Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Guidance and Protection[a]
25 To you, O Lord, I offer my prayer;
2 in you, my God, I trust.
Save me from the shame of defeat;
don't let my enemies gloat over me!
3 Defeat does not come to those who trust in you,
but to those who are quick to rebel against you.
4 Teach me your ways, O Lord;
make them known to me.
5 Teach me to live according to your truth,
for you are my God, who saves me.
I always trust in you.
6 Remember, O Lord, your kindness and constant love
which you have shown from long ago.
7 Forgive the sins and errors of my youth.
In your constant love and goodness,
remember me, Lord!
8 Because the Lord is righteous and good,
he teaches sinners the path they should follow.
9 He leads the humble in the right way
and teaches them his will.
10 With faithfulness and love he leads
all who keep his covenant and obey his commands.
11 Keep your promise, Lord, and forgive my sins,
for they are many.
12 Those who have reverence for the Lord
will learn from him the path they should follow.
13 They will always be prosperous,
and their children will possess the land.
14 The Lord is the friend of those who obey him
and he affirms his covenant with them.
15 I look to the Lord for help at all times,
and he rescues me from danger.
16 Turn to me, Lord, and be merciful to me,
because I am lonely and weak.
17 Relieve me of my worries
and save me from all my troubles.
18 Consider my distress and suffering
and forgive all my sins.
19 See how many enemies I have;
see how much they hate me.
20 Protect me and save me;
keep me from defeat.
I come to you for safety.
21 May my goodness and honesty preserve me,
because I trust in you.
22 From all their troubles, O God,
save your people Israel!
Thanksgiving to God for His Justice[a]
9 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.
2 I will sing with joy because of you.
I will sing praise to you, Almighty God.
3 My enemies turn back when you appear;
they fall down and die.
4 You are fair and honest in your judgments,
and you have judged in my favor.
5 You have condemned the heathen
and destroyed the wicked;
they will be remembered no more.
6 Our enemies are finished forever;
you have destroyed their cities,
and they are completely forgotten.
7 But the Lord is king forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world with righteousness;
he judges the nations with justice.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a place of safety in times of trouble.
10 Those who know you, Lord, will trust you;
you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.
11 Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion!
Tell every nation what he has done!
12 God remembers those who suffer;
he does not forget their cry,
and he punishes those who wrong them.
13 (A)Be merciful to me, O Lord!
See the sufferings my enemies cause me!
Rescue me from death, O Lord,
14 that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem
and tell them all the things for which I praise you.
I will rejoice because you saved me.
15 The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in;
they have been caught in their own trap.
16 The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgments,
and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.
17 Death is the destiny of all the wicked,
of all those who reject God.
18 The needy will not always be neglected;
the hope of the poor will not be crushed forever.
19 Come, Lord! Do not let anyone defy you!
Bring the heathen before you
and pronounce judgment on them.
20 Make them afraid, O Lord;
make them know that they are only mortal beings.
What God Requires[a]
15 Lord, who may enter your Temple?
Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?[b]
2 Those who obey God in everything
and always do what is right,
whose words are true and sincere,
3 and who do not slander others.
They do no wrong to their friends
nor spread rumors about their neighbors.
4 They despise those whom God rejects,
but honor those who obey the Lord.
They always do what they promise,
no matter how much it may cost.
5 They make loans without charging interest
and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent.
Whoever does these things will always be secure.
27 (A)Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then.
2 Let other people praise you—even strangers; never do it yourself.
3 The weight of stone and sand is nothing compared to the trouble that stupidity can cause.
4 Anger is cruel and destructive, but it is nothing compared to jealousy.
5 Better to correct someone openly than to let him think you don't care for him at all.
6 Friends mean well, even when they hurt you. But when an enemy puts his arm around your shoulder—watch out!
10 Do not forget your friends or your father's friends. If you are in trouble, don't ask a relative for help; a nearby neighbor can help you more than relatives who are far away.
11 Be wise, my child, and I will be happy; I will have an answer for anyone who criticizes me.
12 Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.
Christ's Humility and Greatness
2 Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit,[a] and you have kindness and compassion for one another. 2 I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. 3 Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. 4 And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. 5 The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:
6 He always had the nature of God,
but he did not think that by force he should try to remain[b] equal with God.
7 Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had,
and took the nature of a servant.
He became like a human being
and appeared in human likeness.
8 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death—
his death on the cross.
9 For this reason God raised him to the highest place above
and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.
10 (A)And so, in honor of the name of Jesus
all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below[c]
will fall on their knees,
11 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Shining as Lights in the World
12 So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, 13 because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.
Peter Denies Jesus(A)
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was well known to the High Priest, so he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest's house, 16 while Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went back out, spoke to the girl at the gate, and brought Peter inside. 17 The girl at the gate said to Peter, “Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?”
“No, I am not,” answered Peter.
18 It was cold, so the servants and guards had built a charcoal fire and were standing around it, warming themselves. So Peter went over and stood with them, warming himself.
Peter Denies Jesus Again(A)
25 Peter was still standing there keeping himself warm. So the others said to him, “Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?”
But Peter denied it. “No, I am not,” he said.
26 One of the High Priest's slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, spoke up. “Didn't I see you with him in the garden?” he asked.
27 Again Peter said “No”—and at once a rooster crowed.
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.