Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119[a]
א alef
119 Those whose way is blameless—
who walk in the Lord’s Instruction—are truly happy!
2 Those who guard God’s laws are truly happy!
They seek God with all their hearts.
3 They don’t even do anything wrong!
They walk in God’s ways.
4 God, you have ordered that your decrees
should be kept most carefully.
5 How I wish my ways were strong
when it comes to keeping your statutes!
6 Then I wouldn’t be ashamed
when I examine all your commandments.
7 I will give thanks to you with a heart that does right
as I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes.
Please don’t leave me all alone!
ב bet
9 How can young people keep their paths pure?
By guarding them according to what you’ve said.[b]
10 I have sought you with all my heart.
Don’t let me stray from any of your commandments!
11 I keep your word close, in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 You, Lord, are to be blessed!
Teach me your statutes.
13 I will declare out loud
all the rules you have spoken.
14 I rejoice in the content of your laws
as if I were rejoicing over great wealth.
15 I will think about your precepts
and examine all your paths.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget what you have said.
ג gimel
17 Be good to your servant so I can go on living
and keeping your word.
18 Open my eyes so I can examine
the wonders of your Instruction!
19 I’m an immigrant in the land.
Don’t hide your commandments from me!
20 I’m worn out by longing
every minute for your rules!
21 You rebuke the arrogant, accursed people
who stray from your commandments.
22 Take all their insults and contempt away from me
because I’ve kept your laws!
23 Even if rulers gather and scheme against me,
your servant will contemplate your statutes!
24 Yes, your laws are my joy—
they are my most trusted advisors!
Psalm 12
For the music leader. According to the Sheminith.[a] A psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, because the godly are all gone;
the faithful have completely disappeared
from the human race!
2 Everyone tells lies to everyone else;
they talk with slick speech and divided hearts.
3 Let the Lord cut off all slick-talking lips
and every tongue that brags and brags,
4 that says, “We’re unbeatable with our tongues!
Who could get the best of us with lips like ours?”
5 But the Lord says,
“Because the poor are oppressed,
because of the groans of the needy,
I’m now standing up.
I will provide the help they are gasping for.”[b]
6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver that’s been refined in an oven,
purified seven times over!
7 You, Lord, will keep us,[c]
protecting us from this generation forever.
8 The wicked roam all over the place,
while depravity is praised by human beings.
Psalm 13
For the music leader. A song of David.
13 How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long will I be left to my own wits,
agony filling my heart? Daily?
How long will my enemy keep defeating me?
3 Look at me!
Answer me, Lord my God!
Restore sight to my eyes!
Otherwise, I’ll sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I won!”
My foes will rejoice over my downfall.
5 But I have trusted in your faithful love.
My heart will rejoice in your salvation.
6 Yes, I will sing to the Lord
because he has been good to me.
Psalm 14
For the music leader. Of David.
14 Fools say in their hearts, There is no God.
They are corrupt and do evil things;
not one of them does anything good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humans
to see if anyone is wise,
to see if anyone seeks God,
3 but all of them have turned bad.
Everyone is corrupt.
No one does good—
not even one person!
4 Are they dumb, all these evildoers,
devouring my people
like they are eating bread
but never calling on the Lord?
5 Count on it:[d] they will be in utter panic
because God is with the righteous generation.
6 You evildoers may humiliate
the plans of those who suffer,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Let Israel’s salvation come out of Zion!
When the Lord changes
his people’s circumstances for the better,
Jacob will rejoice;
Israel will celebrate!
Warnings and teachings about future disobedience
25 Once you have had children and grandchildren and have grown old on the land, if you ruin things by making an idol, in any form whatsoever, and do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and anger him, 26 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you today: You will definitely disappear—and quickly—from the land that you are crossing over the Jordan River to possess. You won’t extend your time there but will instead be totally destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the nations. Only a very few of you will survive in the countries where the Lord will drag you. 28 There you will worship other[a] gods, made of wood and stone by human hands—gods that cannot see, listen, eat, or smell. 29 You will seek the Lord your God from there, and you will find him[b] if you seek him with all your heart and with all your being. 30 In your distress, when all these things happen to you in the future, you will return to the Lord your God and you will obey his voice, 31 because the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He won’t let you go, he won’t destroy you, and he won’t forget the covenant that he swore to your ancestors.
21 I’m ashamed to say that we have been weak in comparison! But in whatever they challenge me, I challenge them (I’m speaking foolishly).
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ? I’m speaking like a crazy person. What I’ve done goes well beyond what they’ve done. I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been imprisoned much more often. I’ve been beaten more times than I can count. I’ve faced death many times. 24 I received the “forty lashes minus one” from the Jews five times. 25 I was beaten with rods three times. I was stoned once. I was shipwrecked three times. I spent a day and a night on the open sea. 26 I’ve been on many journeys. I faced dangers from rivers, robbers, my people, and Gentiles. I faced dangers in the city, in the desert, on the sea, and from false brothers and sisters. 27 I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes.
28 Besides all the other things I could mention, there’s my daily stress because I’m concerned about all the churches. 29 Who is weak without me being weak? Who is led astray without me being furious about it? 30 If it’s necessary to brag, I’ll brag about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the one who is blessed forever, knows that I’m not lying. 32 At Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to capture me, 33 but I got away from him by being lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall.
24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Worry about necessities
25 “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? 27 Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. 29 But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. 30 If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, won’t God do much more for you, you people of weak faith? 31 Therefore, don’t worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 Gentiles long for all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible