Book of Common Prayer
145 I am praying with great earnestness; answer me, O Lord, and I will obey your laws. 146 “Save me,” I cry, “for I am obeying.” 147 Early in the morning before the sun is up, I am praying and pointing out how much I trust in you. 148 I stay awake through the night to think about your promises. 149 Because you are so loving and kind, listen to me and make me well again.
150 Here come these lawless men to attack me, 151 but you are near, O Lord; all your commandments are based on truth. 152 I have known from earliest days that your will never changes.
153 Look down upon my sorrows and rescue me, for I am obeying your commands. 154 Yes, rescue me and give me back my life again just as you have promised. 155 The wicked are far from salvation, for they do not care for your laws. 156 Lord, how great is your mercy; oh, give me back my life again.
157 My enemies are so many. They try to make me disobey, but I have not swerved from your will. 158 I loathed these traitors because they care nothing for your laws. 159 Lord, see how much I really love your demands. Now give me back my life and health because you are so kind. 160 There is utter truth in all your laws; your decrees are eternal.
161 Great men have persecuted me, though they have no reason to, but I stand in awe of only your words. 162 I rejoice in your laws like one who finds a great treasure. 163 How I hate all falsehood, but how I love your laws. 164 I will praise you seven times a day because of your wonderful laws.
165 Those who love your laws have great peace of heart and mind and do not stumble. 166 I long for your salvation, Lord, and so I have obeyed your laws. 167 I have looked for your commandments, and I love them very much; 168 yes, I have searched for them. You know this because everything I do is known to you.
169 O Lord, listen to my prayers; give me the common sense you promised. 170 Hear my prayers; rescue me as you said you would. 171 I praise you for letting me learn your laws. 172 I will sing about their wonder, for each of them is just. 173 Stand ready to help me because I have chosen to follow your will. 174 O Lord, I have longed for your salvation, and your law is my delight. 175 If you will let me live, I will praise you; let your laws assist me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not turned away from your commandments.
128 Blessings on all who reverence and trust the Lord—on all who obey him!
2 Their reward shall be prosperity and happiness. 3 Your wife shall be contented in your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around the dinner table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. 4 That is God’s reward to those who reverence and trust him.
5 May the Lord continually bless you with heaven’s blessings[a] as well as with human joys. 6 May you live to enjoy your grandchildren! And may God bless Israel!
129 Persecuted from my earliest youth (Israel is speaking), 2 and faced with never-ending discrimination—but not destroyed! My enemies have never been able to finish me off!
3-4 Though my back is cut to ribbons with their whips, the Lord is good. For he has snapped the chains that evil men had bound me with.
5 May all who hate the Jews be brought to ignominious defeat. 6-7 May they be as grass in shallow soil, turning sere and yellow when half grown, ignored by the reaper, despised by the binder. 8 And may those passing by refuse to bless them by saying, “Jehovah’s blessings be upon you; we bless you in Jehovah’s name.”
130 O Lord, from the depths of despair I cry for your help: 2 “Hear me! Answer! Help me!”
3-4 Lord, if you keep in mind our sins, then who can ever get an answer to his prayers? But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is! 5 That is why I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised. 6 I long for him more than sentinels long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; for he is loving and kind and comes to us with armloads of salvation. 8 He himself shall ransom Israel from her slavery to sin.
15-16 So the five men went over to the house and with all of the armed men standing just outside the gate, they talked to the young priest and asked him how he was getting along. 17 Then the five spies entered the shrine and took the idols, the ephod, and the teraphim.
18 “What are you doing?” the young priest demanded when he saw them carrying them out.
19 “Be quiet and come with us,” they said. “Be a priest to all of us. Isn’t it better for you to be a priest to a whole tribe in Israel instead of just to one man in his private home?”
20 The young priest was then quite happy to go with them, and he took along the ephod, the teraphim, and the idols. 21 They started on their way again, placing their children, cattle, and household goods at the front of the column. 22 When they were quite a distance from Micah’s home, Micah and some of his neighbors came chasing after them, 23 yelling at them to stop.
“What do you want, chasing after us like this?” the men of Dan demanded.
24 “What do you mean, ‘What do I want’!” Micah retorted. “You’ve taken away all my gods and my priest, and I have nothing left!”
25 “Be careful how you talk, mister,” the men of Dan replied. “Somebody’s apt to get angry and kill every one of you.”
26 So the men of Dan kept going. When Micah saw that there were too many of them for him to handle, he turned back home.
27 Then, with Micah’s idols and the priest, the men of Dan arrived at the city of Laish. There weren’t even any guards, so they went in and slaughtered all the people and burned the city to the ground. 28 There was no one to help the inhabitants, for they were too far away from Sidon, and they had no local allies, for they had no dealings with anyone. This happened in the valley next to Beth-rehob. Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the city and lived there. 29 The city was named “Dan” after their ancestor, Israel’s son, but it had originally been called Laish.
30 Then they set up the idols and appointed a man named Jonathan (son of Gershom and grandson of Moses!) and his sons as their priests. This family continued as priests until the city was finally conquered by its enemies. 31 So Micah’s idols were worshiped by the tribe of Dan as long as the Tabernacle remained at Shiloh.
14 When the apostles back in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent down Peter and John. 15 As soon as they arrived, they began praying for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for as yet he had not come upon any of them. For they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw this—that the Holy Spirit was given when the apostles placed their hands upon people’s heads—he offered money to buy this power.
19 “Let me have this power too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
20 But Peter replied, “Your money perish with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! 21 You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Turn from this great wickedness and pray. Perhaps God will yet forgive your evil thoughts— 23 for I can see that there is jealousy[a] and sin in your heart.”
24 “Pray for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things won’t happen to me.”
25 After testifying and preaching in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, stopping at several Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News to them too.
6 After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2-5 And a huge crowd, many of them pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration, were following him wherever he went, to watch him heal the sick. So when Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him, he soon saw a great multitude of people climbing the hill, looking for him.
Turning to Philip he asked, “Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 (He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.)
7 Philip replied, “It would take a fortune[a] to begin to do it!”
8-9 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a youngster here with five barley loaves and a couple of fish! But what good is that with all this mob?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus ordered. And all of them—the approximate count of the men only was five thousand—sat down on the grassy slopes. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God and passed them out to the people. Afterwards he did the same with the fish. And everyone ate until full!
12 “Now gather the scraps,” Jesus told his disciples, “so that nothing is wasted.” 13 And twelve baskets were filled with the leftovers!
14 When the people realized what a great miracle had happened, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”
15 Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force and make him their king, so he went higher into the mountains alone.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.