Book of Common Prayer
The Law of the Lord
119 Happy are those whose lives are faultless,
who live according to the law of the Lord.
2 Happy are those who follow his commands,
who obey him with all their heart.
3 They never do wrong;
they walk in the Lord's ways.
4 Lord, you have given us your laws
and told us to obey them faithfully.
5 How I hope that I shall be faithful
in keeping your instructions!
6 If I pay attention to all your commands,
then I will not be put to shame.
7 As I learn your righteous judgments,
I will praise you with a pure heart.
8 I will obey your laws;
never abandon me!
Obedience to the Law of the Lord
9 How can young people keep their lives pure?
By obeying your commands.
10 With all my heart I try to serve you;
keep me from disobeying your commandments.
11 I keep your law in my heart,
so that I will not sin against you.
12 I praise you, O Lord;
teach me your ways.
13 I will repeat aloud
all the laws you have given.
14 I delight in following your commands
more than in having great wealth.
15 I study your instructions;
I examine your teachings.
16 I take pleasure in your laws;
your commands I will not forget.
Happiness in the Law of the Lord
17 Be good to me, your servant,
so that I may live and obey your teachings.
18 Open my eyes, so that I may see
the wonderful truths in your law.
19 I am here on earth for just a little while;
do not hide your commands from me.
20 My heart aches with longing;
I want to know your judgments at all times.
21 You reprimand the proud;
cursed are those who disobey your commands.
22 Free me from their insults and scorn,
because I have kept your laws.
23 The rulers meet and plot against me,
but I will study your teachings.
24 Your instructions give me pleasure;
they are my advisers.
A Prayer for Help[a]
12 Help us, Lord!
There is not a good person left;
honest people can no longer be found.
2 All of them lie to one another;
they deceive each other with flattery.
3 Silence those flattering tongues, O Lord!
Close those boastful mouths that say,
4 “With our words we get what we want.
We will say what we wish,
and no one can stop us.”
5 “But now I will come,” says the Lord,
“because the needy are oppressed
and the persecuted groan in pain.
I will give them the security they long for.”
6 The promises of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver
refined seven times in the furnace.
7-8 The wicked are everywhere,
and everyone praises what is evil.
Keep us always safe, O Lord,
and preserve us from such people.
A Prayer for Help[b]
13 How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How much longer will you hide yourself from me?
2 How long must I endure trouble?
How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night?
How long will my enemies triumph over me?
3 Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me.
Restore my strength; don't let me die.
4 Don't let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.”
Don't let them gloat over my downfall.
5 I rely on your constant love;
I will be glad, because you will rescue me.
6 I will sing to you, O Lord,
because you have been good to me.
Human Wickedness[c](A)
14 (B)Fools say to themselves,
“There is no God!”
They are all corrupt,
and they have done terrible things;
there is no one who does what is right.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven at us humans
to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
3 But they have all gone wrong;
they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right,
not a single one.
4 “Don't they know?” asks the Lord.
“Are all these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
and they never pray to me.”
5 But then they will be terrified,
for God is with those who obey him.
6 Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble,
but the Lord is their protection.
7 How I pray that victory
will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
when the Lord makes them prosperous again!
6 1-2 If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales,
7 Human life is like forced army service,
like a life of hard manual labor,
2 like a slave longing for cool shade;
like a worker waiting to be paid.
3 Month after month I have nothing to live for;
night after night brings me grief.
4 When I lie down to sleep, the hours drag;
I toss all night and long for dawn.
5 My body is full of worms;
it is covered with scabs;
pus runs out of my sores.
6 My days pass by without hope,
pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.[a]
7 Remember, O God, my life is only a breath;
my happiness has already ended.
8 You see me now, but never again.
If you look for me, I'll be gone.
9-10 (A)Like a cloud that fades and is gone,
we humans die and never return;
we are forgotten by all who knew us.
11 No! I can't be quiet!
I am angry and bitter.
I have to speak.
12 Why do you keep me under guard?
Do you think I am a sea monster?[b]
13 I lie down and try to rest;
I look for relief from my pain.
14 But you—you terrify me with dreams;
you send me visions and nightmares
15 until I would rather be strangled
than live in this miserable body.
16 I give up; I am tired of living.
Leave me alone. My life makes no sense.
17 (B)Why are people so important to you?
Why pay attention to what they do?
18 You inspect them every morning
and test them every minute.
19 Won't you look away long enough
for me to swallow my spit?
20 Are you harmed by my sin, you jailer?
Why use me for your target practice?
Am I so great a burden to you?
21 Can't you ever forgive my sin?
Can't you pardon the wrong I do?
Soon I will be in my grave,
and I'll be gone when you look for me.
Peter and Cornelius
10 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, who was a captain in the Roman army regiment called “The Italian Regiment.” 2 He was a religious man; he and his whole family worshiped God. He also did much to help the Jewish poor people and was constantly praying to God. 3 It was about three o'clock one afternoon when he had a vision, in which he clearly saw an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius!”
4 He stared at the angel in fear and said, “What is it, sir?”
The angel answered, “God is pleased with your prayers and works of charity, and is ready to answer you. 5 And now send some men to Joppa for a certain man whose full name is Simon Peter. 6 He is a guest in the home of a tanner of leather named Simon, who lives by the sea.” 7 Then the angel went away, and Cornelius called two of his house servants and a soldier, a religious man who was one of his personal attendants. 8 He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.
9 (A)The next day, as they were on their way and coming near Joppa, Peter went up on the roof of the house about noon in order to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; while the food was being prepared, he had a vision. 11 He saw heaven opened and something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and wild birds. 13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”
14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything ritually unclean or defiled.”
15 The voice spoke to him again, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.” 16 This happened three times, and then the thing was taken back up into heaven.
Jesus and His Brothers
7 After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee; he did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jewish authorities there were wanting to kill him. 2 (A)The time for the Festival of Shelters was near, 3 so Jesus' brothers said to him, “Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your followers will see the things that you are doing. 4 People don't hide what they are doing if they want to be well known. Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you!” (5 Not even his brothers believed in him.)
6 Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come. Any time is right for you. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad. 8 You go on to the festival. I am not going[a] to this festival, because the right time has not come for me.” 9 He said this and then stayed on in Galilee.
Jesus at the Festival of Shelters
10 After his brothers had gone to the festival, Jesus also went; however, he did not go openly, but secretly. 11 The Jewish authorities were looking for him at the festival. “Where is he?” they asked.
12 There was much whispering about him in the crowd. “He is a good man,” some people said. “No,” others said, “he fools the people.” 13 But no one talked about him openly, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities.
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.