Book of Common Prayer
97 How I love your teachings!
I think about them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies
because they are mine forever.
99 I am wiser than all my teachers
because I think about your rules.
100 I have more understanding than the elders
because I follow your orders.
101 I have avoided every evil way
so I could obey your word.
102 I haven’t stopped obeying your laws
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 Your promises are so sweet to me.
They are like honey to my mouth!
104 Your orders give me understanding.
So I hate lying ways.
105 Your word is like a lamp for my feet
and a light for my way.
106 I will do what I have promised
and obey your fair laws.
107 I have suffered for a long time.
Lord, give me life by your word.
108 Lord, accept my willing praise.
And teach me your laws.
109 My life is always in danger.
But I haven’t forgotten your teachings.
110 Wicked people have set a trap for me.
But I haven’t disobeyed your orders.
111 I will follow your rules forever.
They make me happy.
112 I will try to do what you demand
forever, until the end.
113 I hate people who are not completely loyal to you.
But I love your teachings.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield.
I trust your word.
115 Get away from me, you people who do evil,
so I can keep my God’s commands.
116 Support me as you promised so I can live.
Don’t let me be embarrassed because of my hopes.
117 Help me, and I will be saved.
I will always respect your demands.
118 You reject everyone who ignores your demands.
Their lies mislead them.
119 You throw away the wicked of the world like trash.
So I will love your rules.
120 I shake in fear of you.
I fear your laws.
A Song for a Holiday
For the director of music. By the gittith. A song of Asaph.
81 Sing for joy to God, our strength.
Shout out loud to the God of Jacob.
2 Begin the music. Play the tambourines.
Play pleasant music on the harps and lyres.
3 Blow the sheep’s horn at the time of the New Moon.
Blow it when the moon is full, when our feast begins.
4 This is the law for Israel.
It is God’s command to the people of Jacob.
5 He made this agreement with the people of Joseph
when they went out of the land of Egypt.
I heard a language I did not know, saying:
6 “I took the load off your shoulders.
I let you put down your baskets.
7 When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you.
I answered you with thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 My people, listen. I am warning you.
Israel, please listen to me!
9 You must not have foreign gods among you.
You must not worship any false god.
10 I, the Lord, am your God.
I brought you out of Egypt.
Open your mouth, and I will feed you.
11 “But my people did not listen to me.
Israel did not want me.
12 So I let them go their stubborn way.
They followed their own advice.
13 I wish my people would listen to me.
I wish Israel would live my way.
14 Then I would quickly defeat their enemies.
I would turn my hand against those who are against them.
15 Those who hate the Lord would bow before him.
Their punishment would continue forever.
16 But I would give you the finest wheat.
I would fill you with honey from the rocks.”
God Judges the Judges
A song of Asaph.
82 God is in charge of the great meeting of his people.
He judges the judges.
2 He says, “How long will you defend evil people?
How long will you show greater kindness to the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the orphans and the weak.
Defend the rights of the poor and suffering.
4 Save the weak and helpless
from the power of the wicked.
5 “You know nothing. You don’t understand.
You walk in the dark,
while the world is falling apart.
6 I said, ‘You are gods.
You are all sons of the Most High God.’
7 But you will die like any other person.
You will die like all the leaders.”
8 God, come and judge the earth.
You own all the nations.
Jacob Tricks Isaac
27 When Isaac was old, his eyes were not good. He could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him. Isaac said, “Son.”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “I am old. I don’t know when I might die. 3 So take your bow and arrows, and go hunting in the field. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4 Prepare the tasty food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5 So Esau went out in the field to hunt.
Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau. 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7 Your father said, ‘Kill an animal. Prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 So obey me, my son. Do what I tell you. 9 Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them just the way your father likes them. 10 Then you will take the food to your father. And he will bless you before he dies.”
11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am smooth! 12 If my father touches me, he will know I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me. He will place a curse on me because I tried to trick him.”
13 So Rebekah said to him, “If your father puts a curse on you, I will accept the blame. Just do what I said. Go and get the goats for me.”
14 So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. Then she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed. 15 She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house. She put them on the younger son Jacob. 16 She took the skins of the goats. And she put them on Jacob’s hands and neck. 17 Then she gave Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 Jacob went in to his father and said, “Father.”
And his father said, “Yes, my son. Who are you?”
19 Jacob said to him, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat some meat of the animal I hunted for you. Then bless me.”
20 But Isaac asked his son, “How did you find and kill the animal so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God led me to find it.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. If I can touch you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22 So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice. But your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau.” 23 Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. 24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
25 Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and Isaac ate. Jacob gave him wine, and he drank. 26 Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” 27 So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes and blessed him. Isaac said,
“The smell of my son
is like the smell of the field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you plenty of rain
and good soil.
Then you will have plenty of grain and wine.
29 May nations serve you.
May peoples bow down to you.
May you be master over your brothers.
May your mother’s sons bow down to you.
May everyone who curses you be cursed.
And may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
Give Your Lives to God
12 So brothers, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him. This is the spiritual way for you to worship. 2 Do not be shaped by this world. Instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you. And you will be able to know what is good and pleasing to God and what is perfect. 3 God has given me a special gift. That is why I have something to say to everyone among you. Do not think that you are better than you are. You must see yourself as you really are. Decide what you are by the amount of faith God has given you. 4 Each one of us has a body, and that body has many parts. These parts all have different uses. 5 In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body. And each part belongs to all the other parts. 6 We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace that God gave us. If one has the gift of prophecy, he should use that gift with the faith he has. 7 If one has the gift of serving, he should serve. If one has the gift of teaching, he should teach. 8 If one has the gift of encouraging others, he should encourage. If one has the gift of giving to others, he should give freely. If one has the gift of being a leader, he should try hard when he leads. If one has the gift of showing kindness to others, that person should do so with joy.
Jesus Is the Light of the World
12 Later, Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness. He will have the light that gives life.”
13 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say these things are true. We cannot accept these things you say.”
14 Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself, but they are true. I know where I came from. And I know where I am going. You don’t know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You judge me the way you would judge any man. I don’t judge anyone. 16 But if I judge, I judge truthfully. When I judge, I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, then you must accept what they say. 18 I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself. And the Father who sent me is my other witness.”
19 They asked, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. But if you knew me, then you would know my Father, too.” 20 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple. He was near the place where the money that the people give is kept. But no one arrested him. The right time for Jesus had not yet come.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.