Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.
Trust God for help
69 Please rescue me, God,
because the deep water has come up to my neck.
2 I will soon sink into deep mud.
There is no safe place to put my feet.
I am now in deep water,
and the floods pour over me.
3 I have shouted so much for help
that I am tired and weak.
My mouth is so dry that it hurts.
I have looked so long for help from you, my God,
that my eyes have become weak.
4 Very many people hate me with no good reason.
They are more than the number of hairs on my head!
My enemies are too strong for me.
They want to destroy me with their lies.
They make me give back to them
things that I did not take from them!
5 You know, God, that I do foolish things.
I cannot hide my sins from you.
6 My Lord, Almighty Lord, Israel's God,
do not let anyone who trusts you
become ashamed because of me.
Do not let anyone who serves you
become ashamed because of me.
7 Because I belong to you,
people insult me.
They make me feel ashamed.
8 I have become like a stranger to my brothers.
I am like a foreigner to my family.
9 My love for your house burns inside me like a fire.
Anybody who insults you,
is also insulting me!
10 When I weep and I stop eating food,
it causes people to insult me.
11 When I wear rough clothes to show that I am sad,
people laugh at me.
12 People who sit at the city gate talk about me.[a]
People who are drunk make songs
to sing about me.
13 But as for me, Lord,
I continue to pray to you.
Please answer me at the right time.
Be kind to me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Save me, as you have promised to do.
14 Save me out of the mud
and do not let me sink down into it.
Rescue me from the people that hate me.
Save me from the deep water.
15 Do not let the floods pour over me.
Do not let the deep sea cause me to drown.
Do not let me fall into the deep hole of death.
16 Please answer me, Lord,
because your faithful love is great.
Turn to hear me,
because you are so very kind.
17 Do not turn away from me, your servant.
I am in great trouble,
so please answer me very soon.
18 Come very near to me,
and make me safe.
Rescue me from my enemies.
19 God, you know that people are insulting me.
They laugh at me
to make me feel ashamed.
You can see what all my enemies are doing.
20 When they insult me,
it makes me very upset.
I feel helpless.
I hoped that someone would be kind and help me,
but there was nobody.
I wanted someone to comfort me,
but I did not find anyone.
21 Instead, my enemies put poison in my food.
When I was thirsty,
they gave me vinegar to drink.[b]
22 Please God, cause their feasts to become a trap for them.
Let it bring trouble to them and their friends.
23 Let their eyes be in the dark
so that they cannot see.
Let their bodies become weak.
24 Yes, punish them,
because you are so angry with them!
25 Let their homes become empty,
so that nobody lives in them any more.
26 Do this, because they chase after
the people that you have already punished.
They talk about the pain
of the people that you have hurt.
27 Make a note of all their sins.
Do not ever forgive them,
so that they are righteous.
28 Remove their names from the book of living people.
Do not write their names
on the list of righteous people.
29 But I have pain in my body
and trouble in my mind.
God, rescue me and keep me safe!
30 I will sing to praise God's name!
I will thank him because he is great!
31 That will please the Lord more
than if I offer him an ox,
or a great bull with horns.[c]
32 When humble people see it,
they will be very happy.
People who want to serve God
will become strong in their lives.
33 For the Lord listens to the prayers of poor people.
He does not forget to help his people
when they are prisoners.
34 Heaven and earth should praise him!
The seas and everything that lives in them
should praise him!
35 For God will rescue Zion's people.
He will build again Judah's cities.
Then his people will live there.
The land will belong to them again.
36 Then the descendants of his servants
will have the land for themselves.
The people who love God
will live there safely.
This is a psalm that Asaph wrote.
God has helped me to understand[a]
73 God is truly good to the people of Israel,
to people who want to serve him honestly.
2 But this is what happened to me:
I nearly slipped and fell over.
I could no longer stand properly.
3 When I saw that wicked people had plenty of things,
I was jealous of those proud people.
4 Their bodies are fat and strong,
and they feel no pain in their lives.
5 They do not have trouble like other people.
They seem to have no problems.
6 Their pride is like their necklace.
They like to be cruel,
as they like to wear clothes.
7 Their greedy eyes lead them into sin.
Their minds think of evil things to do.
8 They laugh at people
and they say bad things about them.
They proudly speak about cruel things
that they want to do to people.
9 They think that they rule in heaven,
as well as on the earth!
10 As a result, God's people become confused,
and they listen to them.
They think that everything is true
that those wicked people say.[b]
11 They say, ‘Does God really know what we do?
Does the Most High God know everything?’
12 Take a good look,
and see how wicked those people are!
They have no troubles,
and they become richer and richer.
13 I decided that I had tried to do what is right,
but it did not help me at all!
I had refused to do anything wrong,
for no good reason!
14 I had trouble each and every day.
Punishment came to me every morning!
15 If I had spoken aloud things like that,
I would have turned against your own people.
16 When I thought about all this,
it was so hard for me to understand.
17 But I went into your temple, God.
Then I understood what would happen
to wicked people in the end.
18 Yes, I realized that they are in a dangerous place,
where they will easily slip.
You will cause them to fall down to their death.
19 It will take just a moment to destroy them!
Great fear will sweep them away!
20 They will completely disappear,
like a dream disappears after you wake up.
Lord, when you decide to do something,
you will forget that they were there!
21 I was very upset,
and my thoughts were confused.
22 I was stupid,
and I did not understand you properly.
I was no better than an animal.
23 But I am always near to you.
You hold my right hand,
as my guide.
24 You teach me the right way to go,
and you will lead me to glory.[c]
25 You are the only one in heaven or on earth
that I need to help me.
You are the only one that I want.
26 My body and my mind may become weak,
but God will always keep me safe and strong.
27 Those people who stay far away from you will die.
You destroy everybody who turns away from you.
28 But as for me, it is good for me to stay near to God.
I have gone to the Almighty Lord
as the place where I can be safe.
I will tell people about the great things that you have done.
Deborah's song
5 On that day Deborah sang this song, with Abinoam's son Barak:
2 ‘The leaders of Israel led their people out.
The people were happy to follow them to the battle.
Praise the Lord!
3 Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I will sing to worship the Lord.
Yes, I will praise him with a song.
He is the Lord, Israel's God.
4 Lord, you came from Seir mountains.
Yes, you marched from the land of Edom.[a]
As you came, the earth shook.
Rain poured down from the clouds in the sky.
5 The mountains shook when you appeared,
as they shook at Sinai mountain when you showed your power.
You are the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 When Anath's son Shamgar ruled the land,
nobody travelled on the roads.
When Jael ruled, people walked on secret paths,
because they were afraid.
7 Nobody lived in the small villages.
Then I, Deborah, became their leader.
I became like a mother for Israel's people,
to keep them safe.
8 When the Israelites chose new gods to worship,
enemies attacked their cities.
No one in Israel was ready to fight.
Not one of their 40,000 soldiers had a shield or a spear.
9 I thank God for Israel's leaders,
and the people who are ready to fight our enemies.
Praise the Lord!
10 Listen to me, you rich people who ride on white donkeys,
with beautiful cloths to sit on.
And you people who walk along the road,
you should listen too!
11 Listen to the voices of the singers near the wells of water.
They sing about the great things that the Lord has done.
They tell how Israel's soldiers have won against their enemies.
Then the Lord's people marched down to the city gates.
12 “Wake up, Deborah! Wake up and sing a song!
Get up, Barak, son of Abinoam!
Take your enemies away as your prisoners.”
13 The faithful men who remained returned to their leaders.
The Lord's people came to me.
They were ready to fight against our enemies.
14 Some men of Ephraim's tribe came to help,
from the land where Amalek lived.
They followed men of Benjamin's tribe, with their soldiers.
Leaders also came from Makir.
Army officers came from Zebulun's tribe.
15 The leaders of Issachar's tribe were with Deborah.
Yes, the men of Issachar joined with Barak.
Barak led them into the valley.
But the men of Reuben's tribe could not decide what to do.
16 Instead, they stayed to take care of their sheep.
Did they want to listen to the shepherds as they called out to their sheep?
The clans of Reuben's tribe could not agree what they should do.
17 The men of Gilead stayed at home,
on the east side of the Jordan River.
The men of Dan's tribe stayed with their ships.
The men of Asher's tribe also stayed in their homes near the sea.
18 But the men of Zebulun's tribe were not afraid to die in war.
The men of Naphtali's tribe were also ready to attack the enemy.
The Holy Spirit comes
2 Then the day of the Pentecost festival arrived. All the believers were meeting together in one place.[a] 2 Suddenly, as they were sitting together, they heard a noise. The noise came from the sky and it filled the whole house. It was like the sound of a strong wind. 3 Then they saw something that looked like many small fires. The separate fires moved and went to sit on each person there. 4 All the believers became full with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages that they had not learned. They spoke whatever language the Holy Spirit helped them to speak.
5 At that time, Jews who came from many different countries in the world were staying in Jerusalem. They were Jews who carefully obeyed God's Law. 6 When these Jews heard the noise, a large crowd of them came together in that place. As the believers spoke, each person in the crowd could hear the message in their own language. This confused them. 7 They were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘These men who are speaking our languages are all from Galilee. 8 But each of us can hear them speak in the language of our own home country. How can this happen? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us live in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia. 10 Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from the country of Libya, near the town of Cyrene. Some of us have come from Rome to visit Jerusalem. 11 Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’
12 All the people were very surprised. They did not understand what was happening. ‘What does all this mean?’ they asked each other. 13 But some other people laughed at the disciples. They said, ‘These people have drunk too much wine!’
Peter speaks to the crowd
14 Peter was there with the other 11 apostles and he stood up with them. He began to speak to the crowd with a loud voice. He said, ‘You people who are Jews like us, listen carefully to me. All of you who live here in Jerusalem, you also listen to me. I will explain to you everything that is happening. 15 Some of you think that my friends here are drunk. But they are not drunk, because it is only nine o'clock in the morning.[b] 16 No, something different is happening here. Long ago, the prophet Joel spoke God's message about all this. This is what he said:[c]
17 God says “This is what I will do in the last days.
I will give my Spirit to all people.
Your sons and daughters will speak my message to people.
Your young men will see visions in their minds.
And your old men will see things in their dreams.
18 At that time, I will give my Spirit to all my servants,
both men and women.
Then they will speak my message to people.
19 I will cause special things to appear in the sky.
I will cause special things to appear on the earth too.
Those things will show how great I am.
There will be blood, fire and thick dark smoke.
20 The sun will become dark to people.
The moon will become dark red like the colour of blood.
These things will happen before the great day of the Lord arrives.
That will be a wonderful day!
21 The Lord will save everyone who asks him to help them.” ’
Jesus becomes alive again
28 After the day of rest had finished, Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James got up early. It was dawn on the first day of the week. They went to the hole in the rock where Joseph had put the dead body of Jesus.
2 At that moment, the ground moved about very strongly. One of the Lord God's angels came from heaven. He went to the rock. He rolled the big stone away from the hole and then he sat on top of it. 3 He shone brightly like lightning. His clothes were very white like snow. 4 The soldiers who were carefully watching that place were very frightened. They suddenly fell down on the ground. Like dead men, they could not move.
5 Then the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus. The soldiers killed him on a cross. 6 But he is not here. He has become alive again. That is what he said would happen. Come here. You can see the place where he was lying. 7 Then you must go quickly to his disciples. Tell them, “Jesus is alive again, and he is going to Galilee. You must also go there and you will see him.” That is the message that I have brought for you.’
8 So the women went away quickly from the hole in the rock. They were very frightened, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell the disciples the angel's message. 9 At that moment, Jesus met the two women and he said, ‘Hello.’ They went near to him. They held on to his feet and they worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my disciples to go to Galilee. They will see me there.’
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