Book of Common Prayer
A Cry for God to Help Quickly
For the director of music. A song of David. To help people remember.
70 God, save me.
Lord, hurry to help me.
2 People are trying to kill me.
Shame them and disgrace them.
People want to hurt me.
Let them run away in disgrace.
3 People make fun of me.
Stop them and make them ashamed.
4 But let all the people who worship you
rejoice and be glad.
Let the people who love your salvation
always say, “Praise the greatness of God.”
5 I am poor and helpless.
God, hurry to me.
You help me and save me.
Lord, do not wait.
An Old Person’s Prayer
71 In you, Lord, is my protection.
Never let me be ashamed.
2 Because you do what is right, save and rescue me.
Listen to me and save me.
3 Be my place of safety
where I can always come.
Give the command to save me.
You are my rock and my strong, walled city.
4 My God, save me from the power of the wicked.
Save me from the hold of evil and cruel people.
5 Lord God, you are my hope.
I have trusted you since I was young.
6 I have depended on you since I was born.
You have been my help from the day I was born.
I will always praise you.
7 I am an example to many people.
You are my strong protection.
8 I am always praising you.
All day long I honor you.
9 Do not reject me when I am old.
Do not leave me when my strength is gone.
10 My enemies have made plans against me.
They meet together to kill me.
11 They say, “God has left him.
Go after him and take him.
No one will save him.”
12 God, don’t be far off.
My God, hurry to help me.
13 Let them be ashamed.
Destroy those who accuse me.
They are trying to hurt me.
Cover them with shame and disgrace.
14 But I will always have hope.
And I will praise you more and more.
15 I will tell about how you do what is right.
I will tell about your salvation all day long,
even though it is more than I can tell.
16 I will come and tell about your powerful works, Lord God.
I will tell only about you and how you do what is right.
17 God, you have taught me since I was young.
Even until today I tell about the miracles you do.
18 Even though I am old and gray,
do not leave me, God.
I will tell the children about your power.
I will tell those who will live after me about your might.
19 God, your justice reaches to the skies.
You have done great things.
God, there is no one like you.
20 You have given me many troubles and bad times.
But you will give me life again.
When I am almost dead,
you will keep me alive.
21 You will make me greater than ever.
And you will comfort me again.
22 I will praise you with the harp.
I trust you, my God.
I will sing to you with the lyre.
You are the Holy One of Israel.
23 I will shout for joy when I sing praises to you.
You have saved me.
24 I will tell about your justice all day long.
And those who want to hurt me
will be ashamed and disgraced.
A Nation in Trouble Prays
A maskil of Asaph.
74 God, why have you rejected us for so long?
Why are you angry with us, the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people you bought long ago.
You saved us. We are your very own.
You live on Mount Zion.
3 Make your way through these old ruins.
The enemy wrecked everything in the Temple.
4 Those who were against you shouted in your meeting place.
They raised their flags there.
5 They came with axes raised
as if to cut down a forest of trees.
6 They smashed the carved panels
with their axes and hatchets.
7 They burned your Temple to the ground.
They have made the place where you live unclean.
8 They thought, “We will completely crush them!”
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
9 We do not see any signs.
There are no more prophets.
And no one knows how long this will last.
10 God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of you?
Will they insult you forever?
11 Why do you hold back your power?
Bring your power out in the open and destroy them!
12 God, you have been our king for a long time.
You have saved this country.
13 You split open the sea by your power.
You broke the heads of the sea monster.
14 You smashed the heads of the monster Leviathan.
You gave him to the desert creatures as food.
15 You opened up the springs and streams.
And you made the rivers run dry.
16 Both the day and the night are yours.
You made the sun and the moon.
17 You made all the limits on the earth.
You created summer and winter.
18 Lord, remember how the enemy insulted you.
Remember how those foolish people turned away from you.
19 Do not give us, your doves, to those wild animals.
Never forget your poor people.
20 Remember the agreement you made with us
because violence fills every dark corner of this land.
21 Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.
The poor and helpless people praise you.
22 God, come and defend yourself.
Remember the insults that come from those foolish people all day long.
23 Don’t forget what your enemies said.
Don’t forget their roar as they rise against you always.
4 There was a prophetess named Deborah. She was the wife of Lappidoth. She was judge of Israel at that time. 5 Deborah would sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah. This was between the cities of Ramah and Bethel, in the mountains of Ephraim. And the people of Israel would come to her to settle their arguments.
6 Deborah sent a message to a man named Barak. He was the son of Abinoam. Barak lived in the city of Kedesh, which is in the area of Naphtali. Deborah said to Barak, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go and gather 10,000 men of Naphtali and Zebulun. Lead them to Mount Tabor. 7 I will make Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, come to you. Sisera, his chariots and his army will meet you at the Kishon River. I will help you to defeat Sisera there.’”
8 Then Barak said to Deborah, “I will go if you will go with me. But if you will not go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “Of course I will go with you,” Deborah answered. “But you will not get credit for the victory. The Lord will let a woman defeat Sisera.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 At Kedesh, Barak called the people of Zebulun and Naphtali together. From them, he gathered 10,000 men to follow him. Deborah went with Barak also.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenite people. (The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law.) Heber had put up his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim. This is near Kedesh.
12 Then Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered his 900 iron chariots and all the men with him. They went from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get up! Today is the day the Lord will help you defeat Sisera. You know the Lord has already cleared the way for you.” So Barak led 10,000 men down from Mount Tabor. 15 He and his men attacked Sisera and his men. During the battle the Lord confused Sisera and his army and chariots. So Barak and his men used their swords to defeat Sisera’s army. But Sisera left his chariot and ran away on foot. 16 Barak and his men chased Sisera’s chariots and army to Harosheth Haggoyim. They used their swords to kill all of Sisera’s men. Not one of them was left alive.
17 But Sisera himself ran away. He came to the tent where Jael lived. She was the wife of Heber, one of the Kenite family groups. Heber’s family was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera. She said to him, “Come into my tent, master! Come in. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera went into Jael’s tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 Sisera said to Jael, “I am thirsty. Please give me some water to drink.” So she opened a leather bag in which she kept milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him up.
20 Then Sisera said to Jael, “Go stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and a hammer. She quietly went to Sisera. Since he was very tired, he was sleeping. She hammered the tent peg through the side of Sisera’s head and into the ground! And so Sisera died.
22 Then Barak came by Jael’s tent, chasing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, “Come. I will show you the man you are looking for.” So Barak entered her tent. There Sisera lay dead, with the tent peg in his head.
23 On that day God defeated Jabin king of Canaan in the sight of Israel.
15 During this time there was a meeting of the believers. (There were about 120 of them.) Peter stood up and said, 16-17 “Brothers, in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit said through David that something must happen. The Spirit was talking about Judas, one of our own group, who served together with us. The Spirit said that Judas would lead men to arrest Jesus. 18 (Judas bought a field with the money he got for his evil act. But Judas fell to his death, his body burst open, and all his intestines poured out.) 19 Everyone in Jerusalem learned about this. This is why they named the field Akeldama. In their language Akeldama means “field of blood.”) 20 In the book of Psalms, this is written:
‘May his place be empty.
Leave no one to live in it.’ Psalm 69:25
And it is also written:
‘Let another man replace him as leader.’ Psalm 109:8
21-22 “So now a man must join us and become a witness of Jesus’ being raised from death. He must be one of the men who were part of our group during all the time the Lord Jesus was with us. He must have been with us from the time John began to baptize people until the day when Jesus was taken up from us to heaven.”
23 They put the names of two men before the group. One was Joseph Barsabbas, who was also called Justus. The other was Matthias. 24-25 The apostles prayed, “Lord, you know the minds of everyone. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to do this work. Judas turned away from it and went where he belongs. Lord, show us which one should take his place as an apostle!” 26 Then they used lots to choose between them, and the lots showed that Matthias was the one. So he became an apostle with the other 11.
55 Many women were standing at a distance from the cross, watching. These were women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for him. 56 Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John were there.
Jesus Is Buried
57 That evening a rich man named Joseph came to Jerusalem. He was a follower of Jesus from the town of Arimathea. 58 Joseph went to Pilate and asked to have Jesus’ body. Pilate gave orders for the soldiers to give it to Joseph. 59 Then Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. 60 He put Jesus’ body in a new tomb that he had cut in a wall of rock. He rolled a very large stone to block the entrance of the tomb. Then Joseph went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other woman named Mary were sitting near the tomb.
The Tomb of Jesus Is Guarded
62 That day was the day called Preparation Day. The next day, the leading priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 They said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise from death.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be guarded closely till the third day. His followers might come and steal the body. Then they could tell the people that he has risen from death. That lie would be even worse than the first one.”
65 Pilate said, “Take some soldiers and go guard the tomb the best way you know.” 66 So they all went to the tomb and made it safe from thieves. They did this by sealing the stone in the entrance and then putting soldiers there to guard it.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.