Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Faith in Troubled Times
For the director of music. A song of David.
31 Lord, I trust in you.
Let me never be disgraced.
Save me because you do what is right.
2 Listen to me.
Save me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
a strong city to save me.
3 You are my rock and my protection.
For the good of your name, lead me and guide me.
4 Set me free from the trap they set for me.
You are my protection.
5 I give you my life.
Save me, Lord, God of truth.
6 I hate those who worship false gods.
I trust only in the Lord.
7 I will be glad because of your love.
You saw my suffering.
You knew my troubles.
8 You have not let my enemies defeat me.
You have set me in a safe place.
9 Lord, have mercy. I am in misery.
My eyes are weak from so much crying.
My whole being is tired from grief.
10 My life is ending in sadness.
My years are spent in crying.
My troubles are using up my strength.
My bones are getting weaker.
11 Because of all my troubles, my enemies hate me.
Even my neighbors look down on me.
When my friends see me,
they are afraid and run.
12 I am like a piece of a broken pot.
I am forgotten as if I were dead.
13 I have heard many insults.
Terror is all around me.
They make plans against me.
They want to kill me.
14 Lord, I trust you.
I have said, “You are my God.”
15 My life is in your hands.
Save me from my enemies’ grasp.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
16 Show your kindness to me, your servant.
Save me because of your love.
17 Lord, I called to you.
So do not let me be disgraced.
Let the wicked be disgraced.
Let them lie silent in the grave.
18 With pride and hatred
they speak against the righteous.
So shut their lying lips.
19 How great is your goodness!
You have stored it up for those who fear you.
You do good things for those who trust you.
You do this for all to see.
20 You protect them by your presence
from what people plan against them.
You keep them safe in your shelter
from evil words.
21 Praise the Lord.
His love to me was wonderful
when my city was attacked.
22 In my distress, I said,
“God cannot see me!”
But you heard my prayer
when I cried out to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you who belong to him.
The Lord protects those who truly believe.
But he punishes the proud as much as they have sinned.
24 All you who put your hope in the Lord
be strong and brave.
A Prayer for Help
Of David.
35 Lord, battle with those who battle with me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Pick up the shield and armor.
Rise up and help me.
3 Lift up your spears, both large and small,
against those who chase me.
Tell me, “I will save you.”
4 Make those who want to kill me
be ashamed and disgraced.
Make those who plan to harm me
turn back and run away.
5 Make them like chaff blown by the wind.
Let the angel of the Lord chase them away.
6 Let their road be dark and slippery
as the angel of the Lord chases them.
7 For no reason they spread out their net to trap me.
For no reason they dug a pit for me.
8 So let ruin strike them suddenly.
Let them be caught in their own nets.
Let them fall into the pit and die.
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will be happy when he saves me.
10 Even my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like you?
You save the weak from the strong.
You save the weak and poor from robbers.”
11 Men without mercy stand up to testify.
They ask me things I do not know.
12 They repay me with evil for the good I have done.
They make me very sad.
13 Yet when they were sick, I put on rough cloth to show my sadness.
I showed my sorrow by going without food.
But my prayers were not answered.
14 I acted as if they were my friends or brothers.
I bowed in sadness as if I were crying for my mother.
15 But when I was in trouble, they gathered and laughed.
They gathered to attack before I knew it.
They insulted me without stopping.
16 They made fun of me and were cruel to me.
They ground their teeth at me in anger.
17 Lord, how long will you watch this happen?
Save my life from their attacks.
Save me from these people who are like lions.
18 I will praise you in the great meeting.
I will praise you among crowds of people.
19 Do not let my enemies laugh at me.
They hate me for no reason.
Do not let them make fun of me.
They have no reason to hate me.
20 Their words are not friendly.
They think up lies about peace-loving people.
21 They speak against me.
They say, “Aha! We saw what you did!”
22 Lord, you have been watching. Do not keep quiet.
Lord, do not leave me alone.
23 Wake up! Come and defend me!
My God and Lord, fight for me!
24 Lord my God, defend me with your justice.
Don’t let them laugh at me.
25 Don’t let them think, “Aha! We got what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say, “We destroyed him.”
26 Let them be ashamed and embarrassed.
They were happy when I hurt.
Cover them with shame and disgrace.
They thought they were better than I was.
27 May my friends sing and shout for joy.
May they always say, “Praise the greatness of the Lord.
He loves to see his servants do well.”
28 I will tell of your goodness.
I will praise you every day.
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “But Lord, I am not a skilled speaker. I have never been able to speak well. And now, even after talking to you, I am not a good speaker. I speak slowly and can’t find the best words.”
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? And who makes him deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a man sight or makes him blind? It is I, the Lord. 12 Now go! I will help you speak. I will tell you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14 The Lord became angry with Moses. He said, “Your brother Aaron, from the family of Levi, is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you. And he will be happy when he sees you. 15 I will tell you what to say. Then you will tell Aaron. I will help both of you know what to say and do. 16 And Aaron will speak to the people for you. You will tell him what God says. And he will speak for you. 17 Take your walking stick with you. Use it to do the miracles.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law. Moses said to him, “Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”
Jethro said to Moses, “You may go. Have a safe trip.”
19 While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, “Go back to Egypt. The men who wanted to kill you are dead now.”
20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on a donkey. Then he started back to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles. I have given you the power to do them. Show them to the king of Egypt. But I will make the king very stubborn. He will not let the people go. 22 Then say to the king: ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 And I told you to let my son go. Let him go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go. So I will kill your firstborn son.’”
24 As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The Lord met him there and tried to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She took the skin and touched Moses’ feet with it. Then she said to him, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 Zipporah said this because she had to circumcise her son. So the Lord did not kill Moses.
27 Meanwhile the Lord said to Aaron, “Go out into the desert to meet Moses.” When Aaron went, he met Moses at Sinai, the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had said to him when he sent him to Egypt. And Moses told him about the miracles which the Lord had commanded him to do.
29 So Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the Israelites. 30 Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all the people to see. 31 So the Israelites believed. They heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their troubles. Then they bowed down and worshiped him.
Spiritual Gifts
14 Love, then, is what you should try for. And you should truly want to have the spiritual gifts. And the gift you should want most is to be able to prophesy. 2 I will explain why. One who has the gift of speaking in a different language is not speaking to people. He is speaking to God. No one understands him—he is speaking secret things through the Spirit. 3 But one who prophesies is speaking to people. He gives people strength, encouragement, and comfort. 4 The one who speaks in a different language is helping only himself. But the one who prophesies is helping the whole church. 5 I would like all of you to have the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages. But more, I want you to prophesy. The person who prophesies is greater than the one who can only speak in different languages—unless someone is there who can explain what he says. Then the whole church can be helped.
6 Brothers, will it help you if I come to you speaking in different languages? No! It will help you only if I bring you a new truth or some knowledge, or some prophecy, or some teaching. 7 It is the same as with non-living things that make sounds—like a flute or a harp. If different musical notes are not made clear, you will not know what song is being played. Each note must be played clearly for you to be able to understand the tune. 8 And in a war, if the trumpet does not sound clearly, the soldiers will not know it is time to prepare for fighting. 9 It is the same with you. The words you speak with your tongue must be clear. Unless you speak clearly, no one can understand what you are saying. You will be talking in the air! 10 It is true that there are many kinds of speech in the world. And they all have meaning. 11 So unless I understand the meaning of what someone says to me, we will be like strangers to each other. 12 It is the same with you. You want spiritual gifts very much. So try most to have the gifts that help the church grow stronger.
13 The one who has the gift of speaking in a different language should pray that he can also interpret what he says. 14 If I pray in a different language, my spirit is praying, but my mind does nothing. 15 So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 You might be praising God with your spirit. But a person there without understanding cannot say “Amen”[a] to your prayer of thanks. He does not know what you are saying. 17 You may be thanking God in a good way, but the other person is not helped.
18 I thank God that my gift of speaking in different kinds of languages is greater than any of yours. 19 But in the church meetings I would rather speak five words that I understand than thousands of words in a different language. I would rather speak with my understanding, so that I can teach others.
Jesus Talks About His Death
30 Then Jesus and his followers left that place and went through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where he was 31 because he wanted to teach his followers alone. He said to them, “The Son of Man will be given to men who will kill him. After three days, he will rise from death.” 32 But the followers did not understand what Jesus meant. And they were afraid to ask.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum and went into a house there. Then Jesus said to them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But the followers did not answer, because their argument on the road was about which one of them was the greatest.
35 Jesus sat down and called the 12 apostles to him. He said, “If anyone wants to be the most important, then he must be last of all and servant of all.”
36 Then Jesus took a small child and had him stand among them. He took the child in his arms and said, 37 “If anyone accepts children like these in my name, then he is also accepting me. And if he accepts me, then he is also accepting the One who sent me.”
Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us
38 Then John said, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of a person. We told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group.”
39 Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. Anyone who uses my name to do powerful things will not say evil things about me. 40 He who is not against us is with us. 41 I tell you the truth. If anyone helps you by giving you a drink of water because you belong to the Christ, then he will truly get his reward.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.