Book of Common Prayer

God Keeps His Own

40 I did not give up waiting for the Lord. And He turned to me and heard my cry. ² He brought me up out of the hole of danger, out of the mud and clay. He set my feet on a rock, making my feet sure. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ How happy is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud or to the followers of lies. ⁵ O Lord my God, many are the great works You have done, and Your thoughts toward us. No one can compare with You! If I were to speak and tell of them, there would be too many to number.

⁶ You have not wanted gifts given on the altar in worship. You have opened my ears. You have not wanted burnt gifts or gifts to cover sins. ⁷ Then I said, “Look, I have come. It is written about me in the book. ⁸ I am happy to do Your will, O my God. Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have told the good news about what is right and good in the big meeting with many people. You know I will not close my lips, O Lord. ¹⁰ I have not hidden what is right and good with You in my heart. I have spoken about how faithful You are and about Your saving power. I have not hidden Your loving-kindness and Your truth from the big meeting.

¹¹ O Lord, You will not keep Your loving-pity from me. Your loving-kindness and Your truth will always keep me safe. ¹² Too many troubles gather around me. My sins have taken such a hold on me that I am not able to see. There are more of them than there are hairs on my head. And the strength of my heart has left me.

¹³ Be pleased to save me, O Lord. Hurry, O Lord, to help me. ¹⁴ Let all who want to destroy my life be ashamed and troubled. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away without honor. ¹⁵ Let those who say to me, “O! O!” be filled with fear because of their shame. ¹⁶ But let all who look for You have joy and be glad in You. Let those who love Your saving power always say, “The Lord be honored!” ¹⁷ Because I suffer and am in need, let the Lord think of me. You are my help and the One Who sets me free. O my God, do not wait.

Prayer for a Safe Place

54 Save me by Your name, O God. And stand with me by Your power. ² Hear my prayer, O God. Listen to the words of my mouth. ³ For strangers have risen against me. And men who hurt others want to take my life. They do not think about God.

⁴ See, God is my Helper. The Lord is the One Who keeps my soul alive. ⁵ He will punish those who hate me, for the wrong they have done. He will destroy them because He is faithful.

⁶ I will be glad to give You a gift on the altar. I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good. ⁷ For He has taken me out of all trouble. And my eyes have looked without fear upon those who hate me.

Prayer of the Sinner

51 O God, favor me because of Your loving-kindness. Take away my wrong-doing because of the greatness of Your loving-pity. ² Wash me inside and out from my wrong-doing and make me clean from my sin. ³ For I know my wrong-doing, and my sin is always in front of me. ⁴ I have sinned against You, and You only. I have done what is sinful in Your eyes. You are always right when You speak, and fair when You judge.

⁵ See, I was born in sin and was in sin from my very beginning. ⁶ See, You want truth deep within the heart. And You will make me know wisdom in the hidden part. ⁷ Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and happiness. Let the bones that You have broken be full of joy. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins. And take away all my wrong-doing.

¹⁰ Make a clean heart in me, O God. Give me a new spirit that will not be moved. ¹¹ Do not throw me away from where You are. And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Let the joy of Your saving power return to me. And give me a willing spirit to obey you. ¹³ Then I will teach wrong-doers Your ways. And sinners will turn to You.

¹⁴ Save me from the guilt of blood, O God. You are the God Who saves me. Then my tongue will sing with joy about how right and good You are. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, so my mouth will praise You. ¹⁶ For You are not happy with a gift given on the altar in worship, or I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt gifts. ¹⁷ The gifts on an altar that God wants are a broken spirit. O God, You will not hate a broken heart and a heart with no pride.

¹⁸ Be pleased to do good to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then You will be happy with gifts given on the altar that are right and good, with burnt gifts and whole burnt gifts. Then young bulls will be given on Your altar.

People Taken Away Because Of Not Obeying

⁸ Then the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, ⁹ “The Lord of All said, ‘Do what is right and be kind and show loving-pity to one another. ¹⁰ Do not make it hard for the woman whose husband has died, or the child who has no parents, or the stranger, or the poor. Do not make sinful plans in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹ But they would not listen. They turned away and stopped their ears from hearing. ¹² They made their hearts like hard stone, so that they could not hear the Law and the words which the Lord of All had sent by His Spirit through the men who spoke for Him in the past. So the Lord of All became very angry. ¹³ When I called, they would not listen. So when they called, I would not listen,” says the Lord of All. ¹⁴ “With the wind of a storm I sent them everywhere among all the nations that they had not known. The land was laid waste behind them, so that no one could come or go. They turned the good land into an empty waste.”

The Lord Promises to Build Jerusalem Again

8 Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “The Lord of All says, ‘I am very jealous for Zion. I am jealous for her with much anger.’ ³ The Lord says, ‘I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of All will be called the Holy Mountain.’ ⁴ The Lord of All says, ‘Old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem again. Each man will have a walking stick in his hand because he will be old. ⁵ And the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.’ ⁶ The Lord of All says, ‘It may be wonderful to the few people here in those days, but will it be wonderful to Me also?’ says the Lord of All. ⁷ The Lord of All says, ‘I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west. ⁸ I will bring them back and they will live in Jerusalem. They will be My people and I will be their God. I will be faithful and do what is right and good for them.’

⁶ I saw a Lamb standing in front of the twenty-four leaders. He was before the throne and in front of the four living beings. He looked as if He had been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes. These are the seven Spirits of God. They have been sent out into all the world. ⁷ The Lamb came and took the book from the right hand of the One Who sat on the throne. ⁸ When the Lamb had taken the book, the four living beings and the twenty-four leaders got down before Him. Each one had a harp. They all had pots made of gold, full of special perfume, which are the prayers of the people who belong to God. ⁹ They sang a new song, saying, “It is right for You to take the book and break its locks. It is because You were killed. Your blood has bought men for God from every family and from every language and from every kind of people and from every nation. ¹⁰ You have made them to be a holy nation of religious leaders to work for our God. They will be the leaders on the earth.”

¹¹ I looked again. I heard the voices of many thousands of angels. They stood around the throne and around the four living beings and the leaders. ¹² They said with a loud voice, “The Lamb Who was killed has the right to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and shining-greatness and thanks.”

¹³ Then I heard every living thing in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that are in them. They were saying, “Thanks and honor and shining-greatness and all power are to the One Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever.” ¹⁴ The four living beings kept saying, “Let it be so!” And the twenty-four leaders fell down and worshiped.

The Picture-Story of the Three Servants and the Money

¹⁴ “For the holy nation of heaven is like a man who was going to a country far away. He called together the servants he owned and gave them his money to use. ¹⁵ He gave to one servant five pieces of money worth much. He gave to another servant two pieces of money worth much. He gave to another servant one piece of money worth much. He gave to each one as he was able to use it. Then he went on his trip. ¹⁶ The servant who had the five pieces of money went out to the stores and traded until he made five more pieces. ¹⁷ The servant who had two pieces of money did the same thing. He made two more pieces. ¹⁸ The servant who had received the one piece of money went and hid the money in a hole in the ground. He hid his owner’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time the owner of those servants came back. He wanted to know what had been done with his money. ²⁰ The one who had received the five pieces of money worth much came and handed him five pieces more. He said, ‘Sir, you gave me five pieces of money. See! I used it and made five more pieces.’ ²¹ His owner said to him, ‘You have done well. You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will put many things in your care. Come and share my joy.’ ²² The one who received two pieces of money worth much came also. He said, ‘Sir, you gave me two pieces of money. See! I used it and made two more pieces.’ ²³ His owner said to him, ‘You have done well. You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will put many things in your care. Come and share my joy.’ ²⁴ The one who had received one piece of money worth much came. He said, ‘Sir, I know that you are a hard man. You gather grain where you have not planted. You take up where you have not spread out. ²⁵ I was afraid and I hid your money in the ground. See! Here is your money.’ ²⁶ His owner said to him, ‘You bad and lazy servant. You knew that I gather grain where I have not planted. You knew that I take up where I have not spread out. ²⁷ You should have taken my money to the bank. When I came back, I could have had my own money and what the bank paid for using it. ²⁸ Take the one piece of money from him. Give it to the one who has ten pieces of money.’ ²⁹ For the man who has will have more given to him. He will have more than enough. The man who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ Throw the bad servant out into the darkness. There will be loud crying and grinding of teeth.