Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 41
For the music leader. A psalm of David.
41 Those who pay close attention to the poor are truly happy!
The Lord rescues them during troubling times.
2 The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
they are widely regarded throughout the land as happy people.
You[a] won’t hand them over to the will of their enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen them when they are lying in bed, sick.
You will completely transform the place where they lie ill.
4 But me? I said, “Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies speak maliciously about me:
“When will he die and his name disappear?”
6 Whenever they come to visit, they say nothing of value.
Their hearts collect evil gossip;
once they leave, they tell it to everybody.
7 All of those who hate me talk about me, whispering to each other,
plotting evil against me:
8 “Some horrible thing has been poured into him;
the next time he lies down, he won’t get up.”
9 Even my good friend,
the one I trusted,
who shared my food,
has kicked me with his heel—a betrayer!
10 But you, Lord, please have mercy on me and lift me up
so I can pay them back!
11 Then I’ll know you are pleased with me
because my enemy won’t be shouting in triumph over me.
12 You support me in my integrity;
you put me in your presence forever.
13 Bless the Lord, the God of Israel,
from forever to forever!
Amen and Amen!
Psalm 52
For the music leader. A maskil[a] of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has gone to Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Hey, powerful person!
Why do you brag about evil?
God’s faithful love lasts all day long.
2 Your tongue devises destruction:
it’s like a sharpened razor, causing deception.
3 You love evil more than good;
you love lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all destructive words;
you love the deceiving tongue.
5 But God will take you down permanently;
he will snatch you up,
tear you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living! Selah
6 The righteous will see and be in awe;
they will laugh at those people:
7 “Look at them! They didn’t make God their refuge.
Instead, they trusted in their own great wealth.
They sought refuge in it—to their own destruction!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in God’s house;
I trust in God’s faithful love forever and always.
9 I will give thanks to you, God, forever,
because you have acted.
In the presence of your faithful people,
I will hope in your name because it’s so good.
Psalm 44
For the music leader. A maskil[a] of the Korahites.
44 We have heard it, God, with our own ears;
our ancestors told us about it:
about the deeds you did in their days,
in days long past.
2 You, by your own hand, removed all the nations,
but you planted our ancestors.
You crushed all the peoples,
but you set our ancestors free.
3 No, not by their own swords
did they take possession of the land—
their own arms didn’t save them.
No, it was your strong hand, your arm,
and the light of your face
because you were pleased with them.
4 It’s you, God! You who are my king,
the one who orders salvation for Jacob.
5 We’ve pushed our foes away by your help;
we’ve trampled our enemies by your name.
6 No, I won’t trust in my bow;
my sword won’t save me
7 because it’s you who saved us from our foes,
you who put those who hate us to shame.
8 So we glory in God at all times
and give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But now you’ve rejected and humiliated us.
You no longer accompany our armies.
10 You make us retreat from the enemy;
our adversaries plunder us.
11 You’ve handed us over like sheep for butchering;
you’ve scattered us among the nations.
12 You’ve sold your people for nothing,
not even bothering to set a decent price.
13 You’ve made us a joke to all our neighbors;
we’re mocked and ridiculed by everyone around us.
14 You’ve made us a bad joke to the nations,
something to be laughed at by all peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace confronts me,
and shame covers my face
16 because of the voices of those
who make fun of me and bad-mouth me,
because of the enemy who is out for revenge.
17 All this has come upon us,
but we haven’t forgotten you
or broken your covenant.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away,
neither have our steps strayed from your way.
19 But you’ve crushed us in the place where jackals[b] live,
covering us with deepest darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to some strange deity,
21 wouldn’t God have discovered it?
After all, God knows every secret of the heart.
22 No, God, it’s because of you that we are getting killed every day—
it’s because of you that we are considered sheep ready for slaughter.
23 Wake up! Why are you sleeping, Lord?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever!
24 Why are you hiding your face,
forgetting our suffering and oppression?
25 Look: we’re going down to the dust;
our stomachs are flat on the ground!
26 Stand up! Help us!
Save us for the sake of your faithful love.
2 I said to myself,[a] Come, I will make you[b] experience pleasure; enjoy what is good! But this too was pointless! 2 Merriment, I thought, is madness; pleasure, of no use at all. 3 I tried cheering myself with wine and by embracing folly—with wisdom still guiding me—until I might see what is really worth doing in the few days that human beings have under heaven.
4 I took on great projects: I built houses for myself, planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself, planting every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I made reservoirs for myself to water my lush groves. 7 I acquired male servants and female servants; I even had slaves born in my house. I also had great herds of cattle and sheep, more than any who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, the treasures of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers for myself, along with every human luxury, treasure chests galore![c] 9 So I became far greater than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Moreover, my wisdom stood by me. 10 I refrained from nothing that my eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. Indeed, my heart found pleasure from the results of my hard work; that was the reward from all my hard work. 11 But when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had worked so hard to achieve, I realized that it was pointless—a chasing after wind. Nothing is to be gained under the sun.
12 My reflections then turned to wisdom, madness, and folly. What can the king’s heir do but what has already been done? 13 I saw that wisdom is more beneficial than folly, as light is more beneficial than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk around in darkness.
But I also realized that the same fate happens to both of them. 15 So I thought to myself, What happens to the fool will also happen to me. So why have I been so very wise? I said to myself, This too is pointless.
Greeting
1 From Paul, an apostle who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead; 2 and from all the brothers and sisters with me.
To the churches in Galatia.
3 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 He gave himself for our sins, so he could deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To God be the glory forever and always! Amen.
The gospel challenged in Galatia
6 I’m amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow another gospel. 7 It’s not really another gospel, but certain people are confusing you and they want to change the gospel of Christ. 8 However, even if we ourselves or a heavenly angel should ever preach anything different from what we preached to you, they should be under a curse. 9 I’m repeating what we’ve said before: if anyone preaches something different from what you received, they should be under a curse!
Paul’s leadership
10 Am I trying to win over human beings or God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be Christ’s slave. 11 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the gospel I preached isn’t human in origin. 12 I didn’t receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 You heard about my previous life in Judaism, how severely I harassed God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my peers, because I was much more militant about the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But God had set me apart from birth and called me through his grace. He was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles. I didn’t immediately consult with any human being. 17 I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were apostles before me either, but I went away into Arabia and I returned again to Damascus.
Parable of the treasure
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that somebody hid in a field, which someone else found and covered up. Full of joy, the finder sold everything and bought that field.
Parable of the merchant
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he owned and bought it.
Parable of the net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that people threw into the lake and gathered all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, they pulled it to the shore, where they sat down and put the good fish together into containers. But the bad fish they threw away. 49 That’s the way it will be at the end of the present age. The angels will go out and separate the evil people from the righteous people, 50 and will throw the evil ones into a burning furnace. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.
Treasures new and old
51 “Have you understood all these things?”Jesus asked.
They said to him, “Yes.”
52 Then he said to them, “Therefore, every legal expert who has been trained as a disciple for the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings old and new things out of their treasure chest.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible