Book of Common Prayer
For the director of music. A psalm of David to be played on flutes.
5 Lord, listen to my words.
Pay attention when I mourn.
2 My King and my God,
hear me when I cry for help.
I pray to you.
3 Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
In the morning I pray to you.
I wait for you in hope.
4 For you, God, aren’t happy with anything that is evil.
Those who do what is wrong can’t live where you are.
5 Those who are proud can’t stand in front of you.
You hate everyone who does what is evil.
6 You destroy those who tell lies.
Lord, you hate murderers and those who cheat others.
7 Because of your great love
I can come into your house.
With deep respect I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lord, I have many enemies.
Lead me in your right path.
Make your way smooth and straight for me.
9 Not a word from their mouths can be trusted.
Their hearts are filled with a desire to hurt others.
Their throats are like open graves.
With their tongues they tell lies.
10 God, show that they are guilty.
Let their evil plans bring them down.
Send them away because of their many sins.
They have refused to obey you.
11 But let all those who go to you for safety be glad.
Let them always sing for joy.
Spread your cover over them and keep them safe.
Then those who love you will be glad because of you.
12 Surely, Lord, you bless those who do what is right.
Like a shield, your loving care keeps them safe.
For the director of music. According to sheminith. A psalm of David to be played on stringed instruments.
6 Lord, don’t correct me when you are angry.
Don’t punish me when you are very angry.
2 Lord, have mercy on me. I’m so weak.
Lord, heal me. My body is full of pain.
3 My soul is very troubled.
Lord, how long will it be until you save me?
4 Lord, turn to me and help me.
Save me. Your love never fails.
5 Dead people can’t call out your name.
How can they praise you when they are in the grave?
6 My groaning has worn me out.
All night long my tears flood my bed.
My bed is wet because of my crying.
7 I’m so sad I can’t see very well.
My eyesight gets worse because of all my enemies.
8 Get away from me, all you who do evil.
The Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for his mercy.
The Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be covered with shame and trouble.
They will turn back in shame. It will happen suddenly.
10 Lord, why are you so far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 An evil person is proud and hunts down those who are weak.
He catches weak people by making clever plans.
3 He brags about what his heart desires.
He speaks well of those who always want more.
He attacks the Lord with his words.
4 Because he is proud, that evil person doesn’t turn to the Lord.
There is no room for God in any of his thoughts.
5 Everything always goes well for him.
So he is proud.
He doesn’t want to have anything to do with God’s laws.
He makes fun of all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “I will always be secure.”
He promises himself, “No one will ever harm me.”
7 His mouth is full of lies and warnings.
With his tongue he speaks evil and makes trouble.
8 Sinful people hide and wait near the villages.
From their hiding places they murder people who aren’t guilty.
They watch in secret for those they want to attack.
9 They hide and wait like a lion in the bushes.
From their hiding places they wait to catch those who are helpless.
They catch them and drag them off in their nets.
10 Those they have attacked are beaten up. They fall to the ground.
They fall because their attackers are too strong for them.
11 Sinful people say to themselves, “God will never notice.
He covers his face. He never sees us.”
12 Lord, rise up! God, show your power!
Don’t forget those who are helpless.
13 Why do sinful people attack you with their words?
Why do they say to themselves,
“He won’t hold us accountable”?
14 God, you see the problems of people in trouble.
You take note of their pain. You do something about it.
So those who are attacked place themselves in your care.
You help children whose fathers have died.
15 Take away the power of sinful people.
Hold them accountable for the evil things they do.
Uncover all the evil they have done.
16 The Lord is King for ever and ever.
The nations will disappear from his land.
17 Lord, you hear the desires of those who are hurting.
You cheer them up and give them hope.
You listen to their cries.
18 You stand up for those whose fathers have died
and for those who have been treated badly.
You do it so that mere human beings made of dust
may not terrify others anymore.
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
11 I run to the Lord for safety.
So how can you say to me,
“Fly away like a bird to your mountain.
2 Look! Evil people are bending their bows.
They are placing their arrows against the strings.
They are planning to shoot from the shadows
at those who have honest hearts.
3 When law and order are being destroyed,
what can godly people do?”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord is on his throne in heaven.
He watches everyone on earth.
His eyes study them.
5 The Lord watches over those who do what is right.
But he really hates sinful people and those who love to hurt others.
6 He will pour out flaming coals and burning sulfur
on those who do what is wrong.
A hot and dry wind will destroy them.
7 The Lord always does what is right.
So he loves it when people do what is fair.
Those who are honest will enjoy his blessing.
Adam and Eve Fall Into Sin
3 The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But God did say, ‘You must not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.’ ”
4 “You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “God knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will know things you have never known before. Like God, you will be able to tell the difference between good and evil.”
6 The woman saw that the tree’s fruit was good to eat and pleasing to look at. She also saw that it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it. 7 Then both of them knew things they had never known before. They realized they were naked. So they sewed together fig leaves and made clothes for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden. It was during the coolest time of the day. They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called out to the man. “Where are you?” he asked.
10 “I heard you in the garden,” the man answered. “I was afraid, because I was naked. So I hid.”
11 The Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “It’s the fault of the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman said, “The serpent tricked me. That’s why I ate the fruit.”
14 So the Lord God spoke to the serpent. He said, “Because you have done this,
“You are set apart from all livestock
and all wild animals.
I am putting a curse on you.
You will crawl on your belly.
You will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 I will make you and the woman hate each other.
Your children and her children will be enemies.
Her son will crush your head.
And you will bite his heel.”
16 The Lord God said to the woman,
“I will increase your pain when you give birth.
You will be in great pain when you have children.
You will long for your husband.
And he will rule over you.”
17 The Lord God said to Adam, “You listened to your wife’s suggestion. You ate fruit from the tree I warned you about. I said, ‘You must not eat its fruit.’
“So I am putting a curse on the ground because of what you did.
All the days of your life you will have to work hard.
It will be painful for you to get food from the ground. 18 You will eat plants from the field,
even though the ground produces thorns and prickly weeds.
19 You will have to work hard and sweat a lot
to produce the food you eat.
You were made out of the ground.
You will return to it when you die.
You are dust,
and you will return to dust.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve. She would become the mother of every living person.
21 The Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife to wear. 22 The Lord God said, “Just like one of us, the man can now tell the difference between good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out and pick fruit from the tree of life and eat it. If he does, he will live forever.” 23 So the Lord God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden. He sent the man to farm the ground he had been made from. 24 The Lord God drove him out and then placed angels on the east side of the garden. He also placed there a flaming sword that flashed back and forth. The angels and the sword guarded the way to the tree of life.
A Warning to Pay Attention
2 So we must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard. Then we will not drift away from it. 2 Even the message God spoke through angels had to be obeyed. Every time people broke the Law, they were punished. Every time they didn’t obey, they were punished. 3 Then how will we escape if we don’t pay attention to God’s great salvation? The Lord first announced this salvation. Those who heard him gave us the message about it. 4 God showed that this message is true by signs and wonders. He showed that it’s true by different kinds of miracles. God also showed that this message is true by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gave them out as it pleased him.
Jesus Was Made Fully Human
5 God has not put angels in charge of the world that is going to come. We are talking about that world. 6 There is a place where someone has spoken about this. He said,
“What are human beings that you think about them?
What is a son of man that you take care of him?
7 You made them a little lower than the angels.
You placed on them a crown of glory and honor.
8 You have put everything under their control.” (Psalm 8:4–6)
So God has put everything under his Son. Everything is under his control. We do not now see everything under his control. 9 But we do see Jesus already given a crown of glory and honor. He was made lower than the angels for a little while. He suffered death. By the grace of God, he tasted death for everyone. That is why he was given his crown.
10 God has made everything. He is now bringing his many sons and daughters to share in his glory. It is only right that Jesus is the one to lead them into their salvation. That’s because God made him perfect by his sufferings.
John the Baptist Says That He Is Not the Messiah
19 The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John who he was. John spoke the truth to them. 20 He did not try to hide the truth. He spoke to them openly. He said, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet we’ve been expecting?” they asked.
“No,” he answered.
22 They asked one last time, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied, using the words of Isaiah the prophet. John said, “I’m the messenger who is calling out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight.’ ” (Isaiah 40:3)
24 The Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you are not the Messiah, why are you baptizing people? Why are you doing that if you aren’t Elijah or the Prophet we’ve been expecting?”
26 “I baptize people with water,” John replied. “But someone is standing among you whom you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie his sandals.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. That was where John was baptizing.
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