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.
Vision of the Horses
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet: 8 I saw by night, and behold, (A)a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were (B)horses: red, sorrel, and white. 9 Then I said, (C)“My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”
10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, (D)“These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”
11 (E)So they answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is [a]resting quietly.”
The Lord Will Comfort Zion
12 Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, (F)how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry (G)these seventy years?”
13 And the Lord answered the angel who talked to me, with (H)good and comforting words. 14 So the angel who spoke with me said to me, [b]“Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“I am (I)zealous[c] for Jerusalem
And for Zion with great [d]zeal.
15 I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease;
For (J)I was a little angry,
And they helped—but with evil intent.”
16 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord:
(K)“I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy;
My (L)house (M)shall be built in it,” says the Lord of hosts,
“And (N)a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ’
17 “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Greeting the Seven Churches
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him (A)who is and (B)who was and who is to come, (C)and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, (D)the faithful (E)witness, the (F)firstborn from the dead, and (G)the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him (H)who [a]loved us (I)and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has (J)made us [b]kings and priests to His God and Father, (K)to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, He is coming with (L)clouds, and every eye will see Him, even (M)they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
8 (N)“I am the Alpha and the Omega, [c]the Beginning and the End,” says the [d]Lord, (O)“who is and who was and who is to come, the (P)Almighty.”
Vision of the Son of Man
9 I, John, [e]both your brother and (Q)companion in the tribulation and (R)kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 (S)I was in the Spirit on (T)the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me (U)a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, [f]“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches [g]which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned (V)I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 (W)and in the midst of the seven lampstands (X)One like the Son of Man, (Y)clothed with a garment down to the feet and (Z)girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and (AA)hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and (AB)His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 (AC)His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and (AD)His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 (AE)He had in His right hand seven stars, (AF)out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, (AG)and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And (AH)when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But (AI)He laid His right hand on me, saying [h]to me, “Do not be afraid; (AJ)I am the First and the Last. 18 (AK)I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, (AL)I am alive forevermore. Amen. And (AM)I have the keys of [i]Hades and of Death. 19 [j]Write the things which you have (AN)seen, (AO)and the things which are, (AP)and the things which will take place after this. 20 The [k]mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are (AQ)the [l]angels of the seven churches, and (AR)the seven lampstands [m]which you saw are the seven churches.
An Unclean Spirit Returns(A)
43 (B)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, (C)he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; (D)and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him(E)
46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, (F)behold, His mother and (G)brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, (H)Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My (I)brothers! 50 For (J)whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.