Book of Common Prayer
25 To you, O Lord, I pray. 2 Don’t fail me, Lord, for I am trusting you. Don’t let my enemies succeed. Don’t give them victory over me. 3 None of those who have faith in God will ever be disgraced for trusting him. But all who harm the innocent shall be defeated.
4 Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk. 5 Lead me; teach me; for you are the God who gives me salvation. I have no hope except in you. 6-7 Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.
8 The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; 9 he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him. 10 And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.
11 But Lord, my sins! How many they are. Oh, pardon them for the honor of your name.
12 Where is the man who fears the Lord? God will teach him how to choose the best.
13 He shall live within God’s circle of blessing, and his children shall inherit the earth.
14 Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.
15 My eyes are ever looking to the Lord for help, for he alone can rescue me. 16 Come, Lord, and show me your mercy, for I am helpless, overwhelmed, in deep distress; 17 my problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! 18 See my sorrows; feel my pain; forgive my sins. 19 See how many enemies I have and how viciously they hate me! 20 Save me from them! Deliver my life from their power! Oh, let it never be said that I trusted you in vain!
21 Assign me Godliness and Integrity as my bodyguards, for I expect you to protect me 22 and to ransom Israel from all her troubles.
9 O Lord, I will praise you with all my heart and tell everyone about the marvelous things you do. 2 I will be glad, yes, filled with joy because of you. I will sing your praises, O Lord God above all gods.[a]
3 My enemies will fall back and perish in your presence; 4 you have vindicated me; you have endorsed my work, declaring from your throne that it is good.[b] 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked, blotting out their names forever and ever. 6 O enemies of mine, you are doomed forever. The Lord will destroy your cities; even the memory of them will disappear.
7-8 But the Lord lives on forever; he sits upon his throne to judge justly the nations of the world. 9 All who are oppressed may come to him. He is a refuge for them in their times of trouble. 10 All those who know your mercy, Lord, will count on you for help. For you have never yet forsaken those who trust in you.
11 Oh, sing out your praises to the God who lives in Jerusalem.[c] Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds. 12 He who avenges murder has an open ear to those who cry to him for justice. He does not ignore the prayers of men in trouble when they call to him for help.
13 And now, O Lord, have mercy on me; see how I suffer at the hands of those who hate me. Lord, snatch me back from the jaws of death. 14 Save me, so that I can praise you publicly before all the people at Jerusalem’s gates[d] and rejoice that you have rescued me.
15 The nations fall into the pitfalls they have dug for others; the trap they set has snapped on them. 16 The Lord is famous for the way he punishes the wicked in their own snares![e]
17 The wicked shall be sent away to hell; this is the fate of all the nations forgetting the Lord. 18 For the needs of the needy shall not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor shall not always be crushed.
19 O Lord, arise and judge and punish the nations; don’t let them defy you! 20 Make them tremble in fear; put the nations in their place until at last they know they are but puny men.
15 Lord, who may go and find refuge and shelter in your tabernacle up on your holy hill?
2 Anyone who leads a blameless life and is truly sincere. 3 Anyone who refuses to slander others, does not listen to gossip, never harms his neighbor, 4 speaks out against sin, criticizes those committing it, commends the faithful followers of the Lord, keeps a promise even if it ruins him, 5 does not crush his debtors with high interest rates, and refuses to testify against the innocent despite the bribes offered him—such a man shall stand firm forever.
12 Job’s reply:
2 “Yes, I realize you know everything! All wisdom will die with you! 3 Well, I know a few things myself—you are no better than I am. And who doesn’t know these things you’ve been saying? 4 I, the man who begged God for help, and God answered him, have become a laughingstock to my neighbors. Yes, I, a righteous man, am now the man they scoff at. 5 Meanwhile, the rich mock those in trouble and are quick to despise all those in need. 6 For robbers prosper. Go ahead and provoke God—it makes no difference! He will supply your every need anyway!
13 But true wisdom and power are God’s. He alone knows what we should do; he understands.
14 “And how great is his might! What he destroys can’t be rebuilt. When he closes in on a man, there is no escape. 15 He withholds the rain, and the earth becomes a desert; he sends the storms and floods the ground. 16 Yes, with him is strength and wisdom. Deceivers and deceived are both his slaves.
17 “He makes fools of counselors and judges. 18 He reduces kings to slaves and frees their servants. 19 Priests are led away as slaves. He overthrows the mighty. 20 He takes away the voice of orators and the insight of the elders. 21 He pours contempt upon princes and weakens the strong. 22 He floods the darkness with light, even the dark shadow of death. 23 He raises up a nation and then destroys it. He makes it great, and then reduces it to nothing. 24-25 He takes away the understanding of presidents and kings, and leaves them wandering, lost and groping, without a guiding light.
19 Meanwhile, the believers who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, scattering the Good News, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene also gave their message about the Lord Jesus to some Greeks. 21 And the Lord honored this effort so that large numbers of these Gentiles became believers.
22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to help the new converts. 23 When he arrived and saw the wonderful things God was doing, he was filled with excitement and joy, and encouraged the believers to stay close to the Lord, whatever the cost. 24 Barnabas was a kindly person, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. As a result, large numbers of people were added to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to hunt for Paul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch; and both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the many new converts. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called “Christians.”)
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, 28 and one of them, named Agabus, stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the land of Israel.[a] (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers decided to send relief to the Christians in Judea, each giving as much as he could. 30 This they did, consigning their gifts to Barnabas and Paul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
21 Later he said to them again, “I am going away; and you will search for me, and die in your sins. And you cannot come where I am going.”
22 The Jews asked, “Is he planning suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”
23 Then he said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, you will die in your sins.”
25 “Tell us who you are,” they demanded.
He replied, “I am the one I have always claimed to be. 26 I could condemn you for much and teach you much, but I won’t, for I say only what I am told to by the one who sent me; and he is Truth.” 27 But they still didn’t understand that he was talking to them about God.[a]
28 So Jesus said, “When you have killed the Messiah,[b] then you will realize that I am he and that I have not been telling you my own ideas, but have spoken what the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me—for I always do those things that are pleasing to him.”
30-31 Then many of the Jewish leaders who heard him say these things began believing him to be the Messiah.
Jesus said to them, “You are truly my disciples if you live as I tell you to, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.