Book of Common Prayer
To the director: A song of David.
41 Those who help the poor succeed will get many blessings.[a]
When trouble comes, the Lord will save them.
2 The Lord will protect them and save their lives.
He will bless them in this land.
He will not let their enemies harm them.
3 When they are sick in bed,
the Lord will give them strength and make them well!
4 I say, “Lord, be kind to me.
I sinned against you, but forgive me and make me well.”
5 My enemies say bad things about me.
They ask, “When will he die and be forgotten?”
6 If they come to see me,
they don’t say what they are really thinking.
They come to gather a little gossip
and then go to spread their rumors.
7 Those who hate me whisper about me.
They think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He did something wrong.
That is why he is sick.
He will never get well.”
9 My best friend, the one I trusted,
the one who ate with me—even he has turned against me.
10 Lord, please be kind to me.
Let me get up, and I will pay them back.
11 Don’t let my enemy defeat me.
Then I will know that you care for me.
12 I was innocent and you supported me.
You let me stand and serve you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He always was, and he always will be.
Amen and Amen!
To the director: A maskil of David written when Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Great warrior, why are you bragging about the evil you did?
You are a disgrace to God.
2 You are nothing but a hired killer,[a]
making plans to hurt people and making up lies!
3 You love evil more than goodness.
You love lies more than truth. Selah
4 You and your lying tongue love to hurt people.
5 So God will ruin you forever!
He will grab you and pull you from your home,[b] like someone pulling up a plant by the roots![c] Selah
6 Good people will see this
and learn to fear and respect God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the warrior who did not depend on God.
That fool thought his wealth and lies would protect him.”
8 But I am like a green olive tree growing in God’s Temple.
I will trust God’s faithful love forever and ever.
9 God, I praise you forever for what you have done.
I will speak your name[d] before your followers because it is so good!
To the director: A maskil from the Korah family.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our fathers told us what you did in their lifetime.
They told us what you did long ago.
2 With your great power you took this land from other people,
and you gave it to us.
You crushed those foreigners
and forced them to leave this land.
3 It was not our fathers’ swords that took the land.
It was not their strong arms that brought them victory.
It was your power.
It was because you accepted them and smiled down on them.
4 God, you are my king.
Give the command and lead Jacob’s people to victory.
5 We need your help to push our enemies back.
Only in your name can we trample those who attacked us.
6 I don’t put my trust in my bow.
My sword cannot save me.
7 You are the one who saved us from our enemies.
You are the one who put our enemies to shame.
8 We have praised you all day long,
and we will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you left us and put us to shame.
You did not go with us into battle.
10 You let our enemies push us back.
You let them take our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be killed and eaten.
You scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing.
You did not even argue over the price.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors.
They laugh and make fun of us.
14 You made us one of the stories that people love to tell.
People all over the world laugh at us and shake their heads.
15 All I can think about is my shame.
Just look at my face, and you will see it.
16 All I can hear are the jokes and insults of my enemies,
as I watch them take their revenge.
17 We have not forgotten you.
But you do all those things to us.
We did not break the agreement you gave us.
18 We did not turn away from you.
We did not stop following you.
19 But you crushed us in this home of jackals.
You left us in this place as dark as death.
20 Did we forget the name of our God?
Did we pray to foreign gods?
21 If we did, then God knows it,
because he knows our deepest secrets.
22 All day long we died for you.
We are like sheep being led away to be killed.
23 Lord, wake up!
Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t ignore us forever!
24 Why are you hiding from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt.
We are lying face down in the dust.[a]
26 Get up and help us!
Rescue us because of your faithful love.
Elihu Adds to the Argument
32 Then Job’s three friends gave up trying to answer him, because he was so sure that he was innocent. 2 But there was a young man there named Elihu son of Barakel. He was a descendant of a man named Buz. Elihu was from the family of Ram. He became very angry because Job kept saying he was innocent—that he was right and God was wrong. 3 Elihu was also angry with Job’s three friends because they could not answer him, and yet they still considered him guilty of doing wrong. 4 Elihu was the youngest one there, so he had waited until everyone finished talking. 5 But when he saw that Job’s three friends had nothing more to say, his anger forced him to speak. 6 So here’s what Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said:
“I am only a young man, and you are all older.
That is why I was afraid to tell you what I think.
7 I thought to myself, ‘Older people should speak first.
They have lived many years, so they have learned many things.’
8 But it is the spirit in people, the breath from God All-Powerful,
that makes them understand.
9 Old men are not the only wise people.
They are not the only ones who understand what is right.
10 “So please listen to me,
and I will tell you what I think.
19 I feel like a jar of wine that has never been opened.
I am like a new wineskin ready to burst.
20 I must speak so that I will feel better.
I must answer your arguments.
21 I will treat you the same as I would treat anyone else.
I will not praise you to win your favor.
22 I cannot treat one person better than another.
If I did, God my Maker would punish me!
33 “Now, Job, listen to me.
Listen carefully to what I say.
19 “Or those who are sick in bed might be suffering punishment from God.
The pain that makes their bones ache might be a warning from him.
20 They feel so bad they cannot eat.
Even the best food makes them sick.
21 Their bodies might waste away until they become thin
and all their bones stick out.
22 They might be close to death,
their lives about to end.
23 But maybe one of God’s thousands of angels is watching over them,
to speak for them and tell about the good things they have done.
24 Maybe the angel will be kind and say to God,
‘Save this one from the place of death!
I have found a way to pay for his life.’
25 Then that person’s body will become young and strong again.
He will be as he was when he was young.
26 He will pray and God will answer.
He will worship God and shout with joy.
He will again stand as right before God.
27 He will tell everyone, ‘I sinned.
I changed good into bad,
but God didn’t give me the punishment I deserved!
28 God saved me from going down to the place of death.
Now I can enjoy life again.’
44 On the next Sabbath day, almost all the people in the city came together to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews there saw all these people, they became very jealous. Shouting insults, they argued against everything Paul said. 46 But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, “We had to tell God’s message to you Jews first, but you refuse to listen. You have made it clear that you are not worthy of having eternal life. So we will now go to those who are not Jews. 47 This is what the Lord told us to do:
‘I have made you a light for the other nations,
to show people all over the world the way to be saved.’” (A)
48 When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message of the Lord, and many of them believed it. These were the ones chosen to have eternal life.
49 And so the message of the Lord was being told throughout the whole country. 50 But the Jews there caused some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city to be angry and turn against Paul and Barnabas and throw them out of town. 51 So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet.[a] Then they went to the city of Iconium. 52 But the Lord’s followers in Antioch were happy and filled with the Holy Spirit.
19 Again the Jews were divided over what Jesus was saying. 20 Many of them said, “A demon has come into him and made him crazy. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These aren’t the words of someone controlled by a demon. A demon cannot heal the eyes of a blind man.”
The Jewish Leaders Against Jesus
22 It was winter, and the time came for the Festival of Dedication[a] at Jerusalem. 23 Jesus was in the Temple area at Solomon’s Porch. 24 The Jewish leaders gathered around him. They said, “How long will you make us wonder about you? If you are the Messiah, then tell us clearly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I told you already, but you did not believe. I do miracles in my Father’s name. These miracles show who I am. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give my sheep eternal life. They will never die, and no one can take them out of my hand. 29 My Father is the one who gave them to me, and he is greater than all.[b] No one can steal my sheep out of his hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International