Book of Common Prayer
To the director: With stringed instruments. A song of David.
61 God, hear my cry for help.
Listen to my prayer.
2 From a faraway land I call to you for help.
I feel so weak and helpless!
Carry me to a high rock
where no one can reach me.
3 You are my place of safety,
a strong tower that protects me from my enemies.
4 I want to live in your tent[a] forever.
I want to hide where you can protect me. Selah
5 God, you heard what I promised to give you,
but everything your worshipers have comes from you.
6 Give the king a long life.
Let him live forever!
7 Let him rule in your presence forever.
Protect him with your faithful love.
8 Then I will praise your name forever.
Every day I will do what I promised.
To the director, Jeduthun.[b] A song of David.
62 I must calm down and turn to God;
only he can rescue me.
2 He is my Rock, the only one who can save me.
He is my high place of safety, where no army can defeat me.
3 How long will you people attack me?
Do you all want to kill me?
I am like a leaning wall,
like a fence ready to fall.
4 You want only to destroy me,
to bring me down from my important position.
It makes you happy to tell lies about me.
In public, you say nice things,
but in private, you curse me. Selah
5 I must calm down and turn to God;
he is my only hope.
6 He is my Rock, the only one who can save me.
He is my high place of safety, where no army can defeat me.
7 My victory and honor come from God.
He is the mighty Rock, where I am safe.
8 People, always put your trust in God!
Tell him all your problems.
God is our place of safety. Selah
9 People cannot really help.
You cannot depend on them.
Compared to God, they are nothing—
no more than a gentle puff of air!
10 Don’t trust in your power to take things by force.
Don’t think you will gain anything by stealing.
And if you become wealthy,
don’t put your trust in riches.
11 God says there is one thing you can really depend on, and I believe it:
“Strength comes from God!”
12 My Lord, your love is real.
You reward all people for what they do.
To the director: A praise song of David.
68 God, get up and scatter your enemies!
May all your enemies run from you.
2 May your enemies be scattered
like smoke blown away by the wind.
May your enemies be destroyed
like wax melting in a fire.
3 But let good people be happy.
Let them gather before God and enjoy themselves together.
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!
Prepare the way for the one who rides on the clouds.
His name is Yah.[a]
Worship before him with joy.
5 God, who lives in his holy palace, is a father to orphans,
and he takes care of widows.
6 God provides homes for those who are lonely.
He frees people from prison and makes them happy.
But those who turn against him will live in the desert.
7 God, you led your people out of Egypt.
You marched across the desert. Selah
8 The ground shook and rain poured from the sky
when God, the God of Israel, came to Sinai.
9 God, you sent the rain
to make a tired, old land strong again.
10 Your people[b] came back to live there,
and you provided good things for the poor.
11 My Lord gave the command,
and many people went to tell the good news:
12 “The armies of powerful kings ran away!
At home, the women divide the things brought from the battle.
13 Those who stayed home will share in the wealth—
metal doves with wings covered in silver and feathers sparkling with gold.”
14 God All-Powerful scattered the kings
like snow falling on Mount Zalmon.
15 Mount Bashan is a great mountain
with many high peaks.
16 But, Bashan, why are you jealous of Mount Zion?
That is where God has chosen to live.
The Lord will live there forever.
17 With his millions of chariots,
the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.
18 You went up to your high place,
leading a parade of captives.
You received gifts from people,[c]
even those who turned against you.
The Lord God went up there to live.
19 Praise the Lord!
Every day he helps us with the loads we must carry.
He is the God who saves us. Selah
20 He is our God, the God who saves us.
My Lord God saves us from death.
21 God will smash the heads of his enemies.
He will punish those who fight against him.[d]
22 My Lord said, “If they run up to Bashan or down to the depths of the sea,
I will bring them back.
23 So you will march through pools of their blood,
and there will be plenty left for your dogs.”
24 God, everyone can see your victory parade—
the victory march of my God and King into his holy place![e]
25 Singers come marching in front, followed by the musicians;
they are surrounded by young girls playing tambourines.
26 Praise God in the meeting place.[f]
Praise the Lord, people of Israel!
27 There is the smallest tribe, Benjamin, leading them.
And there comes a large group of leaders from Judah.
Following them are the leaders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
28 God, show us your power!
Show us the power you used for us in the past.
29 Kings will bring their wealth to you,
to your Temple in Jerusalem.
30 Punish the people in Egypt.
They are like cattle in the marshes, like bulls among the calves.
You humiliated them.
You scattered them in war.
Now let them come crawling to you,
bringing their pieces of silver.
31 Messengers from Egypt will come bearing gifts.
Ethiopia will offer God their tribute.
32 Kings on earth, sing to God!
Sing songs of praise to our Lord! Selah
33 Sing to him who rides his chariot through the ancient skies.
Listen to his powerful voice!
34 Tell everyone how powerful he is!
He rules over Israel.
His power fills the skies.
35 God, you are awesome in your Temple!
The God of Israel is the one who gives strength and power to his people.
Praise God!
The Angel of the Lord at Bokim
2 The angel of the Lord went up to the city of Bokim from the city of Gilgal. The angel spoke this message from the Lord to the Israelites: “I brought you out of Egypt and led you to the land that I promised to give to your ancestors. I told you I would never break my agreement with you. 2 But in return, you must never make any agreement with the people living in that land. You must destroy their altars. I told you that, but you didn’t obey me.
3 “Now I will tell you this, ‘I will not force the other people to leave this land any longer. These people will become a problem for you. They will be like a trap to you. Their false gods will become like a net to trap you.’”
4 After the angel gave the Israelites this message from the Lord, the people cried loudly. 5 So they named the place Bokim.[a] There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
11 So the Israelites did something very evil before the Lord. They began serving the false god Baal. 12 It was the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped, who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But they stopped following him and began to worship the false gods of the people living around them. This made the Lord angry. 13 The Israelites stopped following the Lord and began worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth.
14 The Lord was angry with the Israelites, so he let enemies attack them and take their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them. The Israelites could not protect themselves from their enemies. 15 When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. He had already warned them that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The Israelites suffered very much.
16 Then the Lord chose leaders called judges. These leaders saved the Israelites from the enemies who took their possessions. 17 But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. The Israelites were not faithful to God—they followed other gods.[a] In the past, the ancestors of the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s commands. But now the Israelites changed and stopped obeying the Lord.
18 Many times the enemies of Israel did bad things to the people, so the Israelites would cry for help. And each time the Lord felt sorry for the people and sent a judge to save them from their enemies. The Lord was always with those judges. Each time the Israelites were saved from their enemies. 19 But when each judge died, the Israelites again sinned and started worshiping the false gods. They acted worse than their ancestors did. The Israelites were very stubborn and refused to change their evil ways.
20 So the Lord became angry with the Israelites, and he said, “This nation has broken the agreement that I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me. 21 So I will no longer defeat the nations and clear the way for the Israelites. Those nations were still in this land when Joshua died, and I will let them stay in this land. 22 I will use them to test the Israelites. I will see if the Israelites can keep the Lord’s commands as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord allowed those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them to leave the country. He did not help Joshua’s army defeat them.
17 Brothers and sisters, I want you to be very careful of those who cause arguments and hurt people’s faith by teaching things that are against what you learned. Stay away from them. 18 People like that are not serving our Lord Christ. They are only pleasing themselves. They use fancy talk and say nice things to fool those who don’t know about evil. 19 Everyone has heard that you do what you were taught, and I am very happy about that. But I want you to be wise about what is good and to know nothing about what is evil.
20 The God who brings peace will soon defeat Satan and give you power over him.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy, a worker together with me, sends you his greetings. Also Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater (these are my relatives) send their greetings.
22 I am Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul. I send you my own greetings as one who belongs to the Lord.
23 Gaius is letting me and the whole church here use his home. He sends his greetings to you. Erastus and our brother Quartus also send their greetings. Erastus is the city treasurer here. 24 [a]
25 Praise God! He is the one who can make you strong in faith. He can use the Good News that I teach to make you strong. It is the message about Jesus Christ that I tell people. That message is the secret truth that was hidden for ages and ages but has been made known. 26 It has now been shown to us. It was made known by what the prophets wrote, as God commanded. And it has now been made known to all people so that they can believe and obey God, who lives forever. 27 Glory forever to the only wise God through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross(A)
32 The soldiers were going out of the city with Jesus. They saw a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 33 They came to the place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means “The Place of the Skull.”) 34 There the soldiers gave Jesus some wine mixed with gall.[a] But when he tasted it, he refused to drink it.
35 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. Then they threw dice to divide his clothes between them. 36 The soldiers stayed there to guard him. 37 They put a sign above his head with the charge against him written on it: “ this is jesus, the king of the jews.”
38 Two criminals were nailed to crosses beside Jesus—one on the right and the other on the left. 39 People walked by and shouted insults at Jesus. They shook their heads 40 and said, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross if you really are the Son of God!”
41 The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the older Jewish leaders were also there. They made fun of Jesus the same as the other people did. 42 They said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! People say he is the king of Israel. If he is the king, he should come down now from the cross. Then we will believe in him. 43 He trusted God. So let God save him now, if God really wants him. He himself said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And in the same way, the criminals on the crosses beside Jesus also insulted him.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International