Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader.
God has helped me[a]
40 I was patient while I waited for the Lord to help me.
He turned towards me,
and he heard me when I called to him.
2 He lifted me out of the deep hole of danger.
He picked me up out of the mud.
He put my feet on a rock.
Then I could walk and not slip.
3 He gave me a new song to sing.
It was a song to praise our God.
Many people will see what God has done to help me.
Then they will respect and obey him.
Yes, they will trust in the Lord.
4 If anyone trusts in the Lord
he blesses them!
They do not expect proud people to help them.
They do not join with those people who worship false gods.
5 Lord, my God, you have done many great things.
You have done so many things for us
that we cannot count them!
There is nobody else like you!
I want to talk about the things that you have done,
but there are too many things to speak about!
6 You do not really want sacrifices and offerings.
I understand that!
You do not ask for burnt offerings
or sin offerings.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, my God!
The message that is written in the book
tells me what I must do.[b]
8 I want to do what pleases you.
Your law is always in my thoughts.’
9 In the great meeting of your people,
I have told them about your justice.
I cannot keep quiet!
You know that this is true, Lord.
10 I have not hidden the good news about your justice.
I have told everyone that they can trust you,
and that you have the power to save.
I tell the great meeting of your people about your faithful love.
11 You, Lord, will continue to be kind to me.
Please continue to keep me safe,
because of your faithful love.
12 There are many dangerous troubles all around me.
They are too many to count!
My sins are too strong for me.
They are more than all the hairs on my head!
So I am weak and I cannot see clearly.
13 Lord, please save me!
Lord, come quickly to help me!
14 Chase away the people who want to kill me!
Cause them to become ashamed and confused.
Chase away the people who want to hurt me,
so that they run away in shame.
15 When people laugh at me,
make them sorry for what they have done.
16 Lord, may those who come to you be very happy,
because you have saved them.
They should never stop saying,
‘Praise the Lord!’
17 But I am poor and weak, my Lord.
Please continue to think about me.
You are the one who helps me and who saves me.
My God, come quickly to help me!
David wrote this special song for the music leader. He must use stringed instruments. It was when the men of Ziph went to Saul and they said, ‘David is hiding with us.’
God keeps me safe[a]
54 God, you are great, so please help me!
Use your power to show that I am right.
2 God, hear my prayer,
and listen carefully to what I am saying.
3 Strangers are attacking me!
Cruel people want to kill me.
They do not respect you, God.[b]
Selah.
4 But I know that God is the one who gives me help.
My Lord takes care of me.
5 Pay back my enemies with their own evil.
Please do what you have promised
and destroy them.
6 I choose to offer a sacrifice to thank you.
Lord, you are always good,
so I want to praise your name.
7 Yes, God has saved me from all my trouble.
When I looked at my enemies,
I see that I have won against them.[c]
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.
Please forgive me, Lord[a]
51 Please forgive me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Because you are so kind,
please clean away my sins.
2 I have done bad things,
so wash me to make me clean again.[b]
3 I know that I have not obeyed you.
I cannot forget that I am guilty.
4 It is you that I have done bad things against,
only you![c]
I have done things that are evil,
as you know.
And so you are fair when you speak against me.
You are right when you say that I am guilty.
5 Yes, even from the day I was born
I have done bad things.
I have always been guilty of sin.
6 But you want me to be completely good and honest.
You want to teach me to be wise
in the way that I live.
7 Splash water over me with a hyssop plant,
and I will be really clean.[d]
Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.[e]
8 Please forgive me so that I can be happy.
Then my whole body will feel well again.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Clean away all the bad things that I have done.[f]
10 God, please make my heart new and clean.
And make my spirit strong and true,
deep inside me.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me joy again,
because you have made me safe.
Make me strong and ready to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways
to people who have turned against you.
Then sinners will turn back
and they will obey you.
14 God, I am guilty of murder.
Please forgive me!
You are the one who saves me.
When you rescue me,
I will sing aloud about your righteousness.
15 My Lord, help me to speak,
and then I will praise you.
16 I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you,
but that is not what you really want.
You do not want a burnt offering from me.
17 You want me to be humble and sorry.
That is the sacrifice that you want.
When people are humble
and they turn away from their sins,
you will not refuse them.
18 God, please be kind and help Zion.
Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.
19 Then you will accept our proper sacrifices.
Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals
will make you happy.
Once again, people will offer bulls to you,
on your altar.[g]
Harvest gifts
26 You will soon go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It will belong to you as your home. 2 This is what you must do the first time that the land provides food for you: At harvest time, when you bring in your crops, put some in a basket. Take it to the special place that the Lord your God will choose for people to worship him. 3 Go to the priest who has authority at that time. Say to him, ‘Today, I say to the Lord our God that I am now living in the land that he promised to us. He made that promise to our ancestors.’
4 Then the priest will take the basket from you. He will put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must say this, so that the Lord your God hears you: ‘My ancestor was an Aramean who moved from place to place. He went to Egypt to live there as a foreigner. At that time, his family was small. But while he lived in Egypt, his family became a great nation of many powerful people. 6 But the Egyptian people were cruel to us. They made us work very hard for them. 7 So we prayed to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He heard our prayers. He saw that we were in trouble. He saw that we had to do very hard work for cruel people. 8 So the Lord used his great strength and power to bring us out of Egypt. He did powerful miracles which caused the Egyptians to be afraid. 9 Then he brought us to this place. He gave us this land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. 10 So now I am bringing the first food that has grown in my fields. You, Lord, have given it to me.’
Then you must put the basket down in front of the Lord's altar. Worship him there. 11 In that way, you will enjoy a meal to say ‘thank you’ for all the good things that the Lord your God has given to you and your family. Share your meal with the Levites and the foreign people who live among you.
Paul is sending Titus to Corinth
16 Titus wants to help you just as much as we do. We thank God that he has made Titus ready to do that. 17 He was very happy when we asked him to come to you. He himself already wanted to help you. So he really decided to visit you for himself. 18 We are sending another man with Titus. He is also a believer. The Christians in all the other churches praise this man. They say that he works hard to tell people the good news about Christ. 19 Those Christians in the other churches have also chosen this man to travel with us. They want him to help us when we take this gift. Our work will show that the Lord is great. It will also show that we are ready to help.
20 We want to be very careful about this large gift of money. That is why the other believer will come with us. We do not want anyone to say that we have done something wrong. 21 Our purpose is to do only what is right. We want the Lord to see that, and people must see it as well.[a]
22 We will also send another believer along with the other men. This man has always shown us that we can trust him. He has wanted to help in many different ways. Now that he is very sure about you, he wants to help even more.
23 As for Titus himself, he works along with me, to help you. The other believers are coming on behalf of the churches that sent them. They want to show that Christ is great. 24 So show these men that you love them. Then all the churches will be sure about you. They will know that we were right to be proud of you.
Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying
9 Jesus told a story to teach other people. These people thought that they were very good in front of God. They thought that they were much better than other people.
10 Jesus said, ‘One day, two men went into the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee. The other man took taxes from people. 11 The Pharisee stood there by himself. He prayed like this: “Thank you, God, that I am different from all these other people. They are bad people. They rob other people. They have sex with women who are not their wife. Thank you, God, that I am not like this man who takes taxes on behalf of the government. 12 I fast for two days of each week. I give to you one tenth of all the things and money that I receive.”
13 But the other man stood far away. He would not even look up towards heaven. He was hitting his body with his hands to show how sorry he was. He prayed like this: “Please, God, be kind to me. I have done many bad things.” ’
14 Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
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