Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 31
For the music leader. A psalm of David.
31 I take refuge in you, Lord.
Please never let me be put to shame.
Rescue me by your righteousness!
2 Listen closely to me!
Deliver me quickly;
be a rock that protects me;
be a strong fortress that saves me!
3 You are definitely my rock and my fortress.
Guide me and lead me for the sake of your good name!
4 Get me out of this net that’s been set for me
because you are my protective fortress.
5 I entrust my spirit into your hands;
you, Lord, God of faithfulness—
you have saved me.
6 I hate those who embrace what is completely worthless.
I myself trust the Lord.
7 I rejoice and celebrate in your faithful love
because you saw my suffering—
you were intimately acquainted with my deep distress.
8 You didn’t hand me over to the enemy,
but set my feet in wide-open spaces.
9 Have mercy on me, Lord, because I’m depressed.
My vision fails because of my grief,
as do my spirit and my body.
10 My life is consumed with sadness;
my years are consumed with groaning.
Strength fails me because of my suffering;[a]
my bones dry up.
11 I’m a joke to all my enemies,
still worse to my neighbors.
I scare my friends,
and whoever sees me in the street runs away!
12 I am forgotten, like I’m dead,
completely out of mind;
I am like a piece of pottery, destroyed.
13 Yes, I’ve heard all the gossiping,
terror all around;
so many gang up together against me,
they plan to take my life!
14 But me? I trust you, Lord!
I affirm, “You are my God.”
15 My future is in your hands.
Don’t hand me over to my enemies,
to all who are out to get me!
16 Shine your face on your servant;
save me by your faithful love!
17 Lord, don’t let me be put to shame
because I have cried out to you.
Let the wicked be put to shame;
let them be silenced in death’s domain![b]
18 Let their lying lips be shut up
whenever they speak arrogantly
against the righteous with pride and contempt!
19 How great is the goodness
that you’ve reserved for those who honor you,
that you commit to those who take refuge in you—
in the sight of everyone!
20 You hide them in the shelter of your wings,[c]
safe from human scheming.
You conceal them in a shelter,
safe from accusing tongues.
21 Bless the Lord,
because he has wondrously revealed
his faithful love to me
when I was like a city under siege!
22 When I was panicked, I said,
“I’m cut off from your eyes!”
But you heard my request for mercy
when I cried out to you for help.
23 All you who are faithful, love the Lord!
The Lord protects those who are loyal,
but he pays the proud back to the fullest degree.
24 All you who wait for the Lord,
be strong and let your heart take courage.
Psalm 35
Of David.
35 Lord, argue with those who argue with me;
fight with those who fight against me!
2 Grab a shield and armor;
stand up and help me!
3 Use your spear and ax[a]
against those who are out to get me!
Say to me:[b] “I’m your salvation!”
4 Let those who want me dead
be humiliated and put to shame.
Let those who intend to hurt me
be thoroughly frustrated and disgraced.
5 Let them be like dust on the wind—
and let the Lord’s messenger be the one who does the blowing!
6 Let their path be dark and slippery—
and let the Lord’s messenger be the one who does the chasing!
7 Because they hid their net for me for no reason,
they dug a pit for me for no reason.
8 Let disaster come to them when they don’t suspect it.
Let the net they hid catch them instead!
Let them fall into it—to their disaster!
9 But I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will celebrate his salvation.
10 All my bones will say, “Lord, who could compare to you?
You rescue the weak from those who overpower them;
you rescue the weak and the needy from those who plunder them.”
11 Violent witnesses stand up.
They question me about things I know nothing about.
12 They pay me back evil for good,
leaving me stricken with grief.
13 But when they were sick, I wore clothes for grieving,
and I kept a strict fast.
When my prayer came back unanswered,[c]
14 I would wander around like I was grieving a friend or a brother.
I was weighed down, sad, like I was a mother in mourning.
15 But when I stumbled, they celebrated and gathered together—
they gathered together against me!
Strangers[d] I didn’t know tore me to pieces and wouldn’t quit.
16 They ridiculed me over and over again,
like godless people would do,
grinding their teeth at me.
17 How long, my Lord, will you watch this happen?
Rescue me from their attacks;
rescue my precious life from these predatory lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
I will praise you in a huge crowd of people.
19 Don’t let those who are my enemies
without cause celebrate over me;
don’t let those who hate me for no reason
wink at my demise.
20 They don’t speak the truth;
instead, they plot false accusations
against innocent people in the land.
21 They speak out against me,
saying, “Yes! Oh, yes! We’ve seen it with our own eyes!”
22 But you’ve seen it too, Lord.
Don’t keep quiet about it.
Please don’t be far from me, my Lord.
23 Wake up! Get up and do justice for me;
argue my case, my Lord and my God!
24 Establish justice for me
according to your righteousness, Lord, my God.
Don’t let them celebrate over me.
25 Don’t let them say to themselves,
Yes! Exactly what we wanted!
Don’t let them say, “We ate him up!”
26 Let all those who celebrate my misfortune be disgraced and put to shame!
Let those who exalt themselves over me
be dressed up in shame and dishonor!
27 But let those who want things to be set right for me
shout for joy and celebrate!
Let them constantly say, “The Lord is great—
God wants his servant to be at peace.”
28 Then my tongue will talk
all about your righteousness;
it will talk
about your praise all day long.
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue.”
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives people the ability to speak? Who’s responsible for making them unable to speak or hard of hearing, sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I’ll help you speak, and I’ll teach you what you should say.”
13 But Moses said, “Please, my Lord, just send someone else.”
14 Then the Lord got angry at Moses and said, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak very well. He’s on his way out to meet you now, and he’s looking forward to seeing you. 15 Speak to him and tell him what he’s supposed to say. I’ll help both of you speak, and I’ll teach both of you what to do. 16 Aaron will speak for you to the people. He’ll be a spokesperson for you, and you will be like God for him. 17 Take this shepherd’s rod with you too so that you can do the signs.”
Moses goes back to Egypt
18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my family in Egypt and see whether or not they are still living.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt because everyone there who wanted to kill you has died.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his children, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. Moses also carried the shepherd’s rod from God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you appear before Pharaoh and do all the amazing acts that I’ve given you the power to do. But I’ll make him stubborn so that he won’t let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my oldest son. 23 I said to you, “Let my son go so he could worship me.” But you refused to let him go. As a result, now I’m going to kill your oldest son.’”
24 During their journey, as they camped overnight, the Lord met Moses[a] and tried to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a sharp-edged flint stone and cut off her son’s foreskin. Then she touched Moses’ genitals[b] with it, and she said, “You are my bridegroom because of bloodshed.” 26 So the Lord let him alone. At that time, she announced, “A bridegroom because of bloodshed by circumcision.”
27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he went, and Aaron met him at God’s mountain and greeted him with a kiss. 28 Moses told Aaron what the Lord had said about his mission and all the signs that the Lord had told him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron called together all the Israelite elders. 30 Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told to Moses, and he performed the signs in front of the people. 31 The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and had seen their oppression, they bowed down and worshipped.
Spiritual gifts and church order
14 Pursue love, and use your ambition to try to get spiritual gifts but especially so that you might prophesy. 2 This is because those who speak in a tongue don’t speak to people but to God; no one understands it—they speak mysteries by the Spirit. 3 Those who prophesy speak to people, building them up, and giving them encouragement and comfort. 4 People who speak in a tongue build up themselves; those who prophesy build up the church. 5 I wish that all of you spoke in tongues, but I’d rather you could prophesy. Those who prophesy are more important than those who speak in tongues, unless they are able to interpret them so that the church might be built up. 6 After all, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I help you unless I speak to you with a revelation, some knowledge, a prophecy, or a teaching? 7 Likewise, things that aren’t alive like a harp or a lyre can make a sound, but if there aren’t different notes in the sounds they make, how will the tune from the harp or the lyre be recognized? 8 And if a trumpet call is unrecognizable, then who will prepare for battle? 9 It’s the same way with you: If you don’t use language that is easy to understand when you speak in a tongue, then how will anyone understand what is said? 10 It will be as if you are speaking into the air! There are probably many language families in the world, and none of them are without meaning. 11 So if I don’t know the meaning of the language, then I will be like a foreigner to those who speak it, and they will be like foreigners to me. 12 The same holds true for you: since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, use your ambition to try to work toward being the best at building up the church.
13 Therefore, those who speak in a tongue should pray to be able to interpret. 14 If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind isn’t productive. 15 What should I do? I’ll pray in the Spirit, but I’ll pray with my mind too; I’ll sing a psalm in the Spirit, but I’ll sing the psalm with my mind too. 16 After all, if you praise God in the Spirit, how will the people who aren’t trained in that language say “Amen!” to your thanksgiving, when they don’t know what you are saying? 17 You may offer a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I’d rather speak five words in my right mind than speak thousands of words in a tongue so that I can teach others.
Jesus predicts his death
30 From there Jesus and his followers went through Galilee, but he didn’t want anyone to know it. 31 This was because he was teaching his disciples, “The Human One[a] will be delivered into human hands. They will kill him. Three days after he is killed he will rise up.” 32 But they didn’t understand this kind of talk, and they were afraid to ask him.
33 They entered Capernaum. When they had come into a house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about during the journey?” 34 They didn’t respond, since on the way they had been debating with each other about who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be least of all and the servant of all.” 36 Jesus reached for a little child, placed him among the Twelve, and embraced him. Then he said, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me isn’t actually welcoming me but rather the one who sent me.”
Recognize your allies
38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone throwing demons out in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”
39 Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him. No one who does powerful acts in my name can quickly turn around and curse me. 40 Whoever isn’t against us is for us. 41 I assure you that whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will certainly be rewarded.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible