Book of Common Prayer
The Protection of the Righteous and the Destruction of the Wicked
Of David.[a]
37 Do not fret because of evildoers;
do not be envious of doers of wickedness.
2 For like the grass they will dry up quickly,
and like green vegetation they will wither.
3 Trust Yahweh and do good.
Abide in the land and feed on faithfulness.[b]
4 Take pleasure in Yahweh as well,
and he will give to you the requests of your heart.
5 Commit to[c] Yahweh your way;
Trust also on him and he will act.
6 Then he will bring forth your righteousness like the light,
and your justice like the noonday.
7 Be quiet before Yahweh and wait for him.
Do not fret about one who succeeds in his way,
about a man making plots.
8 Refrain from anger and forsake wrath.
Do not fret; it only brings evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who wait for Yahweh—
they will possess the land.
10 And[d] yet a little while and the wicked will not be,
and you will look carefully upon his place, but he will not be.
11 But the afflicted will possess the land,
and they will take pleasure in an abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plans evil against the righteous,
and gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
for he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow
to throw down the poor and the needy,
to kill those upright in their way.
15 Their sword will enter into their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.
16 The little belonging to the righteous is better
than the wealth of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but Yahweh supports the righteous.
18 Yahweh knows the days of the blameless,
and their inheritance will be forever.
19 They will not be put to shame in distressing times,[e]
and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.
20 But the wicked will perish,
and the enemies of Yahweh will be like the splendor of the pastures.
They vanish; in smoke they vanish.
21 The wicked borrows and does not repay,
but the righteous is gracious and gives.
22 For those blessed by him shall possess the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a man are established by Yahweh,
and he takes pleasure in his way.
24 Though he fall, he will not be cast headlong,
for Yahweh supports him with his hand.
25 I was a youth, but I am now old;
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for[f] bread.
26 All the day he is gracious and lends,
and his children are a blessing.
27 Turn aside from evil and do good
and so abide forever.
28 For Yahweh loves justice
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
They are protected forever.
But the children of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous will possess the land
and abide in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart.
His steps will not slip.
32 The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to kill him.
33 Yahweh will not abandon him into his hand,
and he will not let him be condemned when he is judged.
34 Wait for Yahweh and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to possess the land.
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen the wicked acting violently
and spreading himself out
like a luxuriant native tree.
36 Then he passed on[g] and behold, he was not.
And I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Observe the blameless and look at the upright,
for there is a future for a man of peace.
38 But transgressors shall be destroyed altogether.
The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 And[h] the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh,
their refuge in the time of trouble.
40 And Yahweh helps them and he rescues them.
He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
16 My face is red because of weeping,
and deep shadows are on my eyelids,
17 although[a] violence is not on my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, you should not cover my blood,
and let there be no place[b] for my cry for help.
19 So now look, my witness is in the heavens,
and he who vouches for me is in the heights.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 and it argues[c] for a mortal with God,
and as a human[d] for his friend.
22 Indeed, after a few years[e] have come,
then[f] I will go the way from which I will not return.
Job’s Fifth Speech, Continued
17 “My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;
the graveyard is for me.
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
to the maggot, ‘You are my mother or[a] my sister,’
15 where[b] then is my hope?
And who will see my hope?[c]
16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?
Or shall we descend together into the dust?”
Barnabas and Saul Sent Out from Antioch
13 Now there were prophets and teachers in Antioch in the church that was there: Barnabas, and Simeon (who was called Niger), and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. 2 And while[a] they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, after they[b] had fasted and prayed and placed their[c] hands on them, they sent them[d] away.
Confronting a Magician on Cyprus
4 Therefore, sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed away to Cyprus. 5 And when they[e] came to Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they also had John as assistant. 6 And when they[f] had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and[g] wished to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for his name is translated in this way) opposed them, attempting to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul (also called Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and[h] said, “O you who are full of all deceit and of all unscrupulousness, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness! Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord! 11 And now behold, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a while.[i] And immediately mist and darkness fell over him, and he was going around looking for people[j] to lead him[k] by the hand. 12 Then when[l] the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he[m] was astounded at the teaching about[n] the Lord.
A Man Born Blind Is Given Sight
9 And as he[a] went away, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” 3 Jesus replied, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it happened[b] so that the works of God could be revealed in him. 4 It is necessary for us to do the deeds of the one who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work! 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he[c] had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes. 7 And he said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
8 Then the neighbors and those who saw him previously (because he was a beggar) began to say,[d] “Is this man not the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “It is this man”; others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” That one was saying, “I am he!” 10 So they began to say[e] to him, “How[f] were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The man who is called Jesus made clay and smeared it[g] on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash!’ So I went, and I washed, and[h] I received sight.” 12 And they said to him, “Where is that man?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Reaction of the Pharisees to the Healing
13 They brought him—the one formerly blind—to the Pharisees. 14 (Now the day on which Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes was the Sabbath.) 15 So the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath!” Others[i] were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
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