Book of Common Prayer
The Word of God
ALEPH[a]
119 God has blessed people who always do what is right.
They obey the Lord's Law.
2 They agree to live by his rules.[b]
They love to pray to him.
God has blessed people like that.
3 Also, they do nothing that is wrong.
They live in a way that please the Lord.
4 You, Lord, have told us to obey your teaching carefully.
5 I want to be able to obey your laws all the time.
6 When I remember all your commands,
I will not be ashamed.
7 When I learn your good rules,
I will do what is right and I will thank you.
8 Yes, I will obey your laws.
Please do not turn away from me!
BETH
9 How can a young man live a clean life?
He must be careful to obey your message.
10 I bring all my thoughts to you.
Do not let me forget to obey your commands.
11 I always keep your message in my mind,
so that I do not do anything bad against you.
12 Lord, everyone should praise you!
Please teach me your laws.
13 You have taught us your rules.
I want to speak them aloud for others to hear.
14 Your rules give me a happy life.
When I obey them, it is better than being rich!
15 I want to think carefully about your teaching.
You have shown me the best way to live.
16 Your laws make me very happy.
I will not forget what you have taught me.
GIMEL
17 Please be kind to me, your servant.
Then I will live and I will obey your message.
18 Open my eyes wide!
Then I will see great things in your Law.
19 I live like a stranger here on the earth.
Please do not hide your commands from me.
20 I really want to obey your rules all the time.
I want that more than anything else.
21 You warn people who are proud.
If they turn away from your commands,
you will surely punish them.
22 I obey your rules.
So do not let people insult me,
so that I become ashamed.
23 Rulers may think of ways to hurt me.
But I will think carefully about your rules.
24 Yes, your laws make me really happy.
They show me the right way to live.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
A prayer for help
12 Lord, please help me!
All the good people have gone away!
No kind or faithful people remain.
2 Everybody tells lies to one another.
When they say nice things,
they do it to deceive their friends.
3 Lord, please shut their mouths!
When they deceive people or they boast,
stop them doing that!
4 They say:
‘Nobody can tell us what to do!
We will say what we like to get what we want!’
5 But the Lord says:
‘Now I will do something!
I know the cruel things that wicked people do to poor people.
When weak people cry with pain, I hear them.
So I will make them safe,
as they want me to do for them.’
6 The Lord's promises are true.
We can trust them,
because they are pure.
They are as pure as silver
that people have put in a hot fire seven times.[a]
7 Yes Lord, you will take care of the poor people.
You will always keep each one of them safe
from all those evil people.
8 But if people praise evil things,
then wicked people will boast more and more.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
A prayer for help[b]
13 Lord, will you forget about me for ever?
When will you remember to come and help me?
2 My thoughts make me worry all the time.
How long must I continue to be sad?
How long will my enemies continue to win against me?
3 Lord, please listen to me!
I feel that I am nearly dead.
Please give me the strength to live!
4 If I die, my enemies will say,
‘We have won against him!’
My enemies will be very happy if I fall.
5 But I will trust you because of your faithful love.
Please make me safe,
so that I can be happy and thank you.
6 Yes, I will sing to praise the Lord,
because he will surely help me.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
God rules the world
14 Only fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’
People like that do bad and evil things.
None of them do things that are good and right.
2 The Lord is looking down from heaven.
He looks at the people of the world,
to see if there are any wise people among them.
He looks to see if anyone wants to know God.
3 But everyone has turned away from God.
They have all become evil.
Not even one person does things that are right!
4 Will those evil people never learn?
They destroy my people,
as if they are eating a meal.
They never pray to the Lord.
5 Look at them! Now they are very afraid!
They see that God is with the people who obey him.
6 You wicked people tried to bring shame to poor people.
But the Lord keeps poor people safe.
7 The Lord is the one who can save Israel's people.
Please Lord, come now from your home in Zion!
When the Lord makes his people strong again,
Jacob's descendants will be happy!
Yes, Israel's people will shout with joy![c]
The Lord warns King Zedekiah
3 King Zedekiah sent a message to the prophet Jeremiah. He sent Shelemiah's son Jehucal, and Maaseiah's son Zephaniah, the priest, to deliver this message: ‘Please pray to the Lord our God for us.’
4 Jeremiah was a free man at this time. They had not yet put him in prison. He could go where he wanted among the people. 5 The army of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had marched out of Egypt. Babylon's soldiers who were attacking Jerusalem heard news about that. So they went away from Jerusalem.
6 Then the Lord gave this message to the prophet Jeremiah: 7 ‘The Lord, Israel's God, says: Go to the king of Judah, who sent you to ask for my help. Tell him, “Pharaoh's army marched out of Egypt to bring you help. But they will turn back and return to their own land, Egypt. 8 Then Babylon's army will return here. They will attack this city. They will take it for themselves. They will burn it completely.”
9 The Lord also says, “Do not deceive yourselves. Do not think that Babylon's soldiers will go away and leave you alone. They will not go away! 10 You might even win the fight against the whole army that is attacking you. There might be only a few of Babylon's soldiers who remain. You might have hurt them so much that they are lying down in their tents. But those weak men would still get up and attack this city. They would completely burn down this city.” ’
They put Jeremiah in prison
11 At that time, Babylon's army had gone away from Jerusalem because Pharaoh's army was coming. 12 So Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem. He wanted to go to the land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe. He wanted to receive his part of the land that belonged to his family. 13 He was going out through the Benjamin gate of the city. Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. Irijah was the captain of the guards at the gate. He took hold of Jeremiah. He said, ‘You are going out of the city to join Babylon's army!’ 14 Jeremiah said, ‘That is not true! I would never help the soldiers from Babylon.’ But Irijah would not listen to him. So he took Jeremiah to the king's officers as his prisoner. 15 The officers were very angry with Jeremiah. They beat him with a stick. They put him in a strong room of Jonathan's house. Jonathan was the king's secretary. They had made his house into a place to keep hold of prisoners.
16 They put Jeremiah in a small room in the ground under the house. He stayed there for a long time. 17 Then King Zedekiah told his officers to bring Jeremiah to the palace. When they were alone, the king asked him, ‘Do you have any message for me from the Lord?’
Jeremiah replied, ‘Yes, there is a message. Soldiers will put you under the power of the king of Babylon.’ 18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, ‘Why have your officers put me in prison? Do I deserve that? Have I done something bad against you, your officers or the people of Judah? 19 Your own prophets said that the king of Babylon would not attack you or the land of Judah. That was a lie, so what have you done to them? 20 Please help me now, my master, the king. Do not send me back to the house of your secretary Jonathan. If you do that, I will die there.’
21 Then King Zedekiah told his officers to put Jeremiah in the palace yard where the guards would watch him. He told them to get bread every day from the bakers in the city and give it to Jeremiah. They should do that until there was no more bread in the city.[a]
So they kept Jeremiah as prisoner in the palace yard with the royal guards.
13 So, if you speak a message in a different language, you should pray to God about it. Pray that you may be able to explain to people what the message means. 14 If I pray in a different language, only my spirit is praying. But I do not use my mind while I pray like that. 15 This is what I should do: I will not only pray with my spirit. I will also pray with my mind. I will sing to praise God with my spirit. And I will also do that with my mind. 16 If you are praising God only with your spirit, not everyone will understand. Believers who have not learned these things will not know what you are saying. They cannot agree and say ‘Amen’. 17 You may really be able to thank God very well in your spirit. But your words do not help those other believers to become strong.
18 I thank God that I speak in different kinds of languages more than all of you. 19 But when the church meets together, I want to help other believers and teach them. So I would rather say five words that people understand than thousands of words in a different language.
20 My Christian friends, do not continue to think like children think. Instead, think properly like men and women should think. The only way you should be like babies is to keep away from evil things. 21 This is written in the Bible:
‘I will send strangers to speak to my people.
They will speak my message to them in strange languages.
But even when I do this, my people will not listen to me.’
That is what the Lord God has said.[a]
22 So the gift to speak in different languages is like a sign. It shows God's power to people who do not believe in him. It is not a sign to help believers. But the gift to speak clear messages from God shows his power to believers. It is not a sign for those people who do not believe.
23 Think about what happens when the whole church meets together. Perhaps some people come in who do not believe in God. Or perhaps they have not learned much about God. If all of you are speaking in strange languages, those visitors would not understand. They would say that you are all crazy! 24 But if all of you are speaking clear messages from God, a visitor will understand you. He may not believe in God. He may not have learned much about God. But he will hear God's message. He will understand that he has done wrong things. He will know that God will judge him. He will learn this from what all of you are saying. 25 The visitor's secret thoughts will become clear. As a result, he will bend down to the ground and he will worship God. He will say, ‘God is really here among you!’
24 A student is not more important than his teacher is. A servant is not more important than his master is. 25 A student should be happy if he becomes like his teacher. A servant should be happy if he becomes like his master. People have called me, the master of the house, Beelzebul. You are like those people who live in my house. So do not be surprised when people call you even worse names than they call me.
26 So do not be afraid of these people. They hide the things that they do. But there will be a time when other people will see those things. Everyone will know all their secrets. 27 I tell you things secretly, like people do in the dark. But you must tell people these things clearly in the light of day. I have said things very quietly into your ears. But now you must shout those things loudly from the tops of the houses.[a]
28 Do not be afraid of those people who can kill only your body. These people cannot kill your soul. No, it is God that you should be afraid of. He can kill your body, and then he can also destroy your soul in hell. 29 Think about this. People sell two birds for just one small coin. But God takes care of these little birds. Not one of them can fall to the ground unless God lets it happen. 30 God even knows how many hairs there are on your head. 31 So do not be afraid of those people who are against you. You are more valuable to God than many little birds.
32 You should say clearly to other people, “I believe in Jesus.” If you do that, I will say to my Father in heaven, “This is someone who is my disciple.” 33 But if you say to other people, “I do not believe in Jesus,” I will then say to my Father in heaven, “I do not know that person. He is not one of my disciples.”
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