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 Futility of Pleasure and Possessions
2 I said [a]to myself, “Come now, I will test you with (A)pleasure. So [b]enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. 2 (B)I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” 3 I explored with my [c]mind how to (C)stimulate my body with wine while my [d]mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of (D)folly, until I could see (E)what good there is for the sons of men [e]to do under heaven the few [f]years of their lives. 4 I enlarged my works: I (F)built houses for myself, I planted (G)vineyards for myself; 5 I made (H)gardens and (I)parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; 6 I made (J)ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and I had [g](K)homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and (L)herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 Also, I collected for myself silver and (M)gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself (N)male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.
9 Then I became (O)great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. 10 (P)All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my (Q)reward for all my labor. 11 Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had [h]exerted, and behold all was [i](R)vanity and striving after wind and there was (S)no profit under the sun.
Wisdom Excels Folly
12 So I turned to (T)consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except (U)what has already been done? 13 And I saw that (V)wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the (W)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that (X)one fate befalls them both. 15 Then I said [j]to myself, “(Y)As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. (Z)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So [k]I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”
Introduction
1 Paul, (A)an apostle ((B)not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but (C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who (D)raised Him from the dead), 2 and all (E)the brethren who are with me,
To (F)the churches of Galatia:
3 (G)Grace to you and peace from [a]God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who (H)gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from (I)this present evil [b]age, according to the will of (J)our God and Father, 5 (K)to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
Perversion of the Gospel
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting (L)Him who called you [c]by the grace of Christ, for a (M)different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are (N)disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or (O)an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel [d]contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be [e](P)accursed! 9 As we (Q)have said before, so I say again now, (R)if any man is preaching to you a gospel [f]contrary to what you received, he is to be [g](S)accursed!
10 For am I now (T)seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a (U)bond-servant of Christ.
Paul Defends His Ministry
11 For (V)I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is (W)not according to man. 12 For (X)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a (Y)revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of (Z)my former manner of life in Judaism, how I (AA)used to persecute (AB)the church of God beyond measure and (AC)tried to destroy it; 14 and I (AD)was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my [h]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my (AE)ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and (AF)called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might (AG)preach Him among the Gentiles, (AH)I did not immediately consult with [i](AI)flesh and blood, 17 (AJ)nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to (AK)Damascus.
Hidden Treasure
44 “(A)The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and (B)sells all that he has and buys that field.
A Costly Pearl
45 “Again, (C)the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
A Dragnet
47 “Again, (D)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 So it will be at (E)the [a]end of the age; the angels will come forth and [b]take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and (F)will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place (G)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” 52 And [c]Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.