Thursday 30 October 2008<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ecclesiasticus 31:12-18,25-32:2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are you seated at the table of the great?*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not be greedy at it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not say, ‘How much food there is here!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What has been created more greedy than the eye?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Therefore it sheds tears for any reason.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not crowd your neighbour* at the dish.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Judge your neighbour’s feelings by your own,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and in every matter be thoughtful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eat what is set before you like a well-bred person,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not chew greedily, or you will give offence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not be insatiable, or you will give offence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you are seated among many others,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not help yourself* before they do.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for wine has destroyed many.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the furnace tests the work of the smith,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so wine tests hearts when the insolent quarrel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wine is very life to human beings</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if taken in moderation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is life to one who is without wine?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It has been created to make people happy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to quarrels and stumbling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reducing his strength and adding wounds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not reprove your neighbour at a banquet of wine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not despise him in his merrymaking;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">speak no word of reproach to him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not distress him by making demands of him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be among them as one of their number.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take care of them first and then sit down;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when you have fulfilled all your duties, take your place,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so that you may be merry along with them</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and receive a garland for your excellent leadership.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Revelation 12:7-17</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Now have come the salvation and the power</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the kingdom of our God</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the authority of his Messiah,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for the accuser of our comrades* has been thrown down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who accuses them day and night before our God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by the word of their testimony,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rejoice then, you heavens</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and those who dwell in them!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But woe to the earth and the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the devil has come down to you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with great wrath,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because he knows that his time is short!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued* the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke 11:53-12:12</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority* to cast into hell.* Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how* you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mighty one, God the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>speaks and summons the earth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the rising of the sun to its setting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>God shines forth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our God comes and does not keep silence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before him is a devouring fire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a mighty tempest all around him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He calls to the heavens above</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to the earth, that he may judge his people:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Gather to me my faithful ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The heavens declare his righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for God himself is judge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Israel, I will testify against you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am God, your God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your burnt-offerings are continually before me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will not accept a bull from your house,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or goats from your folds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For every wild animal of the forest is mine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the cattle on a thousand hills.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know all the birds of the air,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all that moves in the field is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the world and all that is in it is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do I eat the flesh of bulls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or drink the blood of goats?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and pay your vows to the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Call on me in the day of trouble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But to the wicked God says:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘What right have you to recite my statutes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or take my covenant on your lips?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you hate discipline,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you cast my words behind you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You make friends with a thief when you see one,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you keep company with adulterers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘You give your mouth free rein for evil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your tongue frames deceit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You sit and speak against your kin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you slander your own mother’s child.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These things you have done and I have been silent;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you thought that I was one just like yourself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to those who go the right way*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will show the salvation of God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 59, 60, 33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 59</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>protect me from those who rise up against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deliver me from those who work evil;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the bloodthirsty save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even now they lie in wait for my life;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the mighty stir up strife against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Awake to punish all the nations;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each evening they come back,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>howling like dogs</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and prowling about the city.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There they are, bellowing with their mouths,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with sharp words* on their lips—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for ‘Who’, they think,* ‘will hear us?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you laugh at them, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you hold all the nations in derision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O my strength, I will watch for you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you, O God, are my fortress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My God in his steadfast love will meet me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not kill them, or my people may forget;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>make them totter by your power, and bring them down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, our shield.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them be trapped in their pride.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the cursing and lies that they utter,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>consume them in wrath;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>consume them until they are no more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then it will be known to the ends of the earth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that God rules over Jacob.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each evening they come back,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>howling like dogs</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and prowling about the city.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They roam about for food,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and growl if they do not get their fill.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I will sing of your might;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you have been a fortress for me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a refuge on the day of my distress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O my strength, I will sing praises to you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you, O God, are my fortress,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the God who shows me steadfast love.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 60</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O God, you have rejected us, broken our defences;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have been angry; now restore us!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have made your people suffer hard things;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have set up a banner for those who fear you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to rally to it out of bowshot.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give victory with your right hand, and answer us,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that those whom you love may be rescued.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God has promised in his sanctuary:*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘With exultation I will divide up Shechem,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and portion out the Vale of Succoth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Ephraim is my helmet;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Judah is my sceptre.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Moab is my wash-basin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on Edom I hurl my shoe;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>over Philistia I shout in triumph.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who will bring me to the fortified city?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Who will lead me to Edom?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have you not rejected us, O God?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You do not go out, O God, with our armies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O grant us help against the foe,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for human help is worthless.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With God we shall do valiantly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it is he who will tread down our foes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Praise befits the upright.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Praise the Lord with the lyre;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sing to him a new song;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the word of the Lord is upright,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all his work is done in faithfulness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He loves righteousness and justice;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all their host by the breath of his mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he put the deeps in storehouses.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let all the earth fear the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he spoke, and it came to be;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he commanded, and it stood firm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he frustrates the plans of the peoples.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the thoughts of his heart to all generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord looks down from heaven;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he sees all humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From where he sits enthroned he watches</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the inhabitants of the earth—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he who fashions the hearts of them all,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and observes all their deeds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A king is not saved by his great army;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The war horse is a vain hope for victory,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by its great might it cannot save.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on those who hope in his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to deliver their soul from death,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to keep them alive in famine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our soul waits for the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he is our help and shield.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our heart is glad in him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because we trust in his holy name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>even as we hope in you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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