Book of Common Prayer

This is a song that David wrote.

A prayer for help in trouble^[a]

This is a song that David wrote.

The leader must use the music ‘Death of the son.’

A song to thank God^[a]

David wrote this song.

How may we worship God?

³² Foreigners, who do not belong to your people, the Israelites, will hear how great you are. They will hear about you and your power to do great things. Then they will come here from other countries far away. They will turn towards this temple and pray to you. ³³ When that happens, please hear them from your home in heaven. Please answer all the prayers of these foreign people. Then people from all the nations in the world will realize how great you are. They also will respect you and obey you, as your own people do. They will understand that this temple that I have built belongs to you.

³⁴ Sometimes, your people will go to fight against their enemies at the place where you have sent them. Then they may turn towards this city and pray to you. This is the city that you have chosen for me to build the temple to give you honour. ³⁵ When they pray to you, please hear them from your home in heaven. Do what is right to help them win against their enemies.

³⁶ There is nobody who never does a wrong thing. So when your people do not obey you, you will be angry with them. You will put them under the power of their enemies. Those enemies will take them away as their prisoners. Perhaps they will take them to a country that is far away. Perhaps it will be near. ³⁷ Then your people may think about the bad things that they have done. While they are prisoners in their enemies' country, they may be sorry about their sins. They may pray to you and ask you to forgive them. They may say, “We have turned away from God and we have done wicked things.” ³⁸ In the country where they are prisoners, they may turn back to you and worship you truly. They may turn towards this land that you gave to their ancestors. They may pray as they look towards this city that you have chosen. They may look towards the temple that I have built to give you honour. ³⁹ If they do that, please hear them from your home in heaven. Please answer their prayers and do what is right to help them. Please forgive your people for all the sins that they have done against you.

⁴⁰ Now, my God, please watch over us. Please listen to the prayers that we are praying in this place.

⁴¹ Lord God, come now and stay here, in your home. Come into the temple with the Covenant Box that shows your great power. Bless your priests as they serve you. Cause your faithful people be happy because you do good things for them. ⁴² Lord God do not turn away from your special chosen king. Remember the faithful love that you promised to your servant David.’

The glory of the Lord fills the temple

7 When King Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven. It destroyed the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. The Lord's bright glory filled the temple. ² The priests could not go into the Lord's temple because the Lord's glory had completely filled it. ³ All the Israelites saw the fire come down. They also saw the Lord's glory above the temple. They went down on their knees on the flat stones of the yard, with their faces towards the ground. They worshipped the Lord and they thanked him. They said, ‘He is good. His faithful love continues for ever.’

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered 22,000 cows and 120,000 sheep and goats as sacrifices. In this way the king and all the people offered the temple as a gift to God. ⁶ The priests and the Levites stood in their places. The Levites held the musical instruments that King David had made to thank the Lord. They sang these words to praise the Lord: ‘His faithful love continues for ever.’ The priests stood on the other side and they made music with their trumpets. All the Israelites were standing up while this was happening.

⁷ On the same day, Solomon gave to the Lord the yard that was in front of the temple. He offered burnt offerings and grain offerings to the Lord. He also offered the fat from the friendship offerings there. The bronze altar that Solomon had made was too small to contain all these offerings, so he made these sacrifices in the middle of the yard instead.

Every person has equal value

2 My Christian friends, you must be kind to everyone. You trust the Lord Jesus Christ, who is great in heaven. So do not think that anyone is more valuable than any other person.

² When you are meeting together as believers, maybe two men will come to join with you. One of them is wearing beautiful clothes, and he has gold rings on his hands. The other man is poor, and he is wearing old clothes that are dirty. ³ You are kind to the man who is wearing beautiful clothes. You say to him, ‘Please sit here in this good place.’ But you say to the poor man, ‘Go and stand over there.’ Or you may say to him, ‘Sit on the floor near my feet.’ ⁴ If you do that, you are thinking bad thoughts. You have decided that one person among you is better than another person. You must not do that.

⁵ My Christian friends, listen to me. God has chosen to bless people who are poor in this world. He has helped them to trust him. So really they are rich. God will give to them a place in his kingdom. He has promised to do that for all people who love him. ⁶ But you have not been kind to people who are poor. You have caused them to feel ashamed. Who causes you to have troubles? It is the rich people! They are the people who want the judges to punish you. ⁷ It is the rich people who say bad things against the good name of Jesus Christ. And you are called Christians because you belong to him.

⁸ But the message of God's kingdom is this: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’ That is what the Bible says. If you really do that, you do well. ⁹ But if you are kind to some people and you are not kind to others, then you are doing a bad thing. God's Law shows that you are wrong. ¹⁰ Even if you fail to obey only one rule in God's Law, it means that you are guilty. It is the same as if you fail to obey all God's Law. ¹¹ For example, God has said in his Law, ‘You must not have sex with anyone who is not your husband or your wife.’ But God has also said, ‘Do not kill another person.’ Perhaps you do not have sex in a wrong way like that. But if you then murder someone, God's Law shows that you are still wrong.

¹² Remember that God will judge you one day. When he does that, he will use a law which makes us free. So remember this in everything that you say and in everything that you do. ¹³ God will not forgive anyone who has not forgiven other people. But God is kind! He judges us, but even more than that, he forgives us!

The most important priest asks Jesus questions

⁵³ The men took Jesus to the house of the most important priest. All the leaders of the priests met together there with the important Jews and with the teachers of God's Law.^[a]

⁵⁴ Peter followed Jesus into the yard of Caiaphas's house. But he did not go near Jesus. He sat down in the yard with the guards and he made himself warm by the fire.

⁵⁵ The leaders of the priests and all the Jewish leaders wanted to punish Jesus with death. So they tried to find some people who would say things against Jesus. But they did not find anyone who could help them. ⁵⁶ Many people said things against Jesus that were not true. But they did not agree with each other in what they said.^[b]

⁵⁷ Then some men stood up and they said something false against Jesus. ⁵⁸ They said, ‘We heard Jesus say, “I will destroy the temple, which men have built. In three days I will build another House for God. It will not be people who build this new house.” ’ ⁵⁹ Even then, these people who were speaking against Jesus did not say the same thing.

⁶⁰ Then Caiaphas stood up in front of everyone. He said to Jesus, ‘You must reply now to what these men have said against you. Are the things that they are saying true?’ ⁶¹ But Jesus did not reply. He did not say anything.

So again, Caiaphas asked Jesus, ‘Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’

⁶² ‘I am,’ Jesus replied. ‘And you will all see the Son of Man. He will be sitting in the most important place at the right side of the Most Powerful God. You will see him coming to earth. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky.’

⁶³ Then Caiaphas tore his clothes to show that he was angry.^[c] ‘We do not need anyone else to speak against Jesus,’ he said. ⁶⁴ ‘You have heard the bad words that he has spoken against God. Do you think that he is guilty?’

Everyone agreed that Jesus deserved to die.

⁶⁵ Then some of the men began to spit on Jesus. They covered his eyes with a cloth and they hit him many times with their fists. They said, ‘Show us that you are a prophet! Tell us who hit you!’ Then the guards took hold of Jesus and they beat him.