Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Praise
95 Come, let us praise the Lord!
Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us!
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs of praise.
3 For the Lord is a mighty God,
a mighty king over all the gods.
4 He rules over the whole earth,
from the deepest caves to the highest hills.
5 He rules over the sea, which he made;
the land also, which he himself formed.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship him;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 (A)He is our God;
we are the people he cares for,
the flock for which he provides.
Listen today to what he says:
8 (B)“Don't be stubborn, as your ancestors were at Meribah,
as they were that day in the desert at Massah.
9 There they put me to the test and tried me,
although they had seen what I did for them.
10 For forty years I was disgusted with those people.
I said, ‘How disloyal they are!
They refuse to obey my commands.’
11 (C)I was angry and made a solemn promise:
‘You will never enter the land
where I would have given you rest.’”
Confession and Forgiveness[a]
32 (A)Happy are those whose sins are forgiven,
whose wrongs are pardoned.
2 Happy is the one whom the Lord does not accuse of doing wrong
and who is free from all deceit.
3 When I did not confess my sins,
I was worn out from crying all day long.
4 Day and night you punished me, Lord;
my strength was completely drained,
as moisture is dried up by the summer heat.
5 Then I confessed my sins to you;
I did not conceal my wrongdoings.
I decided to confess them to you,
and you forgave all my sins.
6 So all your loyal people should pray to you in times of need;[b]
when a great flood of trouble comes rushing in,
it will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will save me from trouble.
I sing aloud of your salvation,
because you protect me.
8 The Lord says, “I will teach you the way you should go;
I will instruct you and advise you.
9 Don't be stupid like a horse or a mule,
which must be controlled with a bit and bridle
to make it submit.”
10 The wicked will have to suffer,
but those who trust in the Lord
are protected by his constant love.
11 You that are righteous, be glad and rejoice
because of what the Lord has done.
You that obey him, shout for joy!
A Prayer for Help[a]
143 Lord, hear my prayer!
In your righteousness listen to my plea;
answer me in your faithfulness!
2 (A)Don't put me, your servant, on trial;
no one is innocent in your sight.
3 My enemies have hunted me down
and completely defeated me.
They have put me in a dark prison,
and I am like those who died long ago.
4 So I am ready to give up;
I am in deep despair.
5 I remember the days gone by;
I think about all that you have done,
I bring to mind all your deeds.
6 I lift up my hands to you in prayer;
like dry ground my soul is thirsty for you.
7 Answer me now, Lord!
I have lost all hope.
Don't hide yourself from me,
or I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
8 Remind me each morning of your constant love,
for I put my trust in you.
My prayers go up to you;
show me the way I should go.
9 I go to you for protection, Lord;
rescue me from my enemies.
10 You are my God;
teach me to do your will.
Be good to me, and guide me on a safe path.
11 Rescue me, Lord, as you have promised;
in your goodness save me from my troubles!
12 Because of your love for me, kill my enemies
and destroy all my oppressors,
for I am your servant.
The Prayer of a Troubled Youth[a]
102 Listen to my prayer, O Lord,
and hear my cry for help!
2 When I am in trouble,
don't turn away from me!
Listen to me,
and answer me quickly when I call!
3 My life is disappearing like smoke;
my body is burning like fire.
4 I am beaten down like dry grass;
I have lost my desire for food.
5 I groan aloud;
I am nothing but skin and bones.
6 I am like a wild bird in the desert,
like an owl in abandoned ruins.
7 I lie awake;
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long my enemies insult me;
those who mock me use my name in cursing.
9-10 Because of your anger and fury,
ashes are my food,
and my tears are mixed with my drink.
You picked me up and threw me away.
11 My life is like the evening shadows;
I am like dry grass.
12 But you, O Lord, are king forever;
all generations will remember you.
13 You will rise and take pity on Zion;
the time has come to have mercy on her;
this is the right time.
14 Your servants love her,
even though she is destroyed;
they have pity on her,
even though she is in ruins.
15 The nations will fear the Lord;
all the kings of the earth will fear his power.
16 When the Lord rebuilds Zion,
he will reveal his greatness.
17 He will hear his forsaken people
and listen to their prayer.
18 Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done,
so that people not yet born will praise him.
19 The Lord looked down from his holy place on high,
he looked down from heaven to earth.
20 He heard the groans of prisoners
and set free those who were condemned to die.
21 And so his name will be proclaimed in Zion,
and he will be praised in Jerusalem
22 when nations and kingdoms come together
and worship the Lord.
23 The Lord has made me weak while I am still young;
he has shortened my life.
24 O God, do not take me away now
before I grow old.
O Lord, you live forever;
25 (A)long ago you created the earth,
and with your own hands you made the heavens.
26 They will disappear, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like clothes.
You will discard them like clothes,
and they will vanish.
27 But you are always the same,
and your life never ends.
28 Our children will live in safety,
and under your protection
their descendants will be secure.
A Prayer for Help
130 From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord;
listen to my call for help!
3 If you kept a record of our sins,
who could escape being condemned?
4 But you forgive us,
so that we should stand in awe of you.
5 I wait eagerly for the Lord's help,
and in his word I trust.
6 I wait for the Lord
more eagerly than sentries wait for the dawn—
than sentries wait for the dawn.
7 Israel, trust in the Lord,
because his love is constant
and he is always willing to save.
8 (A)He will save his people Israel
from all their sins.
Jonah Obeys the Lord
3 Once again the Lord spoke to Jonah. 2 He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to the people the message I have given you.” 3 So Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk through it. 4 (A)Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 The people of Nineveh believed God's message. So they decided that everyone should fast, and all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to show that they had repented.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard about it, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. 7 He sent out a proclamation to the people of Nineveh: “This is an order from the king and his officials: No one is to eat anything; all persons, cattle, and sheep are forbidden to eat or drink. 8 All persons and animals must wear sackcloth. Everyone must pray earnestly to God and must give up their wicked behavior and their evil actions. 9 Perhaps God will change his mind; perhaps he will stop being angry, and we will not die!”
10 God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.
Jonah's Anger and God's Mercy
4 Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. 2 (B)So he prayed, “Lord, didn't I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That's why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. 3 (C)Now then, Lord, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.”
4 The Lord answered, “What right do you have to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh. 6 Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day, at God's command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died. 8 After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead.[a] “I am better off dead than alive,” he said.
9 But God said to him, “What right do you have to be angry about the plant?”
Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!”
10 The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it and you didn't make it grow—yet you feel sorry for it! 11 How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!”
God Our Father
12 As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. 2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.
3 Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up. 4 For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed. 5 (A)Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children?
“My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you,
and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.
6 Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves,
and punishes everyone he accepts as a child.”
7 Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father? 8 If you are not punished, as all his children are, it means you are not real children, but bastards. 9 In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live! 10 Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness. 11 When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.
Instructions and Warnings
12 (B)Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees! 13 (C)Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed.
14 Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else. 10 “Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed,[a] ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. 12 I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.’ 13 (A)But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, ‘God, have pity on me, a sinner!’ 14 (B)I tell you,” said Jesus, “the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”
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.