Book of Common Prayer
This is a song that David wrote.
I do what is right
26 Lord, I always try to do what is right.
I continue to trust you all the time.
So please show that I am not guilty of wrong things.
2 Test me, Lord, and see how I have lived.
Look into my mind and see my thoughts.
3 I always know that I can trust you,
because of your faithful love.
So I live to please you.
4 I do not become a friend of people who tell lies.
I do not join together with hypocrites.
5 I keep away from any crowd of evil people.
I do not become a friend of wicked people.
6 I wash my hands as a sign
that I live in a pure way.[a]
I will worship you at your altar, Lord.
7 I will sing aloud to thank you.
I will tell people about all the great things that you have done.
8 Lord, I love the temple that is your house.
It is the place where we clearly see your glory.
9 Do not take away my life,
as you do with sinners.
Do not punish me with death,
as you do with murderers.
10 Those wicked people are always ready to do evil things.
They use bribes to get what they want.
11 But I always try to do what is right.
Please save me and be kind to me!
12 Now I stand in a safe place.
I will praise the Lord
when his people meet together to worship him.
This is a song that David wrote.
God answers prayer
28 Lord, I am calling to you for help.
You are my safe place, like a high rock.[a]
Please do not refuse to listen to me.
If you do not answer me,
I will be like those who are going down
into the deep hole of death.
2 Hear me when I call to you for help.
Please be kind to me.
I am lifting up my hands
towards your Most Holy Place.[b]
3 Do not pull me away to punishment,
as you do with wicked people.
Those people do evil things.
They say kind words to their friends,
but really they want to hurt them.
4 Punish them for their sins.
Give back to them what they deserve!
Yes, punish them!
That is the fair thing to do.
5 They do not want to understand
the things that the Lord has done,
or the things that he has made.
The Lord will punish them,
and he will remove them for ever.
6 We should praise the Lord!
He has been kind to me,
when I called to him for help.
7 The Lord makes me strong.
He keeps me safe like a shield.
I trust in him completely,
and he has helped me.
I am very happy,
and I will thank him with my songs.
8 The Lord makes his people strong.
He protects the king that he has chosen.
The Lord keeps him safe.[c]
9 Lord, save your people!
Bless the people who belong to you!
Take care of your people like a shepherd.
Always carry them in your arms!
The Lord's servant, David, wrote this song for the music leader.
A message from God
36 A wicked person turns against God completely.
He does not respect God.
2 He is too proud to think about his sin,
so he does not hate it.
3 He speaks wicked things to deceive people.
He does nothing that is wise or good.
4 While he lies on his bed at night,
he thinks about bad things that he can do.
He lives only to do things that are not good.
He does not turn away from evil things.
5 Lord your faithful love reaches as high as the sky.
People can trust you beyond the clouds.
6 Your justice is like the strongest mountains.
You always do what is right,
more than the seas are deep.[a]
You take care of people and animals
and you keep them safe.
7 God, your faithful love has great value!
You keep all humans safe,
like birds protect their babies under their wings.
8 You have plenty of food in your house,
to give them all that they need.
You give them water from your river,
that makes them happy when they drink it.
9 Yes, you are the one who gives us light and life.
10 Continue to love those who serve you as your people.
Let good, honest people receive your justice.
11 Do not let proud people hurt me.
Do not let evil people chase me away from home.
12 Now I see that those wicked people have fallen down!
They are lying there on the ground,
and they cannot get up again!
David wrote this song for Jeduthun, the leader of the music.
Life is short[a]
39 I said, ‘I will be careful what I do,
so that I do not sin.
I will also be careful what I say.
When wicked people are listening,
I will not even open my mouth.’
2 So I did not speak a word,
even about good things.
That made me very upset.
3 It was like a fire inside me!
As I thought more about it,
I just had to say something!
So I said this:
4 ‘Lord, tell me about my life.
Tell me how long it will be,
and when it will finish.
I need to remember that life is only short.
5 Yes, you have made the days of my life only a few!
The time that I live seems very short to you.
Human life is only a breath,
even for those who seem to be strong.
Selah.
6 As we live, we are just like shadows.
We work to get things for ourselves.
We may get a lot of money,
but we do not know who will have it after we die.’
7 So, my Lord, what help can I hope to get?
You are the only one that I can really trust!
8 Save me from all my sins!
Do not let fools insult me.
9 I will not say anything more.
I will not open my mouth,
because it is you who have punished me!
10 Please do not hurt me any more!
You have already punished me enough,
so that I am almost dead!
11 When people do wrong things,
you warn them and you punish them.
You destroy their valuable things,
like a moth eats cloth![b]
Yes, our lives are only a breath!
Selah.
12 Lord, please hear my prayer.
Listen to me when I call to you for help.
Do not turn away from me when I weep.
I need your help,
like a foreign person who lives away from his home.
I live on earth as a stranger,
like all my ancestors did.
13 Stop being angry with me,
so that I can be happy again before I die.
The wise words of Agur
30 These are the words of Jakeh's son, Agur. It is an important message. The man says this to Ithiel:
God, I am weak and tired. I cannot continue to stand.
2 I feel more stupid than any other person. I do not understand things as other people do.
3 I have never learned wisdom. I do not know anything about God, the Holy One.
4 No one has gone up to heaven and then come back. No one has held the wind in his hands. No one has tied his coat around the seas. No one has fixed the borders of the earth. If anyone has done this, tell me his name. Tell me his son's name. Tell me, if you know.
24 There are four things that live on the earth which are very small, but they are also very wise:
25 Ants are not very strong, but they prepare their food in the summer.
26 Rock badgers are weak animals, but they make their homes among the rocks.
27 Locusts have no king to lead them, but they all fly together as one.
28 Lizards are easy to catch with your hand, but you will see them in kings' palaces.
29 There are three things that seem great as they walk around, even four things:
30 Lions are the strongest of all animals, and they are not afraid of anything.
31 Cockerels that shout proudly.
Male goats.
A king who has his army with him.
32 You may be foolish and too proud of yourself. You may have ideas to do evil things. If that is true, stop yourself! Do not say a word! 33 If you beat milk for a long time, it will become butter. If you hit someone's nose, it will bleed. In the same way, if you make people angry, it will cause trouble.
Christ is more important than anything
3 My Christian friends, there are a few more things that I want to say. You belong to the Lord, so be happy! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it will help to keep you safe.
2 Be very careful! Some people are teaching bad things. They say that you must cut your bodies. They are like dangerous dogs. Do not believe them! 3 But we are truly God's people. And it is not because someone has circumcised us. It is God's own Spirit that leads us to worship God. We thank God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. We know that it is not human ideas that can save us.[a]
4 For myself, I could have trusted those human ideas. Perhaps somebody may think that they could trust in those things to save them. Then I would have an even better reason to trust in them. 5 I belong to Israel's people, to Benjamin's tribe. I am a true Jew. They circumcised me when I was eight days old. I was a Pharisee, and I obeyed the Jewish rules very carefully. 6 I tried very much to please God. So I caused a lot of trouble and pain for the Christians. I obeyed the rules of God's Law, and nobody could say that I did anything wrong.
7 All those ideas seemed very important to me then. But now they are worth nothing to me, because I trust in Christ. 8 Yes, now that I know Christ Jesus as my Lord, that is the most valuable thing. Nothing else is important at all. I have thrown everything else away, so that I can serve Christ. All those other things are like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I can have Christ. 9 I want to be united with him. Because I believe in Christ, God accepts me as right with him. I know that I cannot become right in any other way, even if I obey all of God's Law. When I trust in Christ, God accepts me as right because of my faith.
10 Yes, I want to know Christ better and better. I want to know the power which God showed when Christ rose from death. I want to have the same kind of troubles that he did. I want to obey God like he did in his death. 11 Then I hope that I also will become alive again after death.
Pilate asks Jesus questions
28 The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house.[a] It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.[b]
29 So Pilate, the Roman ruler, went outside to meet them. He asked them, ‘What wrong thing do you say that this man has done?’ 30 They replied, ‘We would not have brought him to you if he had done nothing wrong.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘You yourselves take him away. You should judge him by your own laws.’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We do not have authority to kill anyone when they have done something bad.’[c] 32 Jesus had already told people how he would die. These things happened to make his words become true.[d]
33 Pilate went back inside his palace. He told Jesus to come and stand in front of him. He asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus said, ‘Is that your own idea, or have other people spoken to you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? It was your own people and the leaders of your priests who brought you to me. What have you done?’
36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my disciples would have fought for me. They would have fought so that the Jewish leaders could not take hold of me. No, my kingdom belongs to another place.’ 37 Pilate said to him, ‘So that means you really are a king!’
Jesus answered, ‘You have said that I am a king! I was born for this reason: I came into the world to tell people the truth about God. Everyone who believes the truth listens to my message.’ 38 Pilate said, ‘I do not know what truth is.’
When Pilate had said that, he went outside again to the Jewish people there. He said to them, ‘I do not see that this man is guilty of anything wrong. I have no reason to punish him.
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