Book of Common Prayer
This is a special song that Ethan the Ezrahite wrote.
God's special love[a]
89 I will always sing about the Lord's faithful love.
I will tell my children and my grandchildren
that you are always faithful.
2 Yes! Your faithful love will always continue to be strong.
You will always be faithful,
as the skies will always be there.
3 The Lord has said,
‘I have made a covenant with the king that I chose.
I have made this strong promise to my servant David:
4 “Someone from your family will always be king.
They will rule for ever.” ’
Selah.
5 Lord, everything in heaven praises you
for the great things that you have done.
Yes, your angels meet together to praise you,
because you are always faithful.
6 In all the heavens,
there is no one like you, Lord!
No angel in heaven is equal to you.
7 When the angels meet together in heaven,
they respect you with fear.
All who meet round your throne in heaven respect you,
as you deserve.
8 Lord God Almighty,
no one is as powerful as you!
You are always faithful in all that you do!
9 You rule over the powerful sea.
When the waves rise up,
you make them quiet again.
10 You caught the monster Rahab
and you killed it!
With your power,
you chased away your enemies.
11 The heavens belong to you
and so does the earth.
You made the world
and everything that is in it.
12 You made everything,
from the north to the south.
Tabor and Hermon are happy to praise your name.[b]
13 You have great strength,
and you can do great things.
You hold up your right hand,
as you win against your enemies.
14 As King, you rule with justice,
and you always do what is right.
You show your faithful love and you are faithful.
15 You have truly blessed the people
who know how to praise you, Lord.
They know that you are pleased with them.
16 They praise your name all the time.
Your justice makes them happy.
17 You give strength and glory to your people.
Because you are kind to us,
we win against our enemies.
18 Yes! Our king belongs to the Lord,
and he protects us like a shield.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
God's covenant with David
19 A long time ago, Lord,
you spoke to your servants.
In a vision, you said to them,
‘I have helped a brave soldier to be strong.
I have chosen as king
a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have poured my special oil on him,
to make him king.
21 I will help him with my power,
so that he is strong.
22 No enemy will win against him.
No cruel people will have power to hurt him.
23 I will destroy his enemies in front of him
I will kill those who hate him.
24 I will always be faithful
and show him my faithful love.
By my name he will win against his enemies.
25 I will cause his kingdom to reach
beyond the sea and the rivers.
26 The king will say to me, “You are my Father.
You are my God.
You protect me and you rescue me.”
27 Also, I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will always love him with my faithful love.
I will never change the covenant
that I have made with him.
29 Someone from his family will always be king.
They will rule for ever,
as long as there are skies above us.
30-31 But I will punish his descendants,
if they do not accept my laws.
If they do not obey my teaching, my rules, or my commands,
32 I will punish them.
Because of their sins,
I will give them much pain.
33 But I will not take my faithful love away from David.
I will always be faithful,
and I will do what I have promised to him.
34 I will not spoil the covenant that I have made with him.
I will always keep my promises.
35 I made that promise to David at one time,
and that will not change.
I promised him by my holy name
and I will never deceive him.
36 His descendants will always rule.
His kingdom will continue to be there for ever,
as long as the sun shines.
37 As the moon is always there in the sky,
to show that God is faithful,
David's kingdom will also continue.’
Selah.
A sad song
38 But now you have turned against your king.
You have become angry with the king that you have chosen.
39 You have spoiled the covenant
that you made with your servant.
You have thrown his crown into the dirt.
40 You have knocked down all the walls of his city.
You have destroyed all his strong places.
41 Every stranger robs him of his things.
His neighbours laugh at him.
42 You have made his enemies strong,
so that they win against him and they are happy.
43 You have made his weapons useless,
so that he cannot beat his enemies in war.
44 You have taken away his authority as king.
You have knocked down his throne to the ground.
45 He no longer has the strength of a young man.
You have dressed him in clothes of shame.
Selah.
46 Lord, how long will this continue?
Will you hide yourself from us for ever?
Will your anger continue to burn like a fire?
47 Remember that my life is very short!
People are weak and their lives seem useless.
Why do you make people like that?
48 Nobody can continue to live and never die.
Nobody can escape from the power of death.
49 My Lord, where is the faithful love
that you showed to us in past times?
Where are the blessings that you promised to David?
50 My Lord, look at how people are insulting me!
People from all nations laugh at me, your servant.
51 Lord, your enemies insult the king that you have chosen.
Wherever I go, they insult me!
52 Praise the Lord as he deserves!
Yes! Amen! We agree!
Absalom kills Amnon
23 Two years later, Absalom's men were cutting the wool from his sheep. They were in Baal Hazor, near to Ephraim's land. Absalom asked all the king's sons to meet him there. 24 Then he went to the king and he said, ‘My men have started to cut the wool from my sheep. Please will your and your officers come and join us at this happy time?’
25 King David replied to Absalom, ‘No, my son, we should not all go. It would cause you too much trouble.’
Absalom asked him again, but the king still refused to go. Instead, he asked God to bless Absalom.
26 So Absalom said, ‘If you will not come with me, please let my brother Amnon come.’
The king said, ‘Why do you want him to go with you?’ 27 But Absalom asked the king more strongly. So the king agreed to send Amnon and all his other sons.
28 Absalom then told his servants, ‘When Amnon has drunk a lot of wine I will tell you, “Knock him down!” Then you must kill him immediately. Do not be afraid. I am the one who is commanding you to do this. So be strong and brave.’
29 So Absalom's men killed Amnon, as Absalom had told them to do. Then all the king's other sons got on their mules. They quickly rode away.
30 While they were still on the way home, David heard news about what had happened. Someone told him, ‘Absalom has attacked all the king's sons. Not one son is still alive.’ 31 The king was very upset. He stood up and he tore his clothes. Then he lay down on the ground. All his servants were standing around him. They had torn their clothes, too.
32 But Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah, said, ‘My lord, do not think that they have killed all your sons. Only Amnon is dead. Absalom has decided to do this since Amnon brought shame on his sister Tamar. 33 My lord the king, you should not believe the report that all your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.’
34 While this was happening, Absalom had run away.
There was an officer standing on the wall of Jerusalem to watch. When he looked, he saw a big group of people who were coming from the west. They were coming down the hill on the road from Horonaim. He went to the king and he told him the news.
35 Jonadab said to the king, ‘See, the king's sons are coming now, as I said they would.’
36 As he said that, the king's sons arrived. They were weeping loudly. The king and all his servants were also weeping. King David continued to weep for his son Amnon every day.
37 Absalom ran away to Ammihud's son, Talmai, the king of Geshur. 38 He stayed in Geshur for three years.
39 By this time, King David had stopped being so upset about Amnon's death. He wanted very much to see Absalom again.
Paul meets with the leaders of the believers
17 When we were in Miletus, Paul sent someone to Ephesus with a message. This message was for the leaders of the believers in Ephesus. Paul asked them to come to Miletus to meet him there. 18 When they arrived, Paul said to them, ‘You yourselves know about everything that I did here in Asia. You saw how I lived from the first day that I arrived in this region. I was with you for the whole time. 19 I did not say that I was an important man. Instead, I worked as a servant of the Lord Jesus. I often was sad because of trouble that came to me. Some Jewish people spoke against my message. They wanted to hurt me. 20 But I have not been afraid to teach God's message. I have taught you everything that would help you. I have done this outside for everyone to hear. I have also taught you in your own homes. 21 I have taught the same things both to Jewish people and to Gentiles. I have said clearly to them all, “You must stop doing wrong things. Change the way that you live and turn to God. Believe in our Lord Jesus.”
22 Now I am going to Jerusalem. God's Holy Spirit has shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me there. 23 But I do know that much trouble will come to me. The Holy Spirit has told me about that. He said to me, “People will put you in prison and they will hurt you.” 24 But even if people kill me, this is not important to me. The Lord Jesus gave me some work to do. It is important that I finish his work. I must tell people the good news about how kind and good God is.
25 I have lived among you and I have taught you all about the kingdom of God. But now I know that none of you will see me again. 26 So I want to say this clearly to you today. If any of you have not believed in Jesus, it is not because of me. 27 I have told you everything that God wants you to know. 28 You who are leaders should be careful about how you live. Also take care of the group of people that the Holy Spirit has chosen you to lead. Keep them safe like shepherds who take care of their sheep. All the believers belong to God because his Son, Jesus, died for them. He bought them with his blood which poured out on the cross.
29 I know that trouble will come to you after I leave. Bad people will come to teach you. They will cause trouble for the believers, like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep. 30 Even men from your own group of believers will teach things that are not true. They want to deceive other believers, so that they leave you and join with them. 31 So be very careful! For three years I taught you, in the day and in the night. I warned you to be careful, so that I even cried about it.
32 Now I ask God to keep you safe. I brought God's message to you, which tells us how kind he is. That message will cause you to be strong. As a result, God will give to you all the good things that he has for his own special people. 33 When I stayed among you, I did not ask you to give me money or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my hands. I did that to get money. Then my friends and I could have the things that we needed. 35 In this way I have shown you how you should live. You should work well so that you may help sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’
36 Then Paul finished speaking. He went down on his knees together with the leaders of the believers. He prayed with them all. 37 They all cried a lot, because Paul wanted to leave them. They hugged him and they kissed him to say ‘goodbye’. 38 They were very sad because Paul had said, ‘I will never see you again.’
After that, they walked with Paul to the ship.
42 A person who believes in me may not seem important. But you should never make that person do wrong things. Do not do that! It would be better if someone tied a big stone around your neck and then he threw you into the sea!
43-44 If your hand causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off.[a] You will only have one hand, but you can have God's true life. It will be much worse for you if you keep both your hands and go to hell. There, the fire always burns and never stops. 45-46 If your foot causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off. You will only have one foot, but you can have God's true life. It will be much worse if you keep your two feet and go to hell. 47 If your eye causes you to do wrong things, then you should remove it. Then you will only have one eye, but you can go into the kingdom of God. It will be much worse if you keep both your eyes and God throws you into hell.
49 God will put fire on everybody, as people put salt on food.[d] 50 Salt is good. But if your salt is not salty any more, you cannot make it salty again. You should be like good salt and love each other. Do not cause trouble among yourselves.’
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