Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Confidence[a]
16 Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
all the good things I have come from you.”
3 How excellent are the Lord's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
4 Those who rush to other gods
bring many troubles on themselves.[b]
I will not take part in their sacrifices;
I will not worship their gods.
5 You, Lord, are all I have,
and you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
6 How wonderful are your gifts to me;
how good they are!
7 I praise the Lord, because he guides me,
and in the night my conscience warns me.
8 I am always aware of the Lord's presence;
he is near, and nothing can shake me.
9 And so I am thankful and glad,
and I feel completely secure,
10 (A)because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully,
and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
11 (B)You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy
and brings me pleasure forever.
The Prayer of an Innocent Person[c]
17 Listen, O Lord, to my plea for justice;
pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to my honest prayer.
2 You will judge in my favor,
because you know what is right.
3 You know my heart.
You have come to me at night;
you have examined me completely
and found no evil desire in me.
I speak no evil,
4 as others do;
I have obeyed your command
and have not followed paths of violence.
5 I have always walked in your way
and have never strayed from it.
6 I pray to you, O God, because you answer me;
so turn to me and listen to my words.
7 Reveal your wonderful love and save me;
at your side I am safe from my enemies.
8 Protect me as you would your very eyes;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the attacks of the wicked.
Deadly enemies surround me;
10 they have no pity and speak proudly.
11 They are around me now, wherever I turn,
watching for a chance to pull me down.
12 They are like lions, waiting for me,
wanting to tear me to pieces.
13 Come, Lord! Oppose my enemies and defeat them!
Save me from the wicked by your sword;
14 save me from those who in this life have all they want.
Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up for them;
may there be enough for their children
and some left over for their children's children!
15 But I will see you, because I have done no wrong;
and when I awake, your presence will fill me with joy.
A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise[a]
22 (A)My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I have cried desperately for help,
but still it does not come.
2 During the day I call to you, my God,
but you do not answer;
I call at night,
but get no rest.
3 But you are enthroned as the Holy One,
the one whom Israel praises.
4 Our ancestors put their trust in you;
they trusted you, and you saved them.
5 They called to you and escaped from danger;
they trusted you and were not disappointed.
6 But I am no longer a human being; I am a worm,
despised and scorned by everyone!
7 (B)All who see me make fun of me;
they stick out their tongues and shake their heads.
8 (C)“You relied on the Lord,” they say.
“Why doesn't he save you?
If the Lord likes you,
why doesn't he help you?”
9 It was you who brought me safely through birth,
and when I was a baby, you kept me safe.
10 I have relied on you since the day I was born,
and you have always been my God.
11 Do not stay away from me!
Trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.
12 Many enemies surround me like bulls;
they are all around me,
like fierce bulls from the land of Bashan.
13 They open their mouths like lions,
roaring and tearing at me.
14 My strength is gone,
gone like water spilled on the ground.
All my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like melted wax.
15 My throat[b] is as dry as dust,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have left me for dead in the dust.
16 An evil gang is around me;
like a pack of dogs they close in on me;
they tear at[c] my hands and feet.
17 All my bones can be seen.
My enemies look at me and stare.
18 (D)They gamble for my clothes
and divide them among themselves.
19 O Lord, don't stay away from me!
Come quickly to my rescue!
20 Save me from the sword;
save my life from these dogs.
21 Rescue me from these lions;
I am helpless[d] before these wild bulls.
22 (E)I will tell my people what you have done;
I will praise you in their assembly:
23 “Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
Honor him, you descendants of Jacob!
Worship him, you people of Israel!
24 He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering;
he does not turn away from them,
but answers when they call for help.”
25 In the full assembly I will praise you for what you have done;
in the presence of those who worship you
I will offer the sacrifices I promised.
26 The poor will eat as much as they want;
those who come to the Lord will praise him.
May they prosper forever!
27 All nations will remember the Lord.
From every part of the world they will turn to him;
all races will worship him.
28 The Lord is king,
and he rules the nations.
29 All proud people will bow down to him;[e]
all mortals will bow down before him.
30 Future generations will serve him;
they will speak of the Lord to the coming generation.
31 People not yet born will be told:
“The Lord saved his people.”
8 Yes, Jerusalem is doomed! Judah is collapsing! Everything they say and do is against the Lord; they openly insult God himself. 9 Their prejudices will be held against them. They sin as openly as the people of Sodom did. They are doomed, and they have brought it on themselves.
10 The righteous will be happy,[a] and things will go well for them. They will get to enjoy what they have worked for. 11 But evil people are doomed; what they have done to others will now be done to them.
12 Moneylenders oppress my people, and their creditors cheat them.
My people, your leaders are misleading you, so that you do not know which way to turn.
The Lord Judges His People
13 The Lord is ready to state his case; he is ready to judge his people.[b] 14 The Lord is bringing the elders and leaders of his people to judgment. He makes this accusation: “You have plundered vineyards, and your houses are full of what you have taken from the poor. 15 You have no right to crush my people and take advantage of the poor. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
A Life That Pleases God
4 Finally, our friends, you learned from us how you should live in order to please God. This is, of course, the way you have been living. And now we beg and urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to do even more. 2 For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality. 4 Each of you should know how to live with your wife[a] in a holy and honorable way, 5 not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God. 6 In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that. 7 God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness. 8 So then, whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 There is no need to write you about love for each other. You yourselves have been taught by God how you should love one another. 10 And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even more. 11 Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to earn your own living, just as we told you before. 12 In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need.
The Question about the Messiah(A)
41 Jesus asked them, “How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? 42 (B)For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit here at my right side
43 until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.’
44 David called him ‘Lord’; how, then, can the Messiah be David's descendant?”
Jesus Warns against the Teachers of the Law(C)
45 As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; 47 who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!”
The Widow's Offering(D)
21 Jesus looked around and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the Temple treasury, 2 and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins. 3 He said, “I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others. 4 For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.