Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Protection[a]
5 Listen to my words, O Lord,
and hear my sighs.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my God and king!
I pray to you, O Lord;
3 you hear my voice in the morning;
at sunrise I offer my prayer[b]
and wait for your answer.
4 You are not a God who is pleased with wrongdoing;
you allow no evil in your presence.
5 You cannot stand the sight of the proud;
you hate all wicked people.
6 You destroy all liars
and despise violent, deceitful people.
7 But because of your great love
I can come into your house;
I can worship in your holy Temple
and bow down to you in reverence.
8 Lord, I have so many enemies!
Lead me to do your will;
make your way plain for me to follow.
9 (A)What my enemies say can never be trusted;
they only want to destroy.
Their words are flattering and smooth,
but full of deadly deceit.
10 Condemn and punish them, O God;
may their own plots cause their ruin.
Drive them out of your presence
because of their many sins
and their rebellion against you.
11 But all who find safety in you will rejoice;
they can always sing for joy.
Protect those who love you;
because of you they are truly happy.
12 You bless those who obey you, Lord;
your love protects them like a shield.
A Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble[c]
6 (B)Lord, don't be angry and rebuke me!
Don't punish me in your anger!
2 I am worn out, O Lord; have pity on me!
Give me strength; I am completely exhausted
3 and my whole being is deeply troubled.
How long, O Lord, will you wait to help me?
4 Come and save me, Lord;
in your mercy rescue me from death.
5 In the world of the dead you are not remembered;
no one can praise you there.
6 I am worn out with grief;
every night my bed is damp from my weeping;
my pillow is soaked with tears.
7 I can hardly see;
my eyes are so swollen
from the weeping caused by my enemies.
8 (C)Keep away from me, you evil people!
The Lord hears my weeping;
9 he listens to my cry for help
and will answer my prayer.
10 My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat;
in sudden confusion they will be driven away.
A Prayer for Justice
10 Why are you so far away, O Lord?
Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?
2 The wicked are proud and persecute the poor;
catch them in the traps they have made.
3 The wicked are proud of their evil desires;
the greedy curse and reject the Lord.
4 The wicked do not care about the Lord;
in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.
5 The wicked succeed in everything.
They cannot understand God's judgments;
they sneer at their enemies.
6 They say to themselves, “We will never fail;
we will never be in trouble.”
7 (A)Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats;
they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.
8 They hide themselves in the villages,
waiting to murder innocent people.
They spy on their helpless victims;
9 they wait in their hiding place like lions.
They lie in wait for the poor;
they catch them in their traps and drag them away.
10 The helpless victims lie crushed;
brute strength has defeated them.
11 The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn't care!
He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”
12 O Lord, punish those wicked people!
Remember those who are suffering!
13 How can the wicked despise God
and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?
14 But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering
and are always ready to help.
The helpless commit themselves to you;
you have always helped the needy.
15 Break the power of wicked and evil people;
punish them for the wrong they have done
until they do it no more.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever.
Those who worship other gods
will vanish from his land.
17 You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly;
you will give them courage.
18 You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans;
you will judge in their favor,
so that mortal men may cause terror no more.
Confidence in the Lord[a]
11 I trust in the Lord for safety.
How foolish of you to say to me,
“Fly away like a bird to the mountains,[b]
2 because the wicked have drawn their bows and aimed their arrows
to shoot from the shadows at good people.
3 There is nothing a good person can do
when everything falls apart.”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
he has his throne in heaven.
He watches people everywhere
and knows what they are doing.
5 He examines the good and the wicked alike;
the lawless he hates with all his heart.
6 He sends down flaming coals[c] and burning sulfur on the wicked;
he punishes them with scorching winds.
7 The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds;
those who do them will live in his presence.
3 People of Israel, listen to this message which the Lord has spoken about you, the entire nation that he brought out of Egypt: 2 “Of all the nations on earth, you are the only one I have known and cared for. That is what makes your sins so terrible, and that is why I must punish you for them.”
The Prophet's Task
3 Do two people start traveling together without arranging to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest unless he has found a victim?
Does a young lion growl in his den unless he has caught something?
5 Does a bird get caught in a trap if the trap has not been baited?
Does a trap spring unless something sets it off?
6 Does the war trumpet sound in a city without making the people afraid?
Does disaster strike a city unless the Lord sends it?
7 The Sovereign Lord never does anything without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.
8 When a lion roars, who can keep from being afraid?
When the Sovereign Lord speaks, who can keep from proclaiming his message?
The Doom of Samaria
9 Announce to those who live in the palaces of Egypt and Ashdod: “Gather together in the hills around Samaria and see the great disorder and the crimes being committed there.”
10 The Lord says, “These people fill their mansions with things taken by crime and violence. They don't even know how to be honest. 11 And so an enemy will surround their land, destroy their defenses, and plunder their mansions.”
12 And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received. 13 I think it only right for me to stir up your memory of these matters as long as I am still alive. 14 I know that I shall soon put off this mortal body, as our Lord Jesus Christ plainly told me. 15 I will do my best, then, to provide a way for you to remember these matters at all times after my death.
Eyewitnesses of Christ's Glory
16 We have not depended on made-up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With our own eyes we saw his greatness. 17 (A)We were there when he was given honor and glory by God the Father, when the voice came to him from the Supreme Glory, saying, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased!” 18 We ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your hearts. 20 Above all else, however, remember that none of us can explain by ourselves a prophecy in the Scriptures. 21 For no prophetic message ever came just from the human will, but people were under the control of the Holy Spirit as they spoke the message that came from God.
Jesus Goes to the Temple(A)
12 Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons, 13 (B)and said to them, “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it a hideout for thieves!”
14 The blind and the crippled came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. 15 The chief priests and the teachers of the Law became angry when they saw the wonderful things he was doing and the children shouting in the Temple, “Praise to David's Son!” 16 (C)So they asked Jesus, “Do you hear what they are saying?”
“Indeed I do,” answered Jesus. “Haven't you ever read this scripture? ‘You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.’”
17 Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree(D)
18 On his way back to the city early next morning, Jesus was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree by the side of the road and went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. So he said to the tree, “You will never again bear fruit!” At once the fig tree dried up.
20 The disciples saw this and were astounded. “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?” they asked.
21 (E)Jesus answered, “I assure you that if you believe and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I have done to this fig tree. And not only this, but you will even be able to say to this hill, ‘Get up and throw yourself in the sea,’ and it will. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
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.