Book of Common Prayer
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.
For the director of music. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord! No one does what is right anymore.
Those who are faithful have disappeared from the human race.
2 Everyone tells lies to their neighbors.
With their lips they praise others, but they don’t really mean it.
3 May the Lord close all lips that don’t mean what they say.
May he stop every tongue that brags.
4 They say, “What we speak with our tongues will win the battle.
What we say with our lips will keep us safe. No one will have victory over us.”
5 The Lord says, “The poor are being robbed.
Those who are in need groan.
So I will stand up to help them.
I will keep them safe from those who tell lies about them.”
6 The words of the Lord are perfect.
They are like silver made pure in a clay furnace.
They are like gold made pure seven times over.
7 Lord, you will keep needy people safe.
You will always keep sinners from hurting us.
8 Proud and sinful people walk around openly
when the evil they do is praised by the human race.
94 The Lord is a God who punishes.
Since you are the one who punishes, come and show your anger.
2 Judge of the earth, rise up.
Pay back proud people for what they have done.
3 Lord, how long will those who are evil be glad?
How long will they be full of joy?
4 Proud words pour out of their mouths.
All those who do evil are always bragging.
5 Lord, they crush your people.
They treat badly those who belong to you.
6 They kill outsiders. They kill widows.
They murder children whose fathers have died.
7 They say, “The Lord doesn’t see what’s happening.
The God of Jacob doesn’t pay any attention to it.”
8 You who aren’t wise, pay attention.
You foolish people, when will you become wise?
9 Does he who made the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
10 Does he who corrects nations not punish?
Does he who teaches human beings not know anything?
11 The Lord knows what people think.
He knows that their thoughts don’t amount to anything.
12 Lord, blessed is the person you correct.
Blessed is the person you teach from your law.
13 You give them rest from times of trouble,
until a pit is dug to trap sinners.
14 The Lord won’t say no to his people.
He will never desert those who belong to him.
15 He will again judge people in keeping with what is right.
All those who have honest hearts will follow the right way.
16 Who will rise up for me against sinful people?
Who will stand up for me against those who do evil?
17 Suppose the Lord had not helped me.
Then I would soon have been lying quietly in the grave.
18 I said, “My foot is slipping.”
But Lord, your faithful love kept me from falling.
19 I was very worried.
But your comfort brought me joy.
20 Can you have anything to do with rulers who aren’t fair?
Can those who make laws that cause suffering be friends of yours?
21 Evil people join together against those who do what is right.
They sentence to death those who aren’t guilty of doing anything wrong.
22 But the Lord has become like a fort to me.
My God is my rock. I go to him for safety.
23 He will pay them back for their sins.
He will destroy them for their evil acts.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
17 Zion reaches out her hands.
But no one is there to comfort her people.
The Lord has ordered that
the neighbors of Jacob’s people would become their enemies.
Jerusalem has become impure among them.
18 Jerusalem says, “The Lord always does what is right.
But I refused to obey his commands.
Listen, all you nations.
Pay attention to how much I’m suffering.
My young men and women
have been taken away as prisoners.
19 “I called out to those who were going to help me.
But they turned against me.
My priests and elders
died in the city.
They were searching for food
just to stay alive.
20 “Lord, see how upset I am!
I am suffering deep down inside.
My heart is troubled.
Again and again I have refused to obey you.
Outside the city, people are being killed by swords.
Inside, there is nothing but death.
21 “People have heard me groan.
But no one is here to comfort me.
My enemies have heard about all my troubles.
What you have done makes them happy.
So please judge them, just as you said you would.
Let them become like me.
22 “Please pay attention to all their sinful ways.
Punish them as you have punished me.
You judged me because I had committed so many sins.
I groan all the time.
And my heart is weak.”
8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the hard times we had in Asia Minor. We were having a lot of trouble. It was far more than we could stand. We even thought we were going to die. 9 In fact, we felt as if we were under the sentence of death. But that happened so that we would not depend on ourselves but on God. He raises the dead to life. 10 God has saved us from deadly dangers. And he will continue to do it. We have put our hope in him. He will continue to save us. 11 You must help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because of what will happen to us. They will thank God for his kindness to us in answer to the prayers of many.
Paul Changes His Plans
12 Here is what we take pride in. Our sense of what is right and wrong tells us how we have acted. We have lived with honor and godly honesty. We have depended on God’s grace and not on the world’s wisdom. We lived that way most of all when we were dealing with you. 13 We are writing only what you can read and understand. And here is what I hope. 14 Up to this point you have understood some of the things we have said. But now here is what I hope for when the Lord Jesus returns. I hope that your pride in us will be the same as our pride in you. When this happens, you will understand us completely.
15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to visit you first. Here is how I thought you would be helped twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia. I would have come back to you from there. Then you would have sent me on my way to Judea. 17 When I planned all this, was I ready to change my mind for no good reason? No. I don’t make my plans the way the world makes theirs. In the same breath the world says both, “Yes! Yes!” and “No! No!”
18 But just as sure as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 Silas, Timothy and I preached to you about the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Our message did not say “Yes” and “No” at the same time. The message of Christ has always been “Yes.” 20 God has made a great many promises. They are all “Yes” because of what Christ has done. So through Christ we say “Amen.” We want God to receive glory. 21 He makes both us and you remain strong in the faith because we belong to Christ. He anointed us. 22 He put his Spirit in our hearts and marked us as his own. We can now be sure that he will give us everything he promised us.
The Authority of Jesus Is Questioned
27 Jesus and his disciples arrived again in Jerusalem. He was walking in the temple courtyard. Then the chief priests came to him. The teachers of the law and the elders came too. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “Who gave you authority to do this?”
29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 Was John’s baptism from heaven? Or did it come from human authority? Tell me!”
31 They talked to each other about it. They said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But what if we say, ‘From human authority’?” They were afraid of the people. Everyone believed that John really was a prophet.
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things either.”
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.