Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for the Nation's Restoration[a]
80 (A)Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel;
hear us, leader of your flock.
Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,
2 reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your strength;
come and save us!
3 Bring us back, O God!
Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!
4 How much longer, Lord God Almighty,
will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have given us sorrow to eat,
a large cup of tears to drink.
6 You let the surrounding nations fight over our land;
our enemies insult us.
7 Bring us back, Almighty God!
Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!
8 You brought a grapevine out of Egypt;
you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.
9 You cleared a place for it to grow;
its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.
10 It covered the hills with its shade;
its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.
11 It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea
and as far as the Euphrates River.
12 Why did you break down the fences around it?
Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;
13 wild hogs trample it down,
and wild animals feed on it.
14 Turn to us, Almighty God!
Look down from heaven at us;
come and save your people!
15 Come and save this grapevine that you planted,
this young vine you made grow so strong!
16 Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down;
look at them in anger and destroy them!
17 Preserve and protect the people you have chosen,
the nation you made so strong.
18 We will never turn away from you again;
keep us alive, and we will praise you.
19 Bring us back, Lord God Almighty.
Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.
Comfort in Time of Distress[a]
77 I cry aloud to God;
I cry aloud, and he hears me.
2 In times of trouble I pray to the Lord;
all night long I lift my hands in prayer,
but I cannot find comfort.
3 When I think of God, I sigh;
when I meditate, I feel discouraged.
4 He keeps me awake all night;
I am so worried that I cannot speak.
5 I think of days gone by
and remember years of long ago.
6 I spend the night in deep thought;[b]
I meditate, and this is what I ask myself:
7 “Will the Lord always reject us?
Will he never again be pleased with us?
8 Has he stopped loving us?
Does his promise no longer stand?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has anger taken the place of his compassion?”
10 Then I said, “What hurts me most is this—
that God is no longer powerful.”[c]
11 I will remember your great deeds, Lord;
I will recall the wonders you did in the past.
12 I will think about all that you have done;
I will meditate on all your mighty acts.
13 Everything you do, O God, is holy.
No god is as great as you.
14 You are the God who works miracles;
you showed your might among the nations.
15 By your power you saved your people,
the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph.
16 When the waters saw you, O God, they were afraid,
and the depths of the sea trembled.
17 The clouds poured down rain;
thunder crashed from the sky,
and lightning flashed in all directions.
18 The crash of your thunder rolled out,
and flashes of lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19 You walked through the waves;
you crossed the deep sea,
but your footprints could not be seen.
20 You led your people like a shepherd,
with Moses and Aaron in charge.
A Prayer for the Nation's Deliverance[a]
79 (A)O God, the heathen have invaded your land.
They have desecrated your holy Temple
and left Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They left the bodies of your people for the vultures,
the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.
3 They shed your people's blood like water;
blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem,
and no one was left to bury the dead.
4 The surrounding nations insult us;
they laugh at us and mock us.
5 Lord, will you be angry with us forever?
Will your anger continue to burn like fire?
6 Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you,
on the people who do not pray to you.
7 For they have killed your people;
they have ruined your country.
8 Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors.
Have mercy on us now;
we have lost all hope.
9 Help us, O God, and save us;
rescue us and forgive our sins
for the sake of your own honor.
10 Why should the nations ask us,
“Where is your God?”
Let us see you punish the nations
for shedding the blood of your servants.
11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners,
and by your great power free those who are condemned to die.
12 Lord, pay the other nations back seven times
for all the insults they have hurled at you.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock,
will thank you forever
and praise you for all time to come.
25 That night the Lord told Gideon, “Take your father's bull and another bull seven years old,[a] tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, which is beside it. 26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on top of this mound. Then take the second bull[b] and burn it whole as an offering, using for firewood the symbol of Asherah you have cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his family and the people in town to do it by day, so he did it at night.
28 When the people in town got up early the next morning, they found that the altar to Baal and the symbol of Asherah had been cut down, and that the second bull had been burned on the altar that had been built there. 29 They asked each other, “Who did this?” They investigated and found out that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 30 Then they said to Joash, “Bring your son out here, so that we can kill him! He tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the symbol of Asherah beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Are you arguing for Baal? Are you defending him? Anyone who argues for him will be killed before morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself. It is his altar that was torn down.” 32 From then on Gideon was known as Jerubbaal,[c] because Joash said, “Let Baal defend himself; it is his altar that was torn down.”
33 Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the desert tribes assembled, crossed the Jordan River, and camped in Jezreel Valley. 34 The spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the men of the clan of Abiezer to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout the territory of both parts of Manasseh to call them to follow him. He sent messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they also came to join him.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel. 37 Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel.” 38 That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet.” 40 That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.
37 When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do, brothers?”
38 Peter said to them, “Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. 39 For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away—all whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
40 Peter made his appeal to them and with many other words he urged them, saying, “Save yourselves from the punishment coming on this wicked people!” 41 Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day. 42 They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers.
Life among the Believers
43 Many miracles and wonders were being done through the apostles, and everyone was filled with awe. 44 (A)All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. 45 They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed. 46 Day after day they met as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, 47 praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people. And every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
The Word of Life
1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 From the very beginning the Word was with God. 3 Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. 4 The Word was the source of life,[a] and this life brought light to people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.
6 (A)God sent his messenger, a man named John, 7 who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. 9 This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.
10 The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. 12 Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children. 13 They did not become God's children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.
14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.
15 John spoke about him. He cried out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’”
16 Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. 17 God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.