Book of Common Prayer
101 I will sing about your loving-kindness and your justice, Lord. I will sing your praises!
2 I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need your help, especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should.
3 Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them. 4 I will reject all selfishness and stay away from every evil. 5 I will not tolerate anyone who secretly slanders his neighbors; I will not permit conceit and pride. 6 I will make the godly of the land my heroes and invite them to my home. Only those who are truly good shall be my servants. 7 But I will not allow those who deceive and lie to stay in my house. 8 My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of God from their grip.
109 O God of my praise, don’t stand silent and aloof 2 while the wicked slander me and tell their lies. 3 They have no reason to hate and fight me, yet they do! 4 I love them, but even while I am praying for them, they are trying to destroy me. 5 They return evil for good, and hatred for love.
6 Show him how it feels![a] Let lies be told about him, and bring him to court before an unfair judge. 7 When his case is called for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins. 8 Let his years be few and brief; let others step forward to replace him. 9-10 May his children become fatherless and his wife a widow; may they be evicted from the ruins of their home. 11 May creditors seize his entire estate and strangers take all he has earned. 12-13 Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children. May they die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation. 14 Punish the sins of his father and mother. Don’t overlook them. 15 Think constantly about the evil things he has done, and cut off his name from the memory of man.
16 For he refused all kindness to others, and persecuted those in need, and hounded brokenhearted ones to death. 17 He loved to curse others; now you curse him. He never blessed others; now don’t you bless him. 18 Cursing is as much a part of him as his clothing, or as the water he drinks, or the rich food he eats.
19 Now may those curses return and cling to him like his clothing or his belt. 20 This is the Lord’s punishment upon my enemies who tell lies about me and threaten me with death.
21 But as for me, O Lord, deal with me as your child, as one who bears your name! Because you are so kind, O Lord, deliver me.
22-23 I am slipping down the hill to death; I am shaken off from life as easily as a man brushes a grasshopper from his arm. 24 My knees are weak from fasting, and I am skin and bones. 25 I am a symbol of failure to all mankind; when they see me they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God! Save me because you are loving and kind. 27 Do it publicly, so all will see that you yourself have done it. 28 Then let them curse me if they like—I won’t mind that if you are blessing me! For then all their efforts to destroy me will fail, and I shall go right on rejoicing!
29 Make them fail in everything they do. Clothe them with disgrace. 30 But I will give repeated thanks to the Lord, praising him to everyone.
121 Don’t leave me to the mercy of my enemies, for I have done what is right; I’ve been perfectly fair. 122 Commit yourself to bless me! Don’t let the proud oppress me! 123 My eyes grow dim with longing for you to fulfill your wonderful promise to rescue me. 124 Lord, deal with me in loving-kindness, and teach me, your servant, to obey; 125 for I am your servant; therefore give me common sense to apply your rules to everything I do.
126 Lord, it is time for you to act. For these evil men have violated your laws, 127 while I love your commandments more than the finest gold. 128 Every law of God is right, whatever it concerns. I hate every other way.
129 Your laws are wonderful; no wonder I obey them. 130 As your plan unfolds, even the simple can understand it. 131 No wonder I wait expectantly for each of your commands.
132 Come and have mercy on me as is your way with those who love you. 133 Guide me with your laws so that I will not be overcome by evil. 134 Rescue me from the oppression of evil men; then I can obey you. 135 Look down in love upon me and teach me all your laws. 136 I weep because your laws are disobeyed.
137 O Lord, you are just and your punishments are fair. 138 Your demands are just and right. 139 I am indignant and angry because of the way my enemies have disregarded your laws. 140 I have thoroughly tested your promises, and that is why I love them so much. 141 I am worthless and despised, but I don’t despise your laws.
142 Your justice is eternal for your laws are perfectly fair. 143 In my distress and anguish your commandments comfort me. 144 Your laws are always fair; help me to understand them, and I shall live.
21 So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back Absalom.”
22 Joab fell to the ground before the king and blessed him and said, “At last I know that you like me! For you have granted me this request!”
23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 “He may go to his own quarters,” the king ordered, “but he must never come here. I refuse to see him.”
25 Now no one in Israel was such a handsome specimen of manhood as Absalom, and no one else received such praise. 26 He cut his hair only once a year—and then only because it weighed three pounds and was too much of a load to carry around! 27 He had three sons and one daughter, Tamar, who was a very beautiful girl.
28 After Absalom had been in Jerusalem for two years and had not yet seen the king, 29 he sent for Joab to ask him to intercede for him; but Joab wouldn’t come. Absalom sent for him again, but again he refused to come.
30 So Absalom said to his servants, “Go and set fire to that barley field of Joab’s next to mine,” and they did.
31 Then Joab came to Absalom and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 And Absalom replied, “Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn’t intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me have an interview with the king; then if he finds that I am guilty of murder, let him execute me.”
33 So Joab told the king what Absalom had said. Then at last David summoned Absalom, and he came and bowed low before the king, and David kissed him.
15 So shortly afterwards we packed our things and left for Jerusalem. 16 Some disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and on arrival we were guests at the home of Mnason, originally from Cyprus, one of the early believers; 17 and all the believers at Jerusalem welcomed us cordially.
18 The second day Paul took us with him to meet with James and the elders of the Jerusalem church. 19 After greetings were exchanged, Paul recounted the many things God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his work.
20 They praised God but then said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they are all very insistent that Jewish believers must continue to follow the Jewish traditions and customs.[a] 21 Our Jewish Christians here at Jerusalem have been told that you are against the laws of Moses, against our Jewish customs, and that you forbid the circumcision of their children. 22 Now what can be done? For they will certainly hear that you have come.
23 “We suggest this: We have four men here who are preparing to shave their heads and take some vows. 24 Go with them to the Temple and have your head shaved too—and pay for theirs to be shaved.
“Then everyone will know that you approve of this custom for the Hebrew Christians and that you yourself obey the Jewish laws and are in line with our thinking in these matters.
25 “As for the Gentile Christians, we aren’t asking them to follow these Jewish customs at all—except for the ones we wrote to them about: not to eat food offered to idols, not to eat unbled meat from strangled animals, and not to commit fornication.”
26-27 So Paul agreed to their request and the next day went with the men to the Temple for the ceremony, thus publicizing his vow to offer a sacrifice seven days later with the others.
The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from Turkey saw him in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him,
17 As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running to him and knelt down and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get to heaven?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good! 19 But as for your question—you know the commandments: don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, respect your father and mother.”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve never once[a] broken a single one of those laws.”
21 Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. “You lack only one thing,” he told him; “go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor—and you shall have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”
22 Then the man’s face fell, and he went sadly away, for he was very rich.
23 Jesus watched him go, then turned around and said to his disciples, “It’s almost impossible for the rich to get into the Kingdom of God!”
24 This amazed them. So Jesus said it again: “Dear children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches[b] to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were incredulous! “Then who in the world can be saved, if not a rich man?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently, then said, “Without God, it is utterly impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
28 Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29 And Jesus replied, “Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything—home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or property—for love of me and to tell others the Good News, 30 who won’t be given back, a hundred times over, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—with persecutions!
“All these will be his here on earth, and in the world to come he shall have eternal life. 31 But many people who seem to be important now will be the least important then; and many who are considered least here shall be greatest there.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.