Book of Common Prayer
A maskil from Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing forever about the Lord’s love.
I will sing about his faithfulness forever and ever!
2 I will say, “Your faithful love will last forever.
Your loyalty is like the sky—there is no end to it!”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with my chosen king.
I made this promise to my servant David:
4 ‘There will always be someone from your family to rule.
I will make your kingdom continue forever and ever.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for the amazing things you do.
The assembly of holy ones sings about your loyalty.
6 No one in heaven is equal to the Lord.
None of the “gods” can compare to the Lord.
7 When God’s holy ones—the angels around his throne—meet together,
they fear and respect him;
he is more awesome than all those around him.
8 Lord God All-Powerful, there is no one like you.
You are strong, Lord, and always faithful.
9 You rule the stormy sea.
You can calm its angry waves.
10 You defeated Rahab.
You scattered your enemies with your own powerful arm.
11 Everything in heaven and earth belongs to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created everything north and south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing praises to your name.
13 You have the power!
Your power is great!
Victory is yours!
14 Your kingdom is built on truth and justice.
Love and faithfulness are servants before your throne.
15 Lord, your loyal followers are happy.
They live in the light of your kindness.
16 Your name always makes them happy.
They praise your goodness.
17 You are their amazing strength.
Their power comes from you.
18 The king, our protector, belongs to the Lord,
who is the Holy One of Israel.
19 Lord, you once spoke in a vision to your followers:
“I have made a young soldier strong.
From among my people I chose him for an important position.
20 I have found my servant David
and anointed him as king with my special oil.
21 I will support him with my right hand,
and my arm will make him strong.
22 So no enemy will ever control him.
The wicked will never defeat him.
23 I will destroy his enemies before his eyes.
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 I will always love and support him.
I will always make him strong.
25 I will put him in charge of the sea.
He will control the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father.
You are my God, my Rock, my Savior.’
27 And I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the great king on earth.
28 My love will protect him forever.
My agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue forever.
His kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 If his descendants stop following my law
and stop obeying my commands,
31 if they break my laws
and ignore my commands,
32 I will punish them severely
for their sins and wrongs.
33 But I will never take my love from him.
I will never stop being loyal to him.
34 I will not break my agreement with David.
I will never change what I said.
35 By my holiness, I made a promise to him,
and I would not lie to David.
36 His family will continue forever.
His kingdom will last as long as the sun.
37 Like the moon, it will continue forever.
The sky is a witness to the agreement that can be trusted.” Selah
38 But now, Lord, you have become angry with your chosen king,[a]
and you have left him all alone.
39 You ended the agreement you made with your servant.
You threw the king’s crown into the dirt.
40 You pulled down the walls of his city.
You destroyed all his fortresses.
41 Everyone passing by steals from him.
His neighbors laugh at him.
42 You made all the king’s enemies happy
and let his enemies win the war.
43 You helped them defend themselves.
You did not help your king win the battle.
44 You did not let him win.
You threw his throne to the ground.
45 You cut his life short.
You shamed him. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this continue?
Will you ignore us forever?
Will your anger burn like a fire forever?
47 Remember how short my life is.
You created us to live a short life and then die.
48 Is there anyone alive who will never die?
Will anyone escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is the love you showed in the past?
You promised David that you would be loyal to his family.
50-51 My Lord, please remember how people insulted your servant.
Lord, I had to listen to all the insults from your enemies.
They insulted your chosen king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen!
30 Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children. She became jealous of her sister Leah. So Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!”
2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I am not God. He is the one who has caused you to not have children.”
3 Then Rachel said, “You can have my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will have a child for me.[a] Then I can be a mother through her.”
4 So Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband Jacob. He had sexual relations with Bilhah. 5 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob.
6 Rachel said, “God has listened to my prayer. He decided to give me a son.” So she named this son Dan.[b]
7 Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, “I have fought hard to compete with my sister, and I have won.” So she named that son Naphtali.[c]
9 Leah saw that she could have no more children. So she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob. 10 Then Zilpah had a son. 11 Leah said, “I am lucky.” So she named the son Gad.[d] 12 Zilpah gave birth to another son. 13 Leah said, “I am very happy! Now women will call me happy.” So she named that son Asher.[e]
14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found some special flowers.[f] He brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s flowers.”
15 Leah answered, “You have already taken away my husband. Now you are trying to take away my son’s flowers.”
But Rachel answered, “If you will give me your son’s flowers, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”
16 Jacob came in from the fields that night. Leah saw him and went out to meet him. She said, “You will sleep with me tonight. I have paid for you with my son’s flowers.” So Jacob slept with Leah that night.
17 Then God allowed Leah to become pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son. 18 She said, “God has given me a reward because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named her son Issachar.[g]
19 Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. 20 She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will accept me, because I have given him six sons.” So she named this son Zebulun.[h]
21 Later, Leah gave birth to a daughter. She named her Dinah.
22 Then God heard Rachel’s prayer and made it possible for Rachel to have children. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24 Rachel named the son Joseph,[i] saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”
1 We want to tell you about the Word[a] that gives life—the one who existed before the world began. This is the one we have heard and have seen with our own eyes. We saw what he did, and our hands touched him. 2 Yes, the one who is life was shown to us. We saw him, and so we can tell others about him. We now tell you about him. He is the eternal life that was with God the Father and was shown to us. 3 We are telling you about what we have seen and heard because we want you to have fellowship[b] with us. The fellowship we share together is with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We write these things to you so that you can be full of joy with us.
God Forgives Our Sins
5 We heard the true teaching from God. Now we tell it to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 6 So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don’t follow the truth. 7 We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we are saying that God is a liar and that we don’t accept his true teaching.
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 While Jesus was walking, he saw a man who had been blind since the time he was born. 2 Jesus’ followers asked him, “Teacher, why was this man born blind? Whose sin made it happen? Was it his own sin or that of his parents?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not any sin of this man or his parents that caused him to be blind. He was born blind so that he could be used to show what great things God can do. 4 While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the one who sent me. The night is coming, and no one can work at night. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After Jesus said this, he spit on the dirt, made some mud and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 Jesus told him, “Go and wash in Siloam pool.” (Siloam means “Sent.”) So the man went to the pool, washed and came back. He was now able to see.
8 His neighbors and some others who had seen him begging said, “Look! Is this the same man who always sits and begs?”
9 Some people said, “Yes! He is the one.” But others said, “No, he can’t be the same man. He only looks like him.”
So the man himself said, “I am that same man.”
10 They asked, “What happened? How did you get your sight?”
11 He answered, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went there and washed. And then I could see.”
12 They asked him, “Where is this man?”
He answered, “I don’t know.”
Some Pharisees Have Questions
13 Then the people brought the man to the Pharisees. 14 The day Jesus had made mud and healed the man’s eyes was a Sabbath day. 15 So the Pharisees asked the man, “How did you get your sight?”
He answered, “He put mud on my eyes. I washed, and now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “That man does not obey the law about the Sabbath day. So he is not from God.”
Others said, “But someone who is a sinner cannot do these miraculous signs.” So they could not agree with each other.
17 They asked the man again, “Since it was your eyes he healed, what do you say about him?”
He answered, “He is a prophet.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International