Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A song of David.
41 Happy is the person who thinks about the poor.
When trouble comes, the Lord will save him.
2 The Lord will protect him and spare his life.
The Lord will bless him in the land.
The Lord will not let his enemies take him.
3 The Lord will give him strength when he is sick.
The Lord will make him well again.
4 I said, “Lord, be kind to me.
Heal me because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying bad things about me.
They say, “When will he die and be forgotten?”
6 Some people come to see me.
But they lie.
They just come to get bad news.
Then they go and gossip.
7 All my enemies whisper about me.
They think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He has a terrible disease.
He will never get out of bed again.”
9 My best and truest friend ate at my table.
Now even he has turned against me.
10 Lord, have mercy on me.
Give me strength so I can pay them back.
11 My enemies do not defeat me.
That’s how I know you are pleased with me.
12 Because I am innocent, you support me.
You will let me be with you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He has always been,
and he will always be.
Amen and amen.
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
God’s love will continue forever.
2 You think up evil plans.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
making up lies.
3 You love wrong more than right
and lies more than truth. Selah
4 You love words that bite
and tongues that lie.
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and throw you out of your tent.
He will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
6 Those who do right will see this and fear God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the man
who did not depend on God.
Instead, he depended on his money.
He grew strong by his evil plans.”
8 But I am like an olive tree
growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
forever and ever.
9 God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our ancestors told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land.
You placed our ancestors here.
You destroyed those other nations.
But you made our ancestors grow strong.
3 It wasn’t their swords that took the land.
It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.
But it was your great power and strength.
You were with them because you loved them.
4 My God, you are my King.
Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.
5 With your help we pushed back our enemies.
In your name we walked on those who came against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me.
My sword can’t save me.
7 You saved us from Egypt.
You made our enemies ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day.
We will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you have rejected us and shamed us.
You don’t march with our armies anymore.
10 You let our enemies push us back.
Our enemies have taken our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten.
You scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing.
You made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors.
The community laughs and makes fun of us.
14 You made us a joke to the other nations.
People shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace.
I am covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting even
with insults and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you.
We have kept our agreement with you.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away from you.
We haven’t stopped following you.
19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live.
You covered us with deep darkness.
20 We did not forget our God.
We did not lift our hands in prayer to foreign gods.
21 God would have known if we had.
He knows what is in our hearts.
22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why are you hidden from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt.
We are flat on the ground.
26 Get up and help us.
Because of your love, save us.
16 Make an agreement.
Seal up the teaching while my followers are watching.
17 I will wait for the Lord to help us.
The Lord is ashamed of the family of Israel.
I will trust the Lord.
18 I am here. And with me are the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and proofs for the people of Israel. We have been sent by the Lord of heaven’s armies. He lives on Mount Zion.
19 Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers what to do. They whisper and mutter and ask dead people what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead? 20 You should follow the teachings and the agreement with the Lord. The mediums and fortune-tellers do not speak the word of the Lord. Their words are worth nothing.
21 People will wander through the land troubled and hungry. When they become hungry, they will become angry. Then they will look up and curse their king and their God. 22 They will look around them at their land. And they will see only trouble and darkness and awful gloom. And they will be forced into the darkness.
A New Day Is Coming
9 But suddenly there will be no more gloom for the land that suffered. In the past God made the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali hang their heads in shame. But in the future that land will be made great. That land stretches from the way along the Mediterranean Sea to the land along the Jordan River. And it goes north to Galilee where the people who are not Israelites live.
Correcting False Teachings
1 From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
To you who have received a faith as valuable as ours. You received that faith because our God and Savior Jesus Christ is fair and does what is right.
2 Grace and peace be given to you more and more. You will have grace and peace because you truly know God and Jesus our Lord.
God Has Given Us Blessings
3 Jesus has the power of God. His power has given us everything we need to live and to serve God. We have these things because we know him. Jesus called us by his glory and goodness. 4 Through his glory and goodness, he gave us the very great and rich gifts he promised us. With those gifts you can share in God’s nature. And so the world will not ruin you with its evil desires.
5 Because you have these blessings, you should try as much as you can to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; 6 and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add the ability to hold on; and to your ability to hold on, add service for God; 7 and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love. 8 If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you never to be useless. They will help your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ make your lives better. 9 But if anyone does not have these things, he cannot see clearly. He is blind. He has forgotten that he was made clean from his past sins.
10 My brothers, God called you and chose you to be his. Try hard to show that you really are God’s chosen people. If you do all these things, you will never fall. 11 And you will be given a very great welcome into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That kingdom continues forever.
Jesus Prays Alone
39-40 Jesus left the city and went to the Mount of Olives. His followers went with him. (Jesus went there often.) He said to his followers, “Pray for strength against temptation.”
41 Then Jesus went about a stone’s throw away from them. He kneeled down and prayed, 42 “Father, if it is what you want, then let me not have this cup[a] of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him to help him. 44 Jesus was full of pain; he prayed even more. Sweat dripped from his face as if he were bleeding. 45 When he finished praying, he went to his followers. They were asleep. (Their sadness had made them very tired.) 46 Jesus said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray for strength against temptation.”
Jesus Is Arrested
47 While Jesus was speaking, a crowd came up. One of the 12 apostles was leading them. He was Judas. He came close to Jesus so that he could kiss him.
48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you using the kiss to give the Son of Man to his enemies?”
49 The followers of Jesus were standing there too. They saw what was happening. They said to Jesus, “Lord, should we use our swords?” 50 And one of them did use his sword. He cut off the right ear of the servant of the high priest.
51 Jesus said, “Stop!” Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed him.
52 Those who came to arrest Jesus were the leading priests, the soldiers who guarded the Temple, and the Jewish elders. Jesus said to them, “Why did you come out here with swords and sticks? Do you think I am a criminal? 53 I was with you every day in the Temple. Why didn’t you try to arrest me there? But this is your time—the time when darkness rules.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.