he will be called blessed in the land;
You do not hand him over to the desire of his enemies.
3
The Lord will sustain and strengthen him on his sickbed;
In his illness, You will restore him to health.
4
As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, 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 empty words,
While his heart gathers malicious gossip [against me];
When he goes away, he tells it [everywhere].
7
All who hate me whisper together about me;
Against me they devise my hurt [imagining the worst for me], saying,
8
“A wicked thing is poured out upon him and holds him;
And when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”
9
Even my own close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me [betraying me].(A)
10
But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and [a]restore me [to health],
So that I may repay them.
11
By this I know that You favor and delight in me,
Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
12
As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.
13
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting [from this age to the next, and forever].
Amen and Amen (so be it).
Futility of Boastful Wickedness.
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.”
52 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3
You love evil more than good,
And falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.
4
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5
But God will break you down forever;
He will take you away and tear you away from your tent,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.
6
The righteous will see it and fear,
And will [scoffingly] laugh, saying,
7
“Look, [this is] the man who would not make God his strength [his stronghold and fortress],
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
Taking refuge in his wealth.”
8
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust [confidently] in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
9
I will thank You forever, because You have done it, [You have rescued me and kept me safe].
I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.
44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us
The work You did in their days,
In the days of old.
2
You drove out the [pagan] nations with Your own hand;
Then you planted and established them (Israel);
[It was by Your power that] You uprooted the [pagan] peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
3
For our fathers did not possess the land [of Canaan] by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
Because You favored and delighted in them.
4
You are my King, O God;
Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).
5
Through You we will gore our enemies [like a bull];
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
6
For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7
But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.
8
In God we have boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.
9
But now You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And You do not go out with our armies [to lead us to victory].
10
You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
11
You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.
12
You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.
13
You have made us the reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.
14
You make us a byword among the nations,
A [a]laughingstock among the people.
15
My dishonor is before me all day long,
And humiliation has covered my face,
16
Because of the voice of the taunter and reviler,
Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
17
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].
18
Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,
19
Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackals
And covered us with [the deep darkness of] 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
[b]But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.(A)
23
Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, do not reject us forever.
24
Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25
For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
26
Rise up! Come be our help,
And ransom us for the sake of Your steadfast love.
13 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently and pay attention to My commandments which I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being]— 14 that [a]He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early [fall] rain and the late [spring] rain, so that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your [olive] oil. 15 And [b]He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the Lord] and serve other gods and worship them, 17 or [else] the Lord’s anger will be kindled and burn against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
18 “Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as [c]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them [diligently] to your [d]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
11 Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment]. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an occasion to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances [the virtues they pretend to have] rather than what is [actually] in heart. 13 If we are out of our mind [just unstable fanatics as some critics say], it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit. 14 For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. 21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].
Their Ministry Commended
6 Working together with Him, we strongly urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain [by turning away from sound doctrine and His merciful kindness]. 2 For He says,
“At the acceptable time (the time of grace) I listened to you,
And I helped you on the day of salvation.”
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—(A)
Instructions
17 Jesus said to His disciples, “Stumbling blocks [temptations and traps set to lure one to sin] are sure to come, but woe (judgment is coming) to him through whom they come!(A) 2 It would be better for him if a millstone [as large as one turned by a donkey] were hung around his neck and he were hurled into the sea, than for him to cause one of these [a]little ones to stumble [in sin and lose faith].(B) 3 Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God’s precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him [that is, give up resentment and consider the offense recalled and annulled].”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith [our ability to confidently trust in God and in His power].” 6 And the Lord said, “If you [b]have [confident, abiding] faith in God [even as small] as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree [which has very strong roots], ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea’; and [if the request was in agreement with the will of God] it would have obeyed you.(C)
7 “Which of you who has a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat?’ 8 Will he not instead say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and appropriately clothe yourself [for service] and serve me while I eat and drink; then afterward you may eat and drink?’ 9 He does not thank the servant just because he did what he was ordered to do, does he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants [undeserving of praise or a reward, for we have not gone beyond our obligation]; we have merely done what we ought to do.’”
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