Book of Common Prayer
This is a song that David wrote.
A prayer for help in trouble[a]
25 Lord, I offer myself to you.
2 I trust in you, my God.
Please do not let me be ashamed.
Do not let my enemies laugh at me,
because they are stronger than me.
3 Surely nobody who trusts in you
will become ashamed.
But those who like to deceive others
will become ashamed.
4 Lord, help me to understand your ways.
Teach me your good paths.[b]
5 Please be my guide and teach me your truth.
I trust you every day,
because you are the God who keeps me safe.
6 Lord, please be kind to me
and show me your faithful love.
From long ago you have always been like that.
7 Do not punish me for the sins that I did long ago.
When I was young, I turned against you.
Please be kind to me, because of your faithful love!
8 The Lord is good and he does what is right.
Because of that, he teaches sinners the right way to live.
9 He is a guide for humble people,
so that they know what is right.
He teaches them to follow his way.
10 The Lord is kind to his people
in everything that he does.
He shows his faithful love
to those who obey the rules of his covenant.
11 Lord, my sins are very many.
Please forgive me,
and show that your name is great.
12 If people respect the Lord,
the Lord will show them the right way to live.
13 People like that will enjoy a good life.
The land will belong to their descendants.
14 The Lord is a guide for those who serve him.
He teaches them to obey his covenant.
15 I always look to the Lord for help.
He will keep me safe from my enemies,
so that their traps do not catch me.
16 Please turn towards me, Lord,
and be kind to me.
I feel very weak and lonely.
17 I worry a lot about my troubles.
Please rescue me from them!
18 Look at all my pain!
See how I am suffering!
Forgive me for all my sins.
19 Look at all my enemies!
There are very many of them!
They hate me so much
that they want to hurt me.
20 Keep my life safe and take care of me.
I have come to you to keep me safe,
so do not let me be ashamed.
21 I trust you to save me.
Please take care of me,
because I am honest and good.
22 God, save Israel's people from all their troubles!
This is a song that David wrote.
The leader must use the music ‘Death of the son.’
A song to thank God[a]
9 All that I am says ‘thank you’ to the Lord.
I will tell people about all the great things that you have done.
2 I will be very happy because of you.
I will sing to praise your name, Most High God.
3 Because my enemies have seen your power,
they turned back and they fell down.
You won against them.
4 You showed that I was right.
You sat on your throne
as a judge who truly decides what is right.
5 Clearly you spoke against the nations.
You destroyed the wicked people,
so that nobody will remember them ever again.
6 Down came the cities of our enemies!
You destroyed them for ever.
People will just forget them.
7 Every day the Lord will rule as king.
He sits on his throne as judge.
8 He is fair when he judges all the people in the world.
He brings justice to all the nations.
9 For people who suffer, the Lord gives them a safe place.
When trouble comes to them, he keeps them safe.
10 Everyone who knows you, Lord, trusts in you.
You will never turn away from anyone who comes to you for help.
11 Give a song to the Lord to praise him!
He rules as king in Zion.
Tell all the nations about the great things that he has done.
12 God punishes murderers,
and he takes care of people who receive pain from others.
When they call to him,
he does not refuse to help them.
13 How my enemies cause me to suffer!
Please be kind to me, Lord.
You are the one who can save me from death.
14 Then I will praise you for everyone to hear!
I will tell the people of Zion that you have saved me,
and I will be very happy!
15 Into the deep hole that they dug,
the nations themselves fell.
The net that they hid to catch me,
caught their own feet!
16 The Lord has shown us who he is.
We know that he brings justice.
Wicked people will catch themselves
in their own traps.
Higgaion.[b] Selah.
17 Justice sends the wicked people away,
into the deep hole of death.
This will happen to all the nations
that do not respect God.
18 Know this: God will not forget the poor for ever.
People who suffer should continue to hope.
19 Lord, stand up!
Do not let people turn against you!
Bring the nations to stand in front of you.
Judge them!
20 Lord, make them afraid!
Make the nations know
that they are only weak and human.
Selah.
David wrote this song.
How may we worship God?
15 Lord, who may stay with you,
in your own home?
Who may live there,
on your holy hill?[a]
2 It is the person who does only things that are right.
It is the person who lives in a completely good way,
and who speaks only what he knows is true.
3 He says nothing bad against other people.
He does nothing that will hurt his friends,
nor does he insult them.
4 He does not respect wicked people,
but he does respect people who serve the Lord.
When he promises to do something,
he always does it.
5 He lends his money to help other people,
and he does not ask for more money in return.
He does not accept a bribe,
to speak against people who have done nothing wrong.
People who live in this way will always be safe.
5 David did whatever Saul asked him to do. And he always did it well. So Saul made David an officer to lead his army. That made the soldiers happy, and it also pleased Saul's officers.
6 After David had killed the Philistine, Goliath, he and the soldiers returned to their homes. Women came out from all the towns in Israel to meet King Saul. The women were happy as they sang songs and they danced. They made music with tambourines and lyres. 7 They sang this song while they danced:
‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies.
And David has killed tens of thousands of his enemies.’
8 Saul did not like this song. He became very angry. He thought, ‘The women say that David has killed tens of thousands of men. But they say that I have only killed thousands of men. They will soon want David to be their king.’
9 After that, Saul was jealous of David and he watched David carefully.
10 The next day God caused an evil spirit to come and control Saul. Saul started to prophesy in his house. David was making music on his harp as he did every day. Saul had a spear in his hand. 11 He threw the spear at David. He thought, ‘I will hit David so that it fixes him to the wall.’ He tried to do this twice, but David moved out of the way.
12 The Lord was with David. But the Lord had left Saul. So Saul was afraid of David. 13 So Saul sent David away from him. He made David the leader of 1,000 soldiers. David led the soldiers into battles, but he always came back again.[a] 14 David won all his fights because the Lord was with him. 15 Saul saw that David was a great soldier. So he became more afraid of David. 16 All the people in Israel and Judah loved David because he led the army in their battles.
27 David and his men left their homes. They went and they killed 200 Philistines. David brought all their foreskins to Saul. David gave them to Saul so that he could marry the king's daughter. So Saul agreed to let David marry his daughter Michal.
28 Saul realized that the Lord was with David. He knew that his daughter Michal loved David. 29 So Saul became even more afraid of David. Saul was David's enemy for the rest of his life.
30 The Philistine army continued to march out and attack the Israelites. Every time that they fought, David won more fights than any of Saul's other officers. So David became very famous.
The believers go to Antioch
19 After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.
20 Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.
22 The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. 23 Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’
24 Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.
27 During this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of these men was called Agabus. The Holy Spirit gave him a message from God. He stood up and he said to the people there, ‘Soon people will be very hungry all over the world because there will be no food.’ (That happened when Claudius ruled the Roman world.)[a]
29 The believers in Antioch wanted to help the other believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided how much of their own money they could give. 30 Then they gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul took this gift to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem.
Jesus makes many people well
29 Then Jesus left the meeting place. He took James and John with him to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 The mother of Simon's wife was ill in bed. Her body was very hot. Immediately, Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her. 31 So Jesus went to her and he held her hand. Then he helped her to sit up and she was well again. Immediately she prepared food for her visitors.
32-33 That evening, when the sun had gone down, people in the town came to Jesus.[a] They brought to him everyone who was ill. And they brought people with bad spirits in them. All these people were standing together near the door of the house. 34 Jesus caused many sick people to become well. They had many different kinds of illness. He also caused many bad spirits to leave people. The spirits knew who he was. So Jesus did not let them speak.
Jesus prays alone in a quiet place
35 Jesus got up very early the next morning, while it was still dark. He went to a place where he could be alone. He prayed there. 36 Simon and the other disciples went to look for him. 37 When they found him, they said, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’
38 Jesus replied, ‘We should go to other towns near here. Then I can teach the people there too. That is the reason why I came here.’ 39 So Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He caused bad spirits to come out of people.
A man with a disease in his skin
40 One day, a man who had a disease of the skin came to Jesus. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus. The man said. ‘If you want, you can make me well. Please do it.’
41 Jesus felt very sorry for the man. He put out his hand towards the man and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you,’ Jesus said, ‘Be clean again!’ 42 Immediately, the disease left the man.
43 Jesus sent the man away immediately and he spoke to the man with strong words. 44 He said, ‘Listen to me. Do not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take him a gift for God. Moses' law tells you what you should give when you are clean again after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’ 45 But instead, the man went away and he talked to everybody. He told them what had happened to him. Because he did this, it became too difficult for Jesus to go into the towns. Everybody knew him. So Jesus stayed in places in the wilderness. People came from all the places around there to see him.
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