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.
2 I will stand like a guard to watch.
I will stand on the tower.
I will wait to see what the Lord will say to me.
I will wait to learn how to answer his complaint.
The Lord Answers
2 The Lord answered me:
“Write down what I show you.
Write it clearly on stone tablets
so whoever reads it can run to tell others.
3 It is not yet time for the message to come true.
But that time is coming soon.
The message will come true.
It may seem like a long time before it happens.
But be patient and wait for it.
These things will happen.
They will not be delayed.
4 See, the nation that is evil and trusts in itself will fail.
But those who do right because they trust in God will live.
9 “How terrible it will be for the nation that becomes rich by doing wrong.
They do those things to live in a safe place.
They think they will be safe from harm.
10 You have made plans to destroy many people.
This has made your own houses ashamed of you.
Because of it, you will lose your lives.
11 The stones of the walls will cry out against you.
Even the wooden boards that support the roof will agree that you are wrong.
12 “How terrible it will be for the nation that kills people to build a city.
How terrible for that nation that wrongs others to start a town.
13 The Lord of heaven’s armies will send fire
to destroy what those people have built.
All the nations’ work will be for nothing.
14 Then people everywhere will know the Lord’s greatness.
This news will spread like water covering the sea.
15 “How terrible for the nation that becomes angry and makes others suffer.
In anger they knock other people to the ground.
And they treat them as if they are naked and drunk.
16 You Babylonians will receive the Lord’s anger, not respect.
This anger will be like a cup of poison in the Lord’s right hand.
You will taste this anger and fall to the ground like a drunk person.
You will drink from this cup.
You will receive disgrace, not respect.
17 You hurt many people in Lebanon.
Now you will be hurt.
You killed many animals there.
And now you must be afraid.
You will be afraid because of what you did
to those cities and the people who lived in them.
The Message About Idols
18 “An idol does no good, because a man made it.
It is only a statue that teaches lies.
The person who made it expects his own work to help him.
But it can’t even speak!
19 How terrible it will be for the nation that says to a wooden statue, ‘Come to life!’
How terrible it will be when this nation says to a stone that cannot speak, ‘Get up!’
These things cannot tell them what to do.
That idol is only a statue covered with gold and silver.
There is no life in it.
20 The Lord is in his Holy Temple.
So all the earth should be silent in his presence.”
Faith and Good Works
14 My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food. 16 And you say to him, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say this, but you do not give that person the things he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing. 17 It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead, because it is alone.
18 Someone might say, “You have faith, but I do things. Show me your faith! Your faith does nothing. I will show you my faith by the things I do.” 19 You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too! And they shake with fear.
20 You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? 21 Abraham is our father. He was made right with God by the things he did. He offered his son Isaac to God on the altar. 22 So you see that Abraham’s faith and the things he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. 23 This shows the full meaning of the Scripture that says: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”[a] And Abraham was called “God’s friend.”[b] 24 So you see that a person is made right with God by the things he does. He cannot be made right by faith only.
25 Another example is Rahab, who was a prostitute. But she was made right with God by something she did: She helped the spies for God’s people. She welcomed them into her home and helped them escape by a different road.
26 A person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead. It is the same with faith. Faith that does nothing is dead!
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. He lived in luxury every day. 20 There was also a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores. Lazarus was often placed at the rich man’s gate. 21 He wanted to eat only the small pieces of food that fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs would come and lick his sores! 22 Later, Lazarus died. The angels took Lazarus and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man died, too, and was buried. 23 But he was sent to where the dead are and had much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life, but all the bad things happened to Lazarus. Now Lazarus is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you. And no one can leave there and come here.’ 27 The rich man said, ‘Then please send Lazarus to my father’s house on earth! 28 I have five brothers. Lazarus could warn my brothers so that they will not come to this place of pain.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to read; let them learn from them!’ 30 The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! If someone came to them from the dead, they would believe and change their hearts and lives.’ 31 But Abraham said to him, ‘No! If your brothers won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, then they won’t listen to someone who comes back from death.’”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.