Book of Common Prayer
The Word of God
ALEPH[a]
119 God has blessed people who always do what is right.
They obey the Lord's Law.
2 They agree to live by his rules.[b]
They love to pray to him.
God has blessed people like that.
3 Also, they do nothing that is wrong.
They live in a way that please the Lord.
4 You, Lord, have told us to obey your teaching carefully.
5 I want to be able to obey your laws all the time.
6 When I remember all your commands,
I will not be ashamed.
7 When I learn your good rules,
I will do what is right and I will thank you.
8 Yes, I will obey your laws.
Please do not turn away from me!
BETH
9 How can a young man live a clean life?
He must be careful to obey your message.
10 I bring all my thoughts to you.
Do not let me forget to obey your commands.
11 I always keep your message in my mind,
so that I do not do anything bad against you.
12 Lord, everyone should praise you!
Please teach me your laws.
13 You have taught us your rules.
I want to speak them aloud for others to hear.
14 Your rules give me a happy life.
When I obey them, it is better than being rich!
15 I want to think carefully about your teaching.
You have shown me the best way to live.
16 Your laws make me very happy.
I will not forget what you have taught me.
GIMEL
17 Please be kind to me, your servant.
Then I will live and I will obey your message.
18 Open my eyes wide!
Then I will see great things in your Law.
19 I live like a stranger here on the earth.
Please do not hide your commands from me.
20 I really want to obey your rules all the time.
I want that more than anything else.
21 You warn people who are proud.
If they turn away from your commands,
you will surely punish them.
22 I obey your rules.
So do not let people insult me,
so that I become ashamed.
23 Rulers may think of ways to hurt me.
But I will think carefully about your rules.
24 Yes, your laws make me really happy.
They show me the right way to live.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
A prayer for help
12 Lord, please help me!
All the good people have gone away!
No kind or faithful people remain.
2 Everybody tells lies to one another.
When they say nice things,
they do it to deceive their friends.
3 Lord, please shut their mouths!
When they deceive people or they boast,
stop them doing that!
4 They say:
‘Nobody can tell us what to do!
We will say what we like to get what we want!’
5 But the Lord says:
‘Now I will do something!
I know the cruel things that wicked people do to poor people.
When weak people cry with pain, I hear them.
So I will make them safe,
as they want me to do for them.’
6 The Lord's promises are true.
We can trust them,
because they are pure.
They are as pure as silver
that people have put in a hot fire seven times.[a]
7 Yes Lord, you will take care of the poor people.
You will always keep each one of them safe
from all those evil people.
8 But if people praise evil things,
then wicked people will boast more and more.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
A prayer for help[b]
13 Lord, will you forget about me for ever?
When will you remember to come and help me?
2 My thoughts make me worry all the time.
How long must I continue to be sad?
How long will my enemies continue to win against me?
3 Lord, please listen to me!
I feel that I am nearly dead.
Please give me the strength to live!
4 If I die, my enemies will say,
‘We have won against him!’
My enemies will be very happy if I fall.
5 But I will trust you because of your faithful love.
Please make me safe,
so that I can be happy and thank you.
6 Yes, I will sing to praise the Lord,
because he will surely help me.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
God rules the world
14 Only fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’
People like that do bad and evil things.
None of them do things that are good and right.
2 The Lord is looking down from heaven.
He looks at the people of the world,
to see if there are any wise people among them.
He looks to see if anyone wants to know God.
3 But everyone has turned away from God.
They have all become evil.
Not even one person does things that are right!
4 Will those evil people never learn?
They destroy my people,
as if they are eating a meal.
They never pray to the Lord.
5 Look at them! Now they are very afraid!
They see that God is with the people who obey him.
6 You wicked people tried to bring shame to poor people.
But the Lord keeps poor people safe.
7 The Lord is the one who can save Israel's people.
Please Lord, come now from your home in Zion!
When the Lord makes his people strong again,
Jacob's descendants will be happy!
Yes, Israel's people will shout with joy![c]
Job replies to Eliphaz[a]
6 Then Job replied:
Job continues to speak
7 People have to work very hard on this earth.
They have to work every day, like servants.
2 A servant waits for the end of the day so that he can rest.
A worker waits for his master to pay him.
3 But there is nothing for me to wait for.
I wait for many months and nothing happens.
Every night, I am always sad.
4 When I lie down at night to sleep,
I think, “How soon will the night end?”
But the night continues and I cannot sleep.
Finally, dawn comes.
5 There are worms all over my body.
All of my skin is painful.
There are dirty sores all over it.
6 My life is passing very fast.
Each day passes too quickly to see it!
The days of my life will finish,
and I cannot hope for anything to get better.
7 Remember, God, that my life is as short as a breath.
I know that I will never be happy again.
8 People who can see me now will not see me any more.
You will look for me, but I will not be there.
9 Clouds disappear and you never see them again.
That is like people who die and go into their graves.
They do not come back again.
10 They do not come back to live in their homes.
People forget about them.
11 So I must continue to speak.
I will tell you how upset I am.
I am angry because of what has happened to me.
So I must complain.
12 Why do you have to watch me, God, like a guard?
Do you think that I am a dangerous monster from the sea?
13 When I lie down to sleep,
I hope that my pain will be less.
14 But even then you give me dreams that frighten me.
I have visions which make me very afraid.
15 I would like someone to stop me breathing!
Death would be better than life.
16 My life is useless.
I do not want to live for ever.
My life is only a short breath.
So let me be alone.
17 Why do you think that people are important?
Why do you watch us so carefully?
18 You never leave us alone.
You test us every moment of every day.
19 You never look the other way.
You never leave me alone, even for a moment.
20 You carefully watch what people do.
Even if I have done something wrong,
it should not cause any trouble for you.
So why do you choose to punish me?
21 You should agree to forgive my sins.
You should say that I am not guilty.
I will soon die and I will go into my grave.
Then you will carefully look for me,
but I will not be there.’
Cornelius asks Peter to come to him
10 There was a man who lived in Caesarea and his name was Cornelius. He was an officer in the Roman army. His group of soldiers was called ‘The Group from Italy’. 2 Cornelius was a good man. He and all his family served God faithfully. Cornelius prayed to God every day. He also gave money to help poor Jewish people.[a]
3 One afternoon, at about three o'clock, Cornelius had a vision.[b] He clearly saw one of God's angels. The angel came in and said to him, ‘Cornelius!’
4 Cornelius looked at the angel and he was afraid. He asked, ‘Master, why have you come to me?’
The angel answered, ‘God has heard your prayers. He knows about all the money that you give to poor people. This has pleased him. Now God is answering your prayers. 5 You must send some men to Joppa. They will find a man who is staying there. He is called Simon Peter. Your men must tell him to come here to Caesarea. 6 He is staying at the house of Simon the tanner.[c] His house is near the sea.’
7 Then the angel who spoke to Cornelius went away. Cornelius told two of his servants and a soldier of his group to come to him. The soldier was one of those who served Cornelius. He was a good man who obeyed God. 8 Cornelius explained to these three men what the angel had said to him. Then he sent them to Joppa.[d]
9 The next day, at about noon, Cornelius's men were coming near to Joppa. At this time, Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray to God.[e] 10 He became hungry and he wanted to eat some food. While someone was preparing a meal for him, Peter had a special dream. 11 In a vision, he saw heaven open above him. Then he saw something like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground. 12 Inside the cloth there were many different kinds of animals with four legs. There were also wild birds and snakes. 13 Then Peter heard a voice that said to him, ‘Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.’
14 Peter answered, ‘No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.’[f]
15 Then, for the second time, the voice said to Peter, ‘God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.’
16 All this happened three times. After that, the cloth immediately went back up into heaven.
Jesus and his brothers
7 After this, Jesus visited many places in Galilee. He did not want to visit Judea because the Jewish leaders there wanted to kill him. 2 It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles.[a] 3 So Jesus' brothers said to him, ‘You should leave this place and you should go to Judea. Then your disciples will see the great things that you do. 4 Nobody does things secretly if he wants everyone to know him. You are doing these things, so you should show yourself to everybody.’ 5 Even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 So Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the right time for me yet. For you, any time is right. 7 People who belong to this world cannot hate you. But they hate me. The things that they do are very bad. And I tell them that those things are wrong. That is why they hate me. 8 You should go to the festival. I will not go to it now, because it is not the right time for me yet.’ 9 After Jesus said that, he stayed in Galilee.
Jesus goes to the Festival of Tabernacles
10 Some time after his brothers had gone, Jesus also went to the festival. But he did not let other people know that he was going. Instead, he went secretly. 11 The Jewish leaders were looking for him at the festival. They asked, ‘Where is that man?’ 12 People in the crowd were talking quietly to each other about Jesus. Some people said, ‘He is a good man.’ But other people said, ‘No, he is telling the people things that are not true.’ 13 But nobody spoke in public places about him, because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.
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