Psalm 37
Fret not because of evildoers; be not jealous of those who do wrong. For they shall soon wither like grass and like the green herb fade away.
Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the land and be nourished with truth. Let your delight be in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, and he will bring it to pass. He will make your righteousness as clear as the light and your just dealing as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait for him; do not fret over those that prosper as they follow their evil schemes. Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret, lest you be moved to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; you will search for their place and find them gone. But the lowly shall possess the land and shall delight in abundance of peace.
The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash at them with their teeth. The Lord shall laugh at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.
The wicked draw their sword and bend their bow to strike down the poor and needy, to slaughter those who walk in truth. Their sword shall go through their own heart and their bows shall be broken.
The little that the righteous have is better than great riches of the wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the godly, and their inheritance shall stand for ever. They shall not be put to shame in the perilous time, and in days of famine they shall have enough.
But the wicked shall perish; like the glory of the meadows the enemies of the Lord shall vanish; they shall vanish like smoke. The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are generous in giving. For those who are blest by God shall possess the land, but those who are cursed by him shall be rooted out.
When your steps are guided by the Lord and you delight in his way, Though you stumble, you shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds you fast by the hand.
I have been young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging their bread. All the day long they are generous in lending, and their children also shall be blest.
Depart from evil and do good and you shall abide for ever. For the Lord loves the thing that is right and will not forsake his faithful ones.
The unjust shall be destroyed for ever, and the offspring of the wicked shall be rooted out. The righteous shall possess the land and dwell in it for ever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and their tongue speaks the thing that is right. The law of their God is in their heart and their footsteps shall not slide.
The wicked spy on the righteous and seek occasion to slay them. The Lord will not leave them in their hand, nor let them be condemned when they are judged.
Wait upon the Lord and keep his way; he will raise you up to possess the land, and when the wicked are uprooted, you shall see it.
I myself have seen the wicked in great power and flourishing like a tree in full leaf. I went by and lo, they were gone; I sought them, but they could nowhere be found.
Keep innocence and heed the thing that is right, for that will bring you peace at the last. But the sinners shall perish together, and the posterity of the wicked shall be rooted out.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord shall stand by them and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked and shall save them, because they have put their trust in him.
Job 16.1-17.2
Then Job answered:
I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.
I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company.
And he has shrivelled me up, which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face.
He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
God gives me up to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
I was at ease, and he broke me in two; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target; his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground.
He bursts upon me again and again; he rushes at me like a warrior.
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust.
My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting-place.
Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbour.
For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
Romans 8.12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
The Collect
Eternal Father, when the gospel of Christ first came to our land you gloriously confirmed the faith of Alban by making him the first to win a martyr’s crown: grant that, following his example, in the fellowship of the saints we may worship you, the living God, and give true witness to Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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