Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
Victory in spite of Betrayal
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Happy is one who is considerate of the poor;
the Lord will save him in a day of adversity.(A)
2 The Lord will keep him and preserve him;
he will be blessed in the land.(B)
You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies.(C)
3 The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed;
you will heal him on the bed where he lies.(D)
4 I said, “Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”(E)
5 My enemies speak maliciously about me:
“When will he die and be forgotten?” (F)
6 When one of them comes to visit, he speaks deceitfully;
he stores up evil in his heart;
he goes out and talks.(G)
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they plan to harm me.(H)
8 “Something awful has overwhelmed him,[a]
and he won’t rise again from where he lies!” (I)
9 Even my friend[b] in whom I trusted,
one who ate my bread,
has raised his heel against me.(J)
10 But you, Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up;
then I will repay them.(K)
11 By this I know that you delight in me:(L)
my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.(M)
12 You supported me because of my integrity(N)
and set me in your presence forever.(O)
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.(P)
Psalm 52
God Judges the Proud
For the choir director. A Maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”(A)
1 Why boast about evil, you hero!(B)
God’s faithful love is constant.(C)
2 Like a sharpened razor,
your tongue devises destruction,
working treachery.(D)
3 You love evil instead of good,
lying instead of speaking truthfully.(E)Selah
4 You love any words that destroy,
you treacherous tongue!(F)
5 This is why God will bring you down forever.
He will take you, ripping you out of your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.(G)Selah
6 The righteous will see and fear,
and they will derisively say about that hero,[a](H)
7 “Here is the man
who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”(I)
Psalm 44
Israel’s Complaint
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 God, we have heard with our ears—
our ancestors have told us—
the work you accomplished in their days,
in days long ago:(A)
2 In order to plant them,
you displaced the nations by your hand;
in order to settle them,
you brought disaster on the peoples.(B)
3 For they did not take the land by their sword—
their arm did not bring them victory—
but by your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face,(C)
because you were favorable toward them.(D)
4 You are my King, my God,
who ordains[a] victories for Jacob.(E)
5 Through you we drive back our foes;
through your name we trample our enemies.(F)
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not bring me victory.(G)
7 But you give us victory over our foes
and let those who hate us be disgraced.(H)
8 We boast in God all day long;(I)
we will praise your name forever.(J)Selah
9 But you have rejected and humiliated us;
you do not march out with our armies.(K)
10 You make us retreat from the foe,
and those who hate us
have taken plunder for themselves.(L)
11 You hand us over to be eaten like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.(M)
12 You sell your people for nothing;
you make no profit from selling them.(N)
13 You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.(O)
14 You make us a joke among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(P)
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and shame has covered my face,(Q)
16 because of the taunts[c] of the scorner and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.(R)
17 All this has happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or betrayed your covenant.(S)
18 Our hearts have not turned back;
our steps have not strayed from your path.(T)
19 But you have crushed us in a haunt of jackals
and have covered us with deepest darkness.(U)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread out our hands to a foreign god,(V)
21 wouldn’t God have found this out,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?(W)
22 Because of you we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.(X)
The Night Visions
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
First Vision: Horsemen
8 I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut[a] horse.(A) He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley.[b] Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses. 9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”
The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”
11 They reported to the angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”(B)
12 Then the angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?” (C) 13 The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
14 So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Armies says: I am extremely jealous(D) for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease,(E) for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse.[c] 16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.(F)
17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”(G)
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace(A) to you from[a] the one who is, who was, and who is to come,(B) and from the seven spirits[b](C) before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,(D) the firstborn from the dead(E) and the ruler of the kings of the earth.(F)
To him who loves us and has set us free[c] from our sins by his blood,(G) 6 and made us a kingdom,[d] priests[e](H) to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.(I)
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds,(J)
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
And all the tribes[f] of the earth[g](K)
will mourn over him.[h][i] (L)
So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”(M) says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
John’s Vision of the Risen Lord
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction,(N) kingdom,(O) and endurance(P) that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.(Q) 10 I was in the Spirit[j](R) on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet(S) 11 saying, “Write(T) on a scroll[k] what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see whose voice(U) it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,(V) 13 and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man,[l](W) dressed in a robe(X) and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.(Y) 14 The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow(Z)—and his eyes like a fiery flame.(AA) 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace,(AB) and his voice like the sound of cascading[m] waters.(AC) 16 He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth,(AD) and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.(AE)
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.(AF) He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,(AG) 18 and the Living One.(AH) I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever,(AI) and I hold the keys(AJ) of death and Hades. 19 Therefore write what you have seen,(AK) what is, and what will take place after this. 20 The mystery(AL) of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[n] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands[o] are the seven churches.(AM)
An Unclean Spirit’s Return
43 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any.(A) 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ Returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.(B) That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”
True Relationships
46 While he(C) was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him.(D) 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”[a]
48 He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 Stretching out his hand toward his disciples,(E) he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”(F)
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