Book of Common Prayer
The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
41 How blessed is he who (A)considers the [a]helpless;
The Lord will deliver him (B)in a day of [b]trouble.
2 The Lord will (C)protect him and keep him alive,
And he shall [c]be called (D)blessed upon the earth;
And (E)do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3 The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed;
In his illness, You [d]restore him to health.
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
(F)Heal my soul, for (G)I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies (H)speak evil against me,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And [e]when he comes to see me, he (I)speaks [f]falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they (J)devise my hurt, saying,
8 “A wicked thing is poured out [g]upon him,
That when he lies down, he will (K)not rise up again.”
9 Even my (L)close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and (M)raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that (N)You are pleased with me,
Because (O)my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
12 As for me, (P)You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me (Q)in Your presence forever.
13 (R)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Futility of Boastful Wickedness.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of David, [b]when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you (A)boast in evil, O mighty man?
The (B)lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises (C)destruction,
Like a (D)sharp razor, (E)O worker of deceit.
3 You (F)love evil more than good,
(G)Falsehood more than speaking what is right. [c]Selah.
4 You love all words that devour,
O (H)deceitful tongue.
5 [d]But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and (I)tear you away from your tent,
And (J)uproot you from the (K)land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous will (L)see and fear,
And will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in [e]his evil desire.”
Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our (A)fathers have told us
The (B)work that You did in their days,
In the (C)days of old.
2 You with Your own hand (D)drove out the nations;
Then You (E)planted them;
You (F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You (G)spread them abroad.
3 For by their own sword they (H)did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your (I)arm and the (J)light of Your presence,
For You (K)favored them.
4 You are (L)my King, O God;
(M)Command [b]victories for Jacob.
5 Through You we will (N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will (O)trample down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will (P)not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7 But You (Q)have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have (R)put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have (S)boasted all day long,
And we will (T)give thanks to Your name forever. [c]Selah.
9 Yet You (U)have rejected us and brought us to (V)dishonor,
And (W)do not go out with our armies.
10 You cause us to (X)turn back from the adversary;
And those who hate us (Y)have taken spoil for themselves.
11 You give us as (Z)sheep [d]to be eaten
And have (AA)scattered us among the nations.
12 You (AB)sell Your people [e]cheaply,
And have not [f]profited by their sale.
13 You make us a (AC)reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a (AD)derision to those around us.
14 You make us (AE)a byword among the nations,
A [g](AF)laughingstock among the peoples.
15 All day long my dishonor is before me
And [h]my (AG)humiliation has overwhelmed me,
16 Because of the voice of him who (AH)reproaches and reviles,
Because of the presence of the (AI)enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us, but we have (AJ)not forgotten You,
And we have not (AK)dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not (AL)turned back,
And our steps (AM)have not deviated from Your way,
19 Yet You have (AN)crushed us in a place of (AO)jackals
And covered us with (AP)the shadow of death.
20 If we had (AQ)forgotten the name of our God
Or extended our [i]hands to (AR)a strange god,
21 Would not God (AS)find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 But (AT)for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as (AU)sheep to be slaughtered.
23 (AV)Arouse Yourself, why (AW)do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, (AX)do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You (AY)hide Your face
And (AZ)forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our (BA)soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth.
26 (BB)Rise up, be our help,
And (BC)redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
The Golden Calf
32 Now when the people saw that Moses (A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, (B)make us [a]a god who will go before us; as for (C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a (E)molten calf; and they said, “[b]This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 So the next day they rose early and (F)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and (G)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up (H)to play.
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go [c]down at once, for your people, whom (I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have (J)corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. (K)They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and (L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘[d](M)This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9 (N)The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are [e](O)an obstinate people. 10 Now then (P)let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and (Q)I will make of you a great nation.”
Moses’ Entreaty
11 Then (R)Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should (S)the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You (T)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will (U)multiply your [f]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and (V)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your [g]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 (W)So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15 (X)Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, (Y)tablets which were written on both [h]sides; they were written on one side and the other. 16 The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. 17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people [i]as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” 18 But he said,
“It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But the sound of singing I hear.”
Moses’ Anger
19 It came about, as soon as [j]Moses came near the camp, that (Z)he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and (AA)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them [k]at the foot of the mountain. 20 (AB)He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
Family Relations
18 (A)Wives, (B)be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 (C)Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 (D)Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing [a]to the Lord. 21 (E)Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
22 (F)Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters [b]on earth, (G)not with [c]external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work [d]heartily, (H)as for the Lord [e]rather than for men, 24 (I)knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward [f]of (J)the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you (K)serve. 25 For (L)he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and [g](M)that without partiality.
Fellow Workers
4 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, (N)knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
2 (O)Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time (P)for us as well, that God will open up to us a (Q)door for (R)the word, so that we may speak forth (S)the mystery of Christ, for which I have also (T)been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear (U)in the way I ought to speak.
5 [h](V)Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward (W)outsiders, [i](X)making the most of the opportunity. 6 (Y)Let your speech always be [j]with grace, as though seasoned with (Z)salt, so that you will know how you should (AA)respond to each person.
7 (AB)As to all my affairs, (AC)Tychicus, our (AD)beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 8 (AE)For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may (AF)encourage your hearts; 9 [k]and with him (AG)Onesimus, our faithful and (AH)beloved brother, (AI)who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here.
10 (AJ)Aristarchus, my (AK)fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also (AL)Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received [l]instructions; (AM)if he comes to you, welcome him); 11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only (AN)fellow workers for the kingdom of God (AO)who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. 12 (AP)Epaphras, (AQ)who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always (AR)laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may [m]stand [n](AS)perfect and [o]fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I testify for him that he has [p]a deep concern for you and for those who are in (AT)Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 (AU)Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also (AV)Demas. 15 Greet the brethren who are in (AW)Laodicea and also [q]Nympha and (AX)the church that is in [r]her house. 16 (AY)When [s]this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part (AZ)read [t]my letter that is coming from (BA)Laodicea. 17 Say to (BB)Archippus, “Take heed to the (BC)ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may [u]fulfill it.”
18 [v]I, Paul, (BD)write this greeting with my own hand. (BE)Remember my [w](BF)imprisonment. (BG)Grace be with you.
The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes
5 (A)When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on (B)the [a]mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 (C)He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
3 “[b](D)Blessed are the [c]poor in spirit, for (E)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are (F)those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are (G)the [d]gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are (H)those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are (I)the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are (J)the pure in heart, for (K)they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for (L)they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who have been (M)persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for (N)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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