Book of Common Prayer
A sad song[a]
137 When we sat down beside the rivers in Babylon,
we were very upset.
We thought about Zion city that we had left behind,
and we wept.[b]
2 We hung up our harps there
on the branches of the willow trees.
3 Our enemies asked us to sing songs for them there.
They laughed at us as their prisoners.
They asked for a song to make them happy.
They shouted, ‘Sing us a song about Zion!’
4 But we are in a foreign land,
so we cannot sing a song to the Lord.
5 Jerusalem, I never want to forget you.
I would rather lose my right hand!
6 I would rather my tongue could no longer move![c]
Yes, I will always remember you, Jerusalem.
You are the most important thing that I think about,
more than anything else that makes me happy.
7 Lord, remember to punish the people of Edom.[d]
They were happy when Babylon's army won against Jerusalem.
On that day the Edomites said,
‘Knock down the city so that nothing still stands!’
8 People of Babylon, an army will soon destroy you!
They will punish you in the same way that you punished us.
May God bless whoever does that to you!
9 Just like you did to us,
they will hit your babies against a rock.
May God bless whoever does that to you!
This is a song that David wrote.
God is strong and we praise him
144 Lord, I praise you!
You are my strong Rock!
You teach me how to fight well.
You show me how to use my weapons.
2 You always love me.
You are the strong place where I am safe.
You save me from the power of my enemies.
You are like a shield for me.
I know that I am safe with you.
You give me power over nations.[a]
3 Lord, why do you even think about men and women?
Why do you take care of humans?
4 People soon pass away, just like a breath.
Their life is like a shadow that soon goes.
5 Lord, open up the heavens!
Leave your home and come down to earth!
Touch the mountains so that they burn with smoke.
6 Send bright lightning to frighten your enemies.
Shoot your arrows at them
so that they run away.[b]
7 Put your hand down from heaven,
and pick me out from the deep water.[c]
Save me from the power of foreign people.
8 Their mouths speak lies.
Even when they make a promise,
they are deceiving people.
9 I will sing to you a new song, God.
I will make music to you on my harp.[d]
10 You help kings to win against their enemies.
You also save me, your servant David, from my enemies,
when they try to kill me with their dangerous swords.
11 Keep me safe from the power of foreign people.
They speak lies.
Even when they make a promise, it is false.
12 When our sons are young,
may they grow quickly, like strong plants.
May our daughters become tall and beautiful,
like the beautiful pillars in a king's house.
13 May our homes have plenty of different kinds of food.
May our sheep have thousands of lambs,
so that there is no space in our fields.
14 May our cows become fat.[e]
I pray that our enemies will never knock down our city's walls.
I pray that none of us will become their prisoners.
I pray that nobody will cry in our city's streets because they are afraid.
15 When God does that for a nation,
he has surely blessed those people!
If people know that the Lord is their God,
then God has blessed them!
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
22 The Lord created me as the first thing that he did.
That was the first of his acts long ago.
23 He chose me as his servant from the beginning of time.
That was before the world began.
24 I was born before the deep seas were there.
There were not yet springs that poured out water.
25 I was born before the mountains or the hills appeared in their places.
26 I was born before the Lord made the earth and its fields,
before there was soil on the earth.
27 I was there when he put the heavens in their place.
I was there when he made the border of the sea where it meets the sky.
28 I was there when he put the clouds in the sky.
I was there when he made streams of water fill the seas.
29 He gave his command to the seas, that they should obey him.
The waters of the sea must stay inside its borders.
I was there when he built the foundations of the earth.
30 When the Lord made all that happen,
I was beside him as his faithful helper.
I pleased him every day, and I was happy to be with him.
31 The world that he had made gave me great joy.
The people who lived on it made me happy.
32 So listen to me, my children.
Anyone who obeys my teaching will be happy.
33 Listen when I tell you what is right for you to do.
Then you will be wise.
Do not forget what I tell you.
34 Anyone who listens to me is in a happy place.
You can wait outside my home each day, and I will teach you.
35 Anyone who finds me, wisdom, finds true life.
The Lord will bless that person.
36 But anyone who does not find me brings trouble on himself.
Everybody who hates me loves death.’
Paul thanks God for Timothy
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. God sent me to tell people about the true life that he has promised us. We receive this life when we belong to Christ Jesus.
2 I am writing to you, Timothy. You are like my own child, and I love you very much.
I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord will continue to help you and be kind to you. I pray that they will give you peace in your mind.
3 Like my ancestors, I serve God in a good way, that I know is right. When I pray to God, at night and during the day, I always remember to pray for you. And I thank God for you. 4 I remember how you wept when I said ‘goodbye’ to you. I want to see you again very much, so that I may be completely happy. 5 I remember how you really believe in Christ. Your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, already believed in Christ before you did. Now I am sure that you yourself also really trust him. 6 For that reason, I want you to remember the gift that God gave you when I put my hands on you.[a] Use that gift more and more to serve God well. 7 Be strong, because God has given us his Spirit. And his Spirit does not cause us to be afraid. Instead, his Spirit causes us to be powerful to serve God. He helps us to love God and other people. And he helps us to control ourselves properly.
Paul tells Timothy to be a brave teacher for Christ
8 So do not be ashamed of the message about our Lord that we tell people. And do not be ashamed of me because I am in a prison. I am a prisoner because I serve Christ. You must understand that you will have trouble because you tell people the good news about Jesus Christ. So be ready to have the same kind of trouble as I have. Let God make you strong when you have trouble. 9 God is the one who has saved us. He has chosen us to serve him with good, clean lives. He did not save us because of any good things that we have done. He chose to do it because he is very kind. He decided to do that before time began, because of what Christ Jesus would do for us. 10 Now Christ Jesus has come to save us, and we have seen how kind God is. Christ has destroyed death's power over us. We have heard the good news that he brought to us. So now we understand about life with God for ever.
11 That is the same good news that God has chosen me to tell to people. He has sent me as his apostle to teach his message to people. 12 That is why I have these troubles. But I am not ashamed to be in prison. I have believed in Christ and I know him well. I know that I can trust him to keep his message safe. God has given me the authority to speak that message to people at this time.[b] Christ has the power to keep it safe until that great day when he comes back.[c]
13 You have heard me tell you about God's true message. Let those words be an example to you, so that you also teach what is true. Do this because you belong to Christ Jesus. Continue to trust him and to love his people. 14 God has given you his good message to keep safe. God's Holy Spirit, who lives in us, will help you to keep it safe.
Jesus says that he will soon die
20 There were some Greek people among the people at the festival. They also had come to worship God. 21 These Greek people came to Philip, who was from a town in Galilee called Bethsaida. They said to him, ‘Please sir, we want to meet Jesus.’ 22 Philip went and he told Andrew this. Then Philip and Andrew went to Jesus and they told him.
23 Jesus said to them, ‘God will show how great the Son of Man is. It is now time for that to happen. 24 I tell you this: A seed of wheat continues to be only a single seed unless it falls into the ground. It must fall into the ground and then it must die. If it dies like that, it will grow to give a lot of seeds.
25 Anyone who loves his own life will lose it. But anyone who hates his life in this world will have true life for ever with God. 26 Anyone who wants to be my servant must follow me. Then he will be with me, where I am. My Father will praise anyone who is my servant.
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