Book of Common Prayer
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he who considers the [a]poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
(A)You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will [b]sustain him on his sickbed.
4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
(B)Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks [c]lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they [d]devise my hurt.
8 “An[e] evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 (C)Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
(D)Who ate my bread,
Has [f]lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And (E)set me before Your face forever.
13 (F)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
The End of the Wicked and the Peace of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A [a]Contemplation of David (A)when Doeg the Edomite went and (B)told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
2 Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
4 You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his [b]wickedness.”
Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor
To the Chief Musician. A (A)Contemplation[a] of the sons of Korah.
44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
(B)Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old:
2 (C)You drove out the [b]nations with Your hand,
But them You planted;
You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
3 For (D)they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them;
But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
(E)Because You favored them.
4 (F)You are my King, [c]O God;
[d]Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through You (G)we will push down our enemies;
Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
6 For (H)I will not trust in my bow,
Nor shall my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our enemies,
And have put to shame those who hated us.
8 (I)In God we boast all day long,
And praise Your name forever. Selah
9 But (J)You have cast us off and put us to shame,
And You do not go out with our armies.
10 You make us (K)turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken [e]spoil for themselves.
11 (L)You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
And have (M)scattered us among the nations.
12 (N)You sell Your people for next to nothing,
And are not enriched by selling them.
13 (O)You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
14 (P)You make us a byword among the nations,
(Q)A shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me,
16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
(R)Because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 (S)All this has come upon us;
But we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
(T)Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
19 But You have severely broken us in (U)the place of jackals,
And covered us (V)with the shadow of death.
16 Bind up the testimony,
Seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait on the Lord,
Who (A)hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I (B)will hope in Him.
18 (C)Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We (D)are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And when they say to you, (E)“Seek those who are mediums and wizards, (F)who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they (G)seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 (H)To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because (I)there[a] is no light in them.
21 They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and (J)curse [b]their king and their God, and look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.
The Government of the Promised Son(K)
Greeting the Faithful
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and (A)apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have [a]obtained (B)like[b] precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 (C)Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His (D)divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him (E)who called us by glory and virtue, 4 (F)by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be (G)partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the [c]corruption that is in the world through lust.
Fruitful Growth in the Faith
5 But also for this very reason, (H)giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue (I)knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control [d]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and (J)to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither [e]barren (K)nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is (L)shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent (M)to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Prayer in the Garden(A)
39 (B)Coming out, (C)He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 (D)When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 (E)And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless (F)not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 [a]Then (G)an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 (H)And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why (I)do you sleep? Rise and (J)pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane(K)
47 And while He was still speaking, (L)behold, a multitude; and he who was called (M)Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a (N)kiss?”
49 When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And (O)one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.
52 (P)Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, “Have you come out, as against a (Q)robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you daily in the (R)temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your (S)hour, and the power of darkness.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.