Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I (Psalms 1-41)
The Righteous and the Wicked[a]
1 How blessed is the person,
who does not take[b] the advice of the wicked,
who does not stand on the path with sinners,
and who does not sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But he delights in the Lord’s instruction,[c]
and meditates in his instruction[d] day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
yielding its fruit in its season,
and whose leaf does not wither.
He will prosper in everything he does.
4 But this is not the case with the wicked.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not escape[e] judgment,
nor will sinners have a place[f] in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will be destroyed.
The Nations and God’s Anointed
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and their people involved in a vain plot?
2 As the kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say,[g]
3 “Let us tear off their shackles from us,[h]
and cast off their chains.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 In his anger he rebukes them,
and in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I have set my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
The Anointed King Speaks
7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord
that he told me:
“You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
you will shatter them like pottery.”
10 Therefore, kings, act wisely!
Earthly rulers, be warned!
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss[i] the son before he becomes[j] angry,
and you die where you stand.[k]
Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him.
A Davidic Psalm, when he fled from his son Absalom.
God Delivers His Servants
3 Lord, I have so many persecutors!
Many are rising up against me!
2 Many are saying about me,
“God will never deliver him!”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud[l] to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep,
I wake up, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear multitudes of[m] people,
who set themselves against me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
For you strike the jaw of all my enemies,
and you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic Psalm
Trust God under Adversity
4 When I call, answer me,
my righteous God![n]
When I was in distress, you set me free.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 You people,
how long will you malign my reputation?
How long will you love what is vain[o]
and what is false?
3 But understand this:[p]
the Lord has set apart the godly for himself!
The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him!
A Davidic psalm,[a] which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.
A Prayer for Vindication
7 Lord, my God,
I seek refuge in you.
Deliver me from those who persecute me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me to shreds like a lion,
tearing me[b] apart with no one to rescue me.[c]
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this thing,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil,
if I have plundered my enemy without justification,
5 then, let my enemy pursue me,
let him overtake me,
and let him trample my life to the ground.
Let him put my honor into the dust.
6 Get up, Lord, in your anger!
Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies;
Arouse yourself for me;
you have ordained justice.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and you will sit[d] high above them.
8 For the Lord will judge the peoples.
Judge me according to my righteousness, Lord,
and according to my integrity, Exalted One.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
For you are the righteous God
who discerns the inner thoughts.[e]
10 God is my shield,[f]
the one who delivers the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry with sinners[g] every day.
12 If the ungodly one[h] doesn’t repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and prepare it.
13 He prepares weapons of death for himself,
he makes his arrows into fiery shafts.
14 But the wicked one[i] travails with evil,
he conceives malice and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit, even excavates it;
then he fell into the hole that he had made.
16 The trouble[j] he planned will return on his own head,
and his violence will descend on his skull.
17 But as for me,
I will praise the Lord for his righteousness,
and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
The Evil Behavior of the People
7 Poor me!
I feel like those who harvest summer fruit,
or like those who pick grapes—
there are no clusters to eat
or any fresh fruit that I want.
2 The faithful have died off,
and there is not one upright human being in the land.
They all stalk one another[a] with lethal intent,
a man will even hunt his own brother with a net.
3 And speaking of evil,
they practice it eagerly—with both hands!
Both leader and judge demand a bribe,
the famous confess their perverted desires,
and they scheme together.
4 The best of them is like a thorn,
and their most upright like a hedge of thorns.
The day announced by[b] your watchmen—
and by your own calculations—approaches.
Now it’s your time to be[c] confused!
5 Don’t trust your friends,
don’t confide in a companion,
watch what you say to your wife.[d]
6 The son disrespects his father,
the daughter rebels against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and a man’s enemies are the people of his own house.[e]
Micah Looks to God
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God who will deliver me.
My God will hear me.
Paul Presents His Case to Agrippa
26 Then Agrippa told Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.
2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I can defend myself today against all the accusations of the Jewish leaders,[a] 3 since you are especially familiar with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen patiently to me. 4 All the Jews know how I lived from the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.
6 “And now I stand here on trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our ancestors. 7 Our twelve tribes, worshiping day and night with intense devotion, hope to attain it. It is because of this hope, O King, that I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why is it thought incredible by all of you that God should raise the dead? 9 Indeed, I myself thought it my duty to take extreme measures against the name of Jesus from Nazareth.[b] 10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the high priests and locked many of the saints in prison. And when I cast my vote against them, they were put to death. 11 I would even punish them frequently in every synagogue and try to make them blaspheme. Raging furiously against them, I would hunt them down even in distant cities.
12 “That is how I happened to be traveling to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests. 13 On the road at noon, O King, I saw a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun. It flashed around me and those who were traveling with me.
14 “All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice asking me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the cattle prods.’[c]
15 “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’[d]
“The Lord answered, ‘I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up and stand on your feet, because I’ve appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you to be my servant and witness of what you’ve seen and of what I’ll show you. 17 I’ll continue to rescue you from your people and from the gentiles to whom I’m sending you. 18 You will help them understand[e] and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Instead, I first told the people in Damascus and Jerusalem, then all the people in Judea—and after that the gentiles—to repent, turn to God, and perform deeds that are consistent with such repentance. 21 For this reason the Jewish leaders[f] grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me. 22 I’ve had help from God to this day, and so I stand here to testify to both the powerful and the lowly alike, stating only what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah[g] would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and would bring light both to our people and to the gentiles.”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man(A)
26 They landed in the region of the Gerasenes,[a] which is just across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus[b] stepped out on the shore, a man from the city met him. This man was controlled by[c] demons and had not worn clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he screamed, fell down in front of him, and cried out in a loud voice, “What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to torture me!” 29 because Jesus[d] was in the process of ordering the unclean spirit to come out of the man. On many occasions the unclean spirit[e] had seized the man,[f] and though he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, he would break the chains and be driven by the demon into deserted places.
30 Jesus asked the man,[g] “What’s your name?”
He answered, “Legion,”[h] because many demons had gone into him. 31 Then the demons[i] began begging Jesus[j] not to order them to go into the bottomless pit.[k]
32 Now a large herd of pigs was grazing there on the hillside. So the demons[l] begged Jesus[m] to let them go into those pigs, and he consented to that. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down a steep slope into the lake and drowned.
34 Now when those who had been taking care of the pigs saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. 35 So the people[n] went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind, they were frightened. 36 The people who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people from the region surrounding the Gerasenes[o] asked Jesus[p] to leave them, because they were terrified. So he got into a boat and started back.
38 Now the man from whom the demons had gone out kept begging Jesus[q] to let him go with him. But Jesus[r] sent him away, saying, 39 “Go home and tell what God has done for you.” So the man[s] left and kept proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
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