Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer About a False Friend
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
55 God, listen to my prayer.
Do not ignore my prayer.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am troubled and upset
3 by what the enemy says
and how the wicked look at me.
They bring troubles down on me.
In anger they attack me.
4 I am frightened inside.
The terror of death has attacked me.
5 I am scared and shaking.
Terror grips me.
6 I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove.
Then I would fly away and rest.
7 I would wander far away.
I would stay in the desert. Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of escape,
far away from the wind and storm.”
9 Lord, destroy and confuse their words.
I see violence and fighting in the city.
10 Day and night they are all around its walls.
Evil and trouble are everywhere inside.
11 Destruction is everywhere in the city.
Trouble and lying never leave its streets.
12 It was not an enemy insulting me.
I could stand that.
It was not someone who hated me.
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a person like me.
You were my companion and good friend.
14 We had a good friendship.
We went together to God’s Temple.
15 Let death take away my enemies.
Let them die while they are still young
because evil lives with them.
16 But I will call to God for help.
And the Lord will save me.
17 Morning, noon and night I am troubled and upset.
But he will listen to me.
18 Many are against me.
But he keeps me safe in battle.
19 God who lives forever
will hear me and punish them.
But they will not change.
They do not fear God. Selah
20 The one who was my friend attacks his friends.
He breaks his promises.
21 His words are slippery like butter.
But war is in his heart.
His words are smoother than oil,
but they cut like knives.
22 Give your worries to the Lord.
He will take care of you.
He will never let good people down.
23 But, God, you will bring down
the wicked to the grave.
Murderers and liars will live
only half a lifetime.
But I will trust in you.
A Hymn of Thanksgiving
A song of David.
138 Lord, I will thank you with all my heart.
I will sing to you before the false gods.
2 I will bow down facing your holy Temple.
And I will thank you for your love and loyalty.
You have made your name and your word
greater than anything.
3 On the day I called to you, you answered me.
You made me strong and brave.
4 Lord, let all the kings of the earth praise you.
They have heard the words you speak.
5 They will sing about what the Lord has done
because the Lord’s glory is great.
6 Though the Lord is supreme
he takes care of those who are not proud.
But he stays away from those who are proud.
7 Lord, even when I have trouble all around me,
you will keep me alive.
When my enemies are angry,
you will reach down and save me by your power.
8 Lord, you do everything for me.
Lord, your love continues forever.
You made us. Do not leave us.
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A song of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me.
You know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know well everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know what I am going to say.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back.
You have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me.
It is more than I can understand.
7 Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?
Where can I run from you?
8 If I go up to the skies, you are there.
If I lie down where the dead are, you are there.
9 If I rise with the sun in the east,
and settle in the west beyond the sea,
10 even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me.
11 I could say, “The darkness will hide me.
The light around me will turn into night.”
12 But even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made my whole being.
You formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
19 God, I wish you would kill the wicked!
Get away from me, you murderers!
20 These men say evil things about you.
Your enemies use your name thoughtlessly.
21 Lord, I hate those who hate you.
I hate those who rise up against you.
22 I feel only hate for them.
They are my enemies.
23 God, examine me and know my heart.
Test me and know my thoughts.
20 At that time some people will be left alive in Israel
from the family of Jacob.
They will not continue to depend
on the person who defeated them.
They will learn truly to depend on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 The people who are left alive in Jacob’s family
will again follow the powerful God.
22 Israel, your people are very many.
They are like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be left alive to return to the Lord.
God has announced that he will destroy the land
completely and fairly.
23 The Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will certainly destroy this land.
He will destroy it as he has announced.
24 This is what the Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies, says:
“My people living in Jerusalem,
don’t be afraid of the Assyrians.
They beat you with a rod.
They raise a stick to hurt you, as Egypt did.
25 But after a short time my anger will stop.
Then I will turn my anger to destroying them.”
26 Then the Lord of heaven’s armies will beat the Assyrians with a whip.
He will defeat them as he defeated Midian at the rock of Oreb.
He will raise his stick over the waters
as he did in Egypt.
27 Then the troubles that Assyria puts on you
will be removed.
The load they make you carry
will be taken away.
A Warning and Things to Do
17 Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said before. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be people who laugh about God. They will do only what they want to do—things that are against God.” 19 These are the people who divide you. They do only what their sinful selves want. They do not have the Spirit.
20 But dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up strong. Pray with the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love. Wait for the Lord Jesus Christ with his mercy to give you life forever.
22 Show mercy to people who have doubts. 23 Save them. Take them out of the fire. Show mercy mixed with fear to others. Hate even their clothes which are dirty from sin.
Praise God
24 God is strong and can help you not to fall. He can bring you before his glory without any wrong in you and give you great joy. 25 He is the only God. He is the One who saves us. To him be glory, greatness, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord for all time past, now, and forever. Amen.
The Preaching of John
3 It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar. These men were under Caesar: Pontius Pilate was the ruler of Judea. Herod was the ruler of Galilee. Philip, Herod’s brother, was the ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis. And Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time, a command from God came to John son of Zechariah. John was living in the desert. 3 He went all over the area around the Jordan River and preached to the people. He preached a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of their sins. 4 As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet:
“This is a voice of a man
who calls out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make the road straight for him.
5 Every valley should be filled in.
Every mountain and hill should be made flat.
Roads with turns should be made straight,
and rough roads should be made smooth.
6 And all people will know about the salvation of God!’” Isaiah 40:3-5
7 Crowds of people came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s anger that is coming? 8 You must do the things that will show that you really have changed your hearts. Don’t say, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God can make children for Abraham from these rocks here. 9 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”[a]
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.