Book of Common Prayer
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s love.
I will tell of his loyalty from now on.
2 I will say, “Your love continues forever.
Your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with the man of my choice.
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will make your family continue forever.
Your kingdom will continue from now on.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for your miracles
and for your loyalty in the meeting of your holy ones.
6 Who in heaven is equal to the Lord?
None of the angels is like the Lord.
7 When the holy ones meet, it is God they fear.
He is more frightening than all who surround him.
8 Lord God of heaven’s armies, who is like you?
Lord, you are powerful and completely to be trusted.
9 You rule the mighty sea.
You calm the stormy waves.
10 You crushed the sea monster Rahab.
By your power you scattered your enemies.
11 The skies and the earth belong to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm has great power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is lifted up.
14 Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
Love and truth are in all you do.
15 Happy are the people who know how to praise you.
Lord, let them live in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all the time.
They praise your goodness.
17 You are their glorious strength.
In your kindness you honor our king.
18 Our king, our shield, belongs to the Lord.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once, in a vision, you spoke
to those who worship you.
You said, “I have given strength to a warrior.
I have selected a young man from my people.
20 I have found my servant David.
I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him.
21 I will steady him with my hand.
I will strengthen him with my arm.
22 No enemy will make him give forced payments.
Wicked people will not defeat him.
23 I will crush his enemies in front of him.
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 My loyalty and love will be with him.
Through me he will be strong.
25 I will give him power over the sea
and control over the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, the one who saves me.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest king on earth.
28 My love will watch over him forever.
My agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue.
His kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 “But his descendants might reject my teachings
and not follow my rules.
31 They might break my laws
and disobey my commands.
32 Then I will punish their sins with a rod
and their wrongs with a whip.
33 But I will not hold back my love from David.
I will not stop being loyal.
34 I will not break my agreement.
I will not change what I have said.
35 It is certain that I am a holy God.
So it is certain I will not lie to David.
36 His family will continue forever.
His kingdom will continue before me like the sun.
37 It will last forever, like the moon,
like a lasting witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But now, you have rejected your appointed king.
You have been angry with him.
39 You have broken the agreement with your servant.
You threw his crown to the ground.
40 You have torn down all the city walls.
You have turned his strong, walled cities into ruins.
41 Everyone who passes by steals from him.
His neighbors insult him.
42 You have given strength to his enemies.
You have made them all happy.
43 You have made his sword useless.
You did not help him stand in battle.
44 You have kept him from winning.
You threw his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut his life short.
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this go on?
Will you ignore us forever?
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Why did you create us anyway?
48 What man alive will not die?
Can he escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is your love from times past?
With loyalty you promised it to David.
50 Lord, remember how they insulted your servant.
Remember how I have suffered the insults of the nations.
51 Lord, remember how your enemies insulted you.
Remember how they insulted your appointed king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and amen.
14 “So I am going to attract her.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15 Then I will give her back her vineyards.
And I will make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope.
Then she will respond as when she was young,
as when she came out of Egypt.”
16 The Lord says, “Then she will call me ‘my husband.’
She will no longer call me ‘my baal.’[b]
17 I will never let her say the names of Baal again.
Then people won’t use their names anymore.
18 At that time I will make an agreement for them.
It will be with the wild animals, the birds and the crawling things.
I will remove from the land
the bow and the sword and the weapons of war.
Then my people will live in safety.
19 And I will make you my promised bride forever.
I will be good and fair.
I will show you my love and mercy.
20 I will be true to you as my promised bride.
Then you will accept that I am the Lord.
21 “And at that time I will answer you,” says the Lord.
“I will speak to the skies.
And they will give rain to the earth.
22 The earth will produce grain, wine and oil.
Much will grow because my people are called Jezreel—God plants.
23 I will plant my people in the land.
I will show pity to the one I had called ‘not shown pity.’
I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And they will say to me, ‘You are our God.’”
The Elders from Ephesus
17 Now from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 When they came to him, he said, “You know about my life from the first day I came to Asia. You know the way I lived all the time I was with you. 19 The Jews plotted against me. This troubled me very much. But you know that I always served the Lord. I never thought of myself first, and I often cried. 20 You know I preached to you, and I did not hold back anything that would help you. You know that I taught you in public and in your homes. 21 I warned both Jews and Greeks to change their lives and turn to God. And I told them all to believe in our Lord Jesus. 22 But now I must obey the Holy Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. 23 I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me. 24 I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.
25 “And now, I know that none of you will ever see me again. All the time I was with you, I was preaching the kingdom of God. 26 So today I can tell you one thing that I am sure of: If any of you should be lost, I am not responsible. 27 This is because I have told you everything God wants you to know. 28 Be careful for yourselves and for all the people God has given you. The Holy Spirit gave you the work of caring for this flock. You must be like shepherds to the church of God.[a] This is the church that God bought with his own death. 29 I know that after I leave, some men will come like wild wolves and try to destroy the flock. 30 Also, men from your own group will rise up and twist the truth. They will lead away followers after them. 31 So be careful! Always remember this: For three years I never stopped warning each of you. I taught you night and day. I often cried over you.
32 “Now I am putting you in the care of God and the message about his grace. That message is able to give you strength, and it will give you the blessings that God has for all his holy people. 33 When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. 34 You know that I always worked to take care of my own needs and the needs of those who were with me. 35 I showed you in all things that you should work as I did and help the weak. I taught you to remember the words of Jesus. He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37-38 And they all cried because Paul had said that they would never see him again. They put their arms around him and kissed him. Then they went with him to the ship.
Jesus’ First Followers
5 One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Galilee. Many people were pressing all around him. They wanted to hear the word of God. 2 Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into one of the boats, the one which belonged to Simon.[a] Jesus asked Simon to push off a little from the land. Then Jesus sat down in the boat and continued to teach the people on the shore.
4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Take the boat into deep water. If you will put your nets in the water, you will catch some fish.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish, but we caught nothing. But you say to put the nets in the water; so I will.” 6 The fishermen did as Jesus told them. And they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. 7 They called to their friends in the other boat to come and help them. The friends came, and both boats were filled so full that they were almost sinking.
8-9 The fishermen were all amazed at the many fish they caught. When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he bowed down before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” 10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were amazed too. (James and John were Simon’s partners.)
Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be fishermen for men.” 11 When the men brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.