Friday 30 July 2010<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">Judges 5:1-18<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘When locks are long in Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when the people offer themselves willingly—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>bless * the Lord!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to the Lord I will sing,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Lord, when you went out from Seir,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when you marched from the region of Edom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the earth trembled,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the heavens poured,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the clouds indeed poured water.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before the Lord, the God of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the days of Jael, caravans ceased</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and travellers kept to the byways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The peasantry prospered in Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they grew fat on plunder,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because you arose, Deborah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>arose as a mother in Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When new gods were chosen,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>then war was in the gates.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Was shield or spear to be seen</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>among forty thousand in Israel?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who offered themselves willingly among the people.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Bless the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you who sit on rich carpets,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you who walk by the way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To the sound of musicians* at the watering-places,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Awake, awake, Deborah!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Awake, awake, utter a song!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O son of Abinoam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then down marched the remnant of the noble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the people of the Lord marched down for him* against the mighty.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From Ephraim they set out* into the valley,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>following you, Benjamin, with your kin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from Machir marched down the commanders,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and Issachar faithful to Barak;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>into the valley they rushed out at his heels.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Among the clans of Reuben</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there were great searchings of heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to hear the piping for the flocks?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Among the clans of Reuben</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there were great searchings of heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>settling down by his landings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zebulun is a people that scorned death;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acts 2:1-21</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“In the last days it will be, God declares,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and your young men shall see visions,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your old men shall dream dreams.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even upon my slaves, both men and women,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in those days I will pour out my Spirit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they shall prophesy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I will show portents in the heaven above</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and signs on the earth below,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>blood, and fire, and smoky mist.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sun shall be turned to darkness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the moon to blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 28:1-10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he* lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead,* and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Save me, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the waters have come up to my neck.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I sink in deep mire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>where there is no foothold;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have come into deep waters,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the flood sweeps over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am weary with my crying;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my throat is parched.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My eyes grow dim</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with waiting for my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">More in number than the hairs of my head</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>are those who hate me without cause;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">many are those who would destroy me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my enemies who accuse me falsely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What I did not steal</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>must I now restore?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O God, you know my folly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord God of hosts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">do not let those who seek you be dishonoured because of me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O God of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that shame has covered my face.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have become a stranger to my kindred,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>an alien to my mother’s children.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I humbled my soul with fasting,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they insulted me for doing so.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I made sackcloth my clothing,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I became a byword to them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the drunkards make songs about me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At an acceptable time, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With your faithful help rescue me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from sinking in the mire;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let me be delivered from my enemies</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and from the deep waters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let the flood sweep over me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or the deep swallow me up,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or the Pit close its mouth over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not hide your face from your servant,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Draw near to me, redeem me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>set me free because of my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You know the insults I receive,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my shame and dishonour;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my foes are all known to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Insults have broken my heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that I am in despair.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I looked for pity, but there was none;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and for comforters, but I found none.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They gave me poison for food,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let their table be a trap for them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a snare for their allies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and make their loins tremble continually.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pour out your indignation upon them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and let your burning anger overtake them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May their camp be a desolation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let no one live in their tents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they persecute those whom you have struck down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Add guilt to their guilt;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>may they have no acquittal from you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them not be enrolled among the righteous.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I am lowly and in pain;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let your salvation, O God, protect me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will praise the name of God with a song;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will magnify him with thanksgiving.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This will please the Lord more than an ox</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or a bull with horns and hoofs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the oppressed see it and be glad;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you who seek God, let your hearts revive.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the Lord hears the needy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and does not despise his own that are in bonds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let heaven and earth praise him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the seas and everything that moves in them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For God will save Zion</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and rebuild the cities of Judah;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and his servants shall live* there and possess it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the children of his servants shall inherit it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and those who love his name shall live in it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 73</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 73</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truly God is good to the upright,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to those who are pure in heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my steps had nearly slipped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I was envious of the arrogant;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I saw the prosperity of the wicked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they have no pain;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their bodies are sound and sleek.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are not in trouble as others are;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they are not plagued like other people.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore pride is their necklace;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>violence covers them like a garment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their eyes swell out with fatness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their hearts overflow with follies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They scoff and speak with malice;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>loftily they threaten oppression.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They set their mouths against heaven,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their tongues range over the earth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore the people turn and praise them,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and find no fault in them.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And they say, ‘How can God know?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Is there knowledge in the Most High?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such are the wicked;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>always at ease, they increase in riches.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All in vain I have kept my heart clean</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and washed my hands in innocence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all day long I have been plagued,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and am punished every morning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But when I thought how to understand this,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it seemed to me a wearisome task,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">until I went into the sanctuary of God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>then I perceived their end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truly you set them in slippery places;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you make them fall to ruin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How they are destroyed in a moment,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>swept away utterly by terrors!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are* like a dream when one awakes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on awaking you despise their phantoms.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When my soul was embittered,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I was pricked in heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was stupid and ignorant;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was like a brute beast towards you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nevertheless I am continually with you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you hold my right hand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You guide me with your counsel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and afterwards you will receive me with honour.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whom have I in heaven but you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My flesh and my heart may fail,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you put an end to those who are false to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But for me it is good to be near God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have made the Lord God my refuge,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to tell of all your works.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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