Book of Common Prayer
31 Lord, I trust in you alone. Don’t let my enemies defeat me. Rescue me because you are the God who always does what is right. 2 Answer quickly when I cry to you; bend low and hear my whispered plea.[a] Be for me a great Rock of safety from my foes. 3 Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress; honor your name by leading me out of this peril. 4 Pull me from the trap my enemies have set for me. For you alone are strong enough.[b] 5-6 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have rescued me, O God who keeps his promises. I worship only you; how you hate all those who worship idols, those imitation gods. 7 I am radiant with joy because of your mercy, for you have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul. 8 You have not handed me over to my enemy but have given me open ground in which to maneuver.
9-10 O Lord, have mercy on me in my anguish. My eyes are red from weeping; my health is broken from sorrow. I am pining away with grief; my years are shortened, drained away because of sadness. My sins have sapped my strength; I stoop with sorrow and with shame.[c] 11 I am scorned by all my enemies and even more by my neighbors and friends. They dread meeting me and look the other way when I go by. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man, like a broken and discarded pot. 13 I heard the lies about me, the slanders of my enemies. Everywhere I looked I was afraid, for they were plotting against my life.
14-15 But I am trusting you, O Lord. I said, “You alone are my God; my times are in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. 16 Let your favor shine again upon your servant; save me just because you are so kind! 17 Don’t disgrace me, Lord, by not replying when I call to you for aid. But let the wicked be shamed by what they trust in; let them lie silently in their graves, 18 their lying lips quieted at last—the lips of these arrogant men who are accusing honest men of evil deeds.”
19 Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you.
20 Hide your loved ones in the shelter of your presence, safe beneath your hand, safe from all conspiring men. 21 Blessed is the Lord, for he has shown me that his never-failing love protects me like the walls of a fort! 22 I spoke too hastily when I said, “The Lord has deserted me,” for you listened to my plea and answered me.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all of you who are his people; for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but harshly punishes all who haughtily reject him. 24 So cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord.
35 O Lord, fight those fighting me; declare war on them for their attacks on me. 2 Put on your armor, take your shield and protect me by standing in front. 3 Lift your spear in my defense, for my pursuers are getting very close. Let me hear you say that you will save me from them. 4 Dishonor those who are trying to kill me. Turn them back and confuse them. 5 Blow them away like chaff in the wind—wind sent by the Angel of the Lord. 6 Make their path dark and slippery before them, with the Angel of the Lord pursuing them. 7 For though I did them no wrong, yet they laid a trap for me and dug a pitfall in my path. 8 Let them be overtaken by sudden ruin, caught in their own net and destroyed.
9 But I will rejoice in the Lord. He shall rescue me! 10 From the bottom of my heart praise rises to him. Where is his equal in all of heaven and earth? Who else protects the weak and helpless from the strong, and the poor and needy from those who would rob them?
11 These evil men swear to a lie. They accuse me of things I have never even heard about. 12 I do them good, but they return me harm. I am sinking down to death. 13 When they were ill, I mourned before the Lord in sackcloth, asking him to make them well; I refused to eat; I prayed for them with utmost earnestness, but God did not listen. 14 I went about sadly as though it were my mother, friend, or brother who was sick and nearing death. 15 But now that I am in trouble they are glad; they come together in meetings filled with slander against me—I didn’t even know some of those who were there. 16 For they gather with the worthless fellows of the town and spend their time cursing me.
17 Lord, how long will you stand there, doing nothing? Act now and rescue me, for I have but one life and these young lions are out to get it. 18 Save me, and I will thank you publicly before the entire congregation, before the largest crowd I can find.
19 Don’t give victory to those who fight me without any reason! Don’t let them rejoice[a] at my fall—let them die. 20 They don’t talk of peace and doing good, but of plots against innocent men who are minding their own business. 21 They shout that they have seen me doing wrong! “Aha!” they say. “With our own eyes we saw him do it.” 22 Lord, you know all about it. Don’t stay silent! Don’t desert me now!
23 Rise up, O Lord my God; vindicate me. 24 Declare me “not guilty,” for you are just.[b] Don’t let my enemies rejoice over me in my troubles. 25 Don’t let them say, “Aha! Our dearest wish against him will soon be fulfilled!” and, “At last we have him!” 26 Shame them; let these who boast against me and who rejoice at my troubles be themselves overcome by misfortune that strips them bare of everything they own. Bare them to dishonor. 27 But give great joy to all who wish me well. Let them shout with delight, “Great is the Lord who enjoys helping his child!”[c] 28 And I will tell everyone how great and good you are; I will praise you all day long.
19 The reply of Job:
2 “How long are you going to trouble me, and try to break me with your words? 3 Ten times now you have declared I am a sinner. Why aren’t you ashamed to deal with me so harshly? 4 And if indeed I was wrong, you have yet to prove it. 5 You think yourselves so great? Then prove my guilt!
6 “The fact of the matter is that God has overthrown me and caught me in his net. 7 I scream for help and no one hears me. I shriek, but get no justice.
14 My relatives have failed me; my friends have all forsaken me. 15 Those living in my home, even my servants, regard me as a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them. 16 I call my servant, but he doesn’t come; I even beg him! 17 My own wife and brothers refuse to recognize me. 18 Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they mock.
19 “My best friends abhor me. Those I loved have turned against me. 20 I am skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Oh, my friends, pity me, for the angry hand of God has touched me. 22 Why must you persecute me as God does? Why aren’t you satisfied with my anguish? 23-24 Oh, that I could write my plea with an iron pen in the rock forever.
25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And I know that after this body has decayed, this body shall see God![a] 27 Then he will be on my side! Yes, I shall see him, not as a stranger, but as a friend! What a glorious hope!
13 Now Paul and those with him left Paphos by ship for Turkey,[a] landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark deserted them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But Barnabas and Paul went on to Antioch, a city in the province of Pisidia.
On the Sabbath they went into the synagogue for the services. 15 After the usual readings from the Books of Moses and from the Prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of instruction for us come and give it!”
16 So Paul stood, waved a greeting to them[b] and began. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and all others here who reverence God, let me begin my remarks with a bit of history.
17 “The God of this nation Israel chose our ancestors and honored them in Egypt by gloriously leading them out of their slavery. 18 And he nursed them through forty years of wandering around in the wilderness. 19-20 Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave Israel their land as an inheritance. Judges ruled for about four hundred and fifty years and were followed by Samuel the prophet.
21 “Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul (son of Kish), a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 But God removed him and replaced him with David as king, a man about whom God said, ‘David (son of Jesse) is a man after my own heart, for he will obey me.’ 23 And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!
24 “But before he came, John the Baptist preached the need for everyone in Israel to turn from sin to God. 25 As John was finishing his work he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No! But he is coming soon—and in comparison with him, I am utterly worthless.’
18 The Jewish leaders wouldn’t believe he had been blind, until they called in his parents 19 and asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he see?”
20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know what happened to make him see, or who did it. He is old enough to speak for himself. Ask him.”
22-23 They said this in fear of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be excommunicated.
24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “Give the glory to God, not to Jesus, for we know Jesus is an evil person.”
25 “I don’t know whether he is good or bad,” the man replied, “but I know this: I was blind, and now I see!”
26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”
27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once; didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know God has spoken to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t know anything about him.”
30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He can heal blind men, and yet you don’t know anything about him! 31 Well, God doesn’t listen to evil men, but he has open ears to those who worship him and do his will. 32 Since the world began there has never been anyone who could open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do it.”
34 “You illegitimate bastard,[a] you!” they shouted. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out.
35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and said, “Do you believe in the Messiah?”[b]
36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir, for I want to.”
37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”
38 “Yes, Lord,” the man said, “I believe!” And he worshiped Jesus.
39 Then Jesus told him, “I have come into the world to give sight to those who are spiritually blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”
40 The Pharisees who were standing there asked, “Are you saying we are blind?”
41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But your guilt remains because you claim to know what you are doing.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.