Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 16
A prayer[a] of David.
1 Protect me, God, for the only safety I know is found in the moments I seek You.
2 I told You, Eternal One, “You are my Lord,
for the only good I know in this world is found in You alone.”
3 The beauty of faith-filled people encompasses me.
They are true, and my heart is thrilled beyond measure.
4 All the while the despair of many,
who abandoned Your goodness for the empty promises of false gods, increases day by day.
I refuse to pour out blood offerings,
to utter their names from my lips.
5 You, Eternal One, are my sustenance and my life-giving cup.
In that cup, You hold my future and my eternal riches.
6 My home is surrounded in beauty;
You have gifted me with abundance and a rich legacy.
7 I will bless the Eternal, whose wise teaching orchestrates my days
and centers my mind at night.
8 He is ever present with me;
at all times He goes before me.
I will not live in fear or abandon my calling
because He stands at my right hand.
9 This is a good life—my heart is glad, my soul is full of joy,
and my body is at rest.
Who could want for more?
10 You will not abandon me to experience death and the grave
or leave me to rot alone.
11 Instead, You direct me on the path that leads to a beautiful life.
As I walk with You, the pleasures are never-ending,
and I know true joy and contentment.
Psalm 17
A prayer of David.
1 Listen, O Eternal One, to my cry for justice.
These words of mine are true—turn Your ear toward me.
2 Announce that I am free of all the charges against me—only You can see into my heart to know that to be true.
Treat me with fairness; look at me with justice.
3 You have searched me—my heart and soul—awakened me from dreaming and tested me.
You’ve found nothing against me.
I have resolved not to sin in what I say.
4 The path violent men have followed,
I will not travel. Violence is not my way.
Your ways and Your voice now guide my journey.
5 I will press on—moving steadfastly forward along Your path.
I will not look back. I will not stumble.
6 I am crying aloud to You, O True God, for I long to know Your answer.
Hear me, O God. Hear my plea. Hear my prayer for help.
7 Put Your marvelous love on display for all to see.
Liberator of those who long for shelter beside You,
set them safely away from their enemies, ever welcomed by grace.
8 Keep close watch over me as the apple of Your eye;
shelter me in the shadow of Your wings.
9 Protect me from the wicked who are poised to attack,
from the enemies swarming around me and closing in quickly.
10 Like clay baking in the sun, their hearts have hardened;
arrogance spills from their mouths.
11 They’ve tracked me down like quarry.
They’re surrounding me
and are poised to throw me down into the dirt.
12 Like a lion—crouching in the brush—they are ready to tear me apart.
Like young lions in their hiding places, they are poised to strike.
13 Rise up and confront them, O Eternal One! Make them pay.
By Your sword, set me free from my wicked enemies!
14 May Your rescue find me here.
By Your hand, save me from my enemies, Eternal One.
Save me from men whose hopes are rooted in this world.
But as for those You cherish,
may they feast on all You have set aside for them;
may their children never be in need;
may they have enough so their children will inherit their wealth.
15 But as for me, my hope is to see Your face.
When I am vindicated, I will look upon the holy face of God,
and when I awake, the longing of my soul will be satisfied in the glow of Your presence.
Psalm 22
For the worship leader. A song of David to the tune “Deer of the Dawn.”[a]
Jesus prayed this individual lament from the cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Though it begins with a sense of abandonment, it ends on a triumphant note.
1 My God, my God, why have You turned Your back on me?
Your ears are deaf to my groans.
2 O my God, I cry all day and You are silent;
my tears in the night bring no relief.
3 Still, You are holy;
You make Your home on the praises of Israel.
4 Our mothers and fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You rescued them.
5 They cried out to You for help and were spared;
they trusted in You and were vindicated.
6 But I am a worm and not a human being,
a disgrace and an object of scorn.
7 Everyone who sees me laughs at me;
they whisper to one another I’m a loser; they sneer and mock me, saying,
8 “He relies on the Eternal; let the Eternal rescue him
and keep him safe because He is happy with him.”
9 But You are the One who granted me life;
You endowed me with trust as I nursed at my mother’s breast.
10 I was dedicated to You at birth;
You’ve been my God from my mother’s womb.
11 Stay close to me—
trouble is at my door;
no one else can help me.
12 I’m surrounded by many tormenters;
like strong bulls of Bashan,[b] they circle around me with their taunts.
13 They open their mouths wide at me
like ravenous, roaring lions.
14 My life is poured out like water,
and all my bones have slipped out of joint.
My heart melts like wax inside me.
15 My strength is gone, dried up like shards of pottery;
my dry tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
You lay me in the dust of death.
16 A throng of evil ones has surrounded me
like a pack of wild dogs;
They[c] pierced my hands and ripped a hole in my feet.
17 I count all my bones;
people gawk and stare at me.
18 They make a game out of dividing my clothes among themselves;
they cast lots for the clothes on my back.
19 But You, O Eternal, stay close;
O You, my help, hurry to my side.
20 Save my life from violence,
my sweet life from the teeth of the wild dog.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lion.
From the horns of the wild oxen, You responded to my plea.
22 I will speak Your Name to my brothers and sisters
when I praise You in the midst of the community.
23 You who revere the Eternal, praise Him—
descendants of Jacob, worship Him;
be struck with wonder before Him, all you children of Israel.
24 He’s not put off
by the suffering of the suffering one;
He doesn’t pretend He hasn’t seen him;
when he pleaded for help, He listened.
25 You stir my praise in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows before those who humble their hearts before Him.
26 Those who are suffering will eat and be nourished;
those who seek Him will praise the Eternal.
May your hearts beat strong forever!
27 Those from the farthest reaches of the earth will remember
and turn back to look for the Eternal;
All the families of the nations
will worship You.
28 The Eternal owns the world;
He exercises His gentle rule over all the nations.
29 All the wealthy of the world will eat and worship;
all those who fall in the dust will bow before Him,
even the life that is headed to the grave.
30 Our children will serve Him;
future generations will hear the story of how the Lord rescued us.
31 They will tell the generations to come
of the righteousness of the Lord,
of what He has done.
28 We quickly learned that we were on the island of Malta. 2 The Maltese people found us and were extraordinarily kind to us. They kindled a bonfire and welcomed us around it, which we greatly appreciated because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul was gathering firewood and helping build the fire. A viper had been hiding in some of the wood, and as it tried to escape the heat, it bit Paul on the hand. It sank its fangs in and wouldn’t let go. 4 The natives saw it dangling from his hand.
Natives: This man must be a murderer. He escaped the sea, but now justice has caught up with him.
5 Paul simply shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 The natives knew what to expect—rapid swelling followed by death—but when they waited a long time and saw that Paul suffered no ill effects of the bite, they changed their minds and concluded that he was a god.
7 The leading man of the island, Publius, owned large amounts of land near this beach. Publius received us and hosted us for three days. 8 Publius’s father was sick, bedridden with fever and dysentery. Paul visited the invalid and prayed for him, placing his hands on Publius’s father. The man was cured. 9 Soon people from all over the island who had diseases came, and they were cured as well.
10-11 We stayed on Malta for the next three months and were treated with great honor. When spring arrived, we prepared to continue our journey on a ship that had wintered there—an Alexandrian vessel with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead. The Maltese people showed us a final kindness as we departed: they came with all the provisions we needed for our journey and put them on board.
12 We set sail from Malta and stopped first at Syracuse. After three days, 13 we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. We waited there a day, and then a south wind sprang up and sped us to Puteoli. 14 We found some believers there, and they invited us to stay with them for seven days. Then we reached Rome. 15 The believers from Rome heard we were coming, so they traveled out to meet us at the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. Paul thanked God and felt encouraged to see them. 16 Once inside the city, Paul lived under house arrest by himself, with only one soldier to guard him.
In this section of Luke, Jesus is working hard with the disciples. They have a lot to learn and not much time left to learn it. But their “not-getting-it factor” is quite amazing. Luke’s tone betrays him shaking his head and chuckling as he writes, thinking about how foolish the disciples can be at times. And, of course, he’s probably thinking of himself too . . . just as he hopes his readers will when they read about the stupid things the disciples say and do—one moment seeing and hearing glorious things, the next moment missing the point entirely.
28 Those words had about eight days to settle in with the disciples. Then, once again, Jesus went away to pray. This time He took along only Peter, John, and James. They climbed a mountainside and came to a place of solitude.
29-32 Jesus began to pray and the disciples tried to stay awake, but their eyes grew heavier and heavier and finally they all fell asleep. When they awakened, they looked over at Jesus and saw something inexplicable happening. Jesus was changing before their eyes, beginning with His face. It seemed to glow. The glow spread, and even His clothing took on a blinding whiteness. Then, two figures appeared in the glorious radiance emanating from Jesus. The three disciples somehow knew that these figures were Moses and Elijah. Peter, James, and John overheard the conversation that took place among Jesus, Moses, and Elijah—a conversation that centered on Jesus’ “departure”[a] and how He would accomplish this departure from the capital city, Jerusalem.
33 The glow began to fade, and it was clear that Moses and Elijah were about to disappear.
Peter (to Jesus): Please, Master, it is good for us to be here and see this. Can we make three structures—one to honor You, one to honor Moses, and one to honor Elijah, to try to capture what’s happening here?
Peter had no idea what he was saying.
34 While he spoke a cloud descended, and they were enveloped in it, and fear fell on them. 35 Then a voice came out of everywhere and nowhere at once.
36 Then the voice was silent, the cloud disappeared, and Moses and Elijah were gone. Peter, James, and John were left speechless, stunned, staring at Jesus who now stood before them alone. For a long time, they did not say a word about this whole experience.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.