Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader.
A prayer[a]
41 If someone is kind to poor people,
God blesses him.
When he is in trouble,
the Lord rescues him.
2 The Lord keeps him safe.
The Lord saves his life!
God causes him to be happy
here in the land where he lives.
The Lord will not put him under the power of his enemies.
3 The Lord takes care of him
when he is ill in bed.
Whenever he is ill,
you will make him completely well again.
4 I said, ‘Lord be kind to me
and forgive me.
I have done wrong things against you,
but please make me well again.’
5 My enemies say cruel things about me.
They say, ‘Surely he must die soon!
Then everyone will forget about him.’
6 When they come to see me,
they say that they are my friends.
But they think of ways to make me ashamed.
When they leave,
they tell everyone bad things about me.
7 All the people who hate me
insult me to other people.
My enemies make plans to hurt me.
8 They say, ‘He has a dangerous disease.
He will never get up from his bed.’
9 Even my special friend has turned against me.
He was someone that I trusted.
I often ate food with him in my home.[b]
10 But you, Lord, please be kind to me.
Raise me up to be well again.
Then I can punish my enemies as they have punished me.[c]
11 They have not won against me,
so I know that you are pleased with me!
12 You continue to help me because I do what is right.
You will let me stay near to you for ever.
13 Let us all praise the Lord,
who is Israel's great God!
Yes, praise him now and for ever!
Amen! Amen!
This is a special song that David wrote for the music leader.
It was when Doeg, the man from Edom, went to Saul and told him, ‘David went to the house of Ahimelech, the priest.’
Cruel words[a]
52 Strong man, why are you so proud
about the evil things that you like to do?
Remember that God's faithful love keeps me safe.
2 Your tongue is like a sharp knife!
You talk about how to hurt other people,
You speak nothing but lies.
3 You love to do evil things,
not good things.
You love to tell lies
more than the truth.
Selah.
4 You love to say cruel words.
You speak to deceive others.
5 But God will knock you down,
and he will break you into pieces.
He will take you away from your home.
He will remove you from this world where people live.
Selah.
6 Righteous people will see what has happened,
and they will be afraid.[b]
Then they will laugh at the wicked person,
and they will say,
7 ‘Look! This man did not trust God to keep him safe.
Instead, he trusted in his riches.
He thought that he could be cruel,
and that would keep him safe.’
8 But I am like a strong olive tree
that grows in the house of God.
I will always trust in God's faithful love for his people.
9 I will always praise you, God,
for what you have done.
I will trust you to help me,
together with all those who serve you.
This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader.
God, please help us![a]
44 God, we have heard it for ourselves.
Our ancestors told us
what you did for them a long time ago.
2 You used your power to chase away the other nations,
so that our ancestors could live in their land.
You punished those nations,
and you helped our ancestors to be free.
3 Our ancestors did not get the land
by the power of their own swords.
Their own strength did not win the fight.
It was your own power and strength that did it!
You were kind to them because you were their friend.
4 God, you are my king!
You command that Jacob's descendants
must win against their enemies.
5 Because of your power,
we can knock down our enemies.
Because of your strength,
we can beat them down.
6 I do not trust in my bow and arrows.
It is not my sword
that has helped me to win the fight.
7 It is you who rescues us from our enemies.
You bring shame on the people that hate us.
8 Every day, we praise you, God.
We will always thank you, all the time,
because you are great!
Selah.
9 But now you have turned against us.
You have made us ashamed.
When our armies go out to fight a battle,
you no longer go with us.
10 You make us run away from our enemies.
The people who hate us take from us whatever they like!
11 You have put us under their power,
so that they kill us like sheep for them to eat.
You have sent us away
to live in foreign countries.
12 You have sold your own people,
for almost nothing!
They had no value to you.
13 The people who live in countries near us
do not respect us.
They laugh at us
and they insult us.
14 The other nations tell jokes about us.
They think that we are nothing.
15 I feel ashamed all the time.
I do not know where to look.
16 This is because my cruel enemies are always insulting me.
All they want is to hurt me.
17 We have not turned away from you,
but all this has happened to us.
We have not turned against the covenant that you made with us.
18 We have continued to serve you
and obey your commands.
19 But you have broken us in pieces.
You have left us for wild dogs to eat.
You have covered us with the darkness of death.
20 We might have turned against you, our God,
and worshipped a strange god.
21 But if we had done that,
you would have discovered it.
You know even our most secret thoughts.
22 But, because we are your people, God,
people try to kill us all the time.
They think that we are like sheep
and we are ready to be killed.
23 Lord, do something!
Why are you sleeping? Wake up!
Do not turn away from us for ever!
24 Why do you turn away from us?
Why do you forget our troubles
and the way that people hurt us?
25 We have fallen down in the dirt.
Our bodies are lying on the ground.
26 Wake up and help us!
Save us, because of your faithful love.
Elihu now speaks to Job[a]
32 Job would not agree that he had done anything that was wrong. So his three friends refused to argue with him any more. 2 Another man was also there. His name was Elihu, Barakel's son. Barakel was a descendant of Buz. He belonged to Ram's clan.
Elihu became very angry with Job. He was angry because Job continued to say that he was not guilty. Job said that God was wrong to punish him. 3 Elihu was also angry with Job's three friends. They had not been able to find an answer to Job's problem. But they still said that Job was guilty. 4 Elihu had waited for Job's three friends to speak before he spoke to Job himself. He waited because he was younger than them. 5 But he became angry when Job's three friends had nothing more to say. So he finally decided to speak.
6 Barakel's son, Elihu, said this:
‘I am young and you are old.
So I was afraid to tell you what I was thinking.
7 I thought, “Older men should speak.
They have lived for many years and they should share their wisdom.”
8 But it is a person's spirit that helps them to understand things.
Almighty God has to put his breath into them.
9 Not all old people are wise.
Old people do not always understand what is right.
10 So I say, “Listen to me.
I too will explain what I know.”
19 I cannot keep quiet any longer!
I am like a bag that is full of new wine.
I am ready to break so that everything pours out!
20 So I have to speak or I will become ill.
I must open my mouth and reply to you.
21 I will be fair in what I say.
I will not give honour to anyone to get their help.
22 I am too honest to do that.
If I am not fair,
God, my Maker, would quickly remove me.’
Elihu continues to speak
33 ‘But now, Job, listen to the things that I will tell you.
Listen carefully to everything that I will say.
19 Or God may warn people with a painful illness.
He may make their bodies hurt all the time.
20 Then they do not want to eat anything.
They cannot eat even the best food.
21 Their bodies become very thin.
People can even see their bones.
22 They will soon die and go to their graves.
Death is waiting to take them away.
23 But perhaps an angel may come
to help one of those people.
He may speak on behalf of God,
as a special angel among the many thousands of God's angels.
The angel may tell that person
how to live in a way that is right.
24 Then God will be kind to that person.
God will say, “Save that person,
so that he does not go to his grave.
I have found someone to pay the price for his life.
So keep him alive.”
25 Then that person's body will become healthy again.
He will be strong, like a young man.
26 When he prays to God,
God will be happy to answer him.
He will again worship God with joy.
And God will give him a good way of life again.
27 That person will say clearly to everyone,
“I did things that were not right.
I did wrong things,
but God did not punish me as I deserved.
28 God rescued me from death,
so that I did not go to my grave.
Now I will enjoy life in the light.”
44 On the next Jewish day of rest, almost everyone in the town came together to hear the Lord God's message. 45 But when some Jews saw the crowds of people, they became angry. They were very jealous because the people listened to Paul and Barnabas. They said that Paul was teaching wrong things. They also said bad things against him.
46 But Paul and Barnabas were not afraid of them. They said to them, ‘It was right that we first tell you who are Jews the message from God. But now you say that God's message is not true. You have shown that you do not deserve true life with God. So we will leave you now. We will go and tell this message to the Gentiles.
47 The Lord God has also told us to do this. He said:
“I have chosen you to be like a light to the Gentiles.
You must go to people everywhere in the world.
You must tell them how God wants to save them.” ’[a]
48 When the Gentiles there heard this, they were very happy. They thanked God for the message about the Lord Jesus. Many people believed in Jesus. They were the people that God had chosen to have true life with him.
49 Many people in that part of the country heard the message about the Lord Jesus. 50 But the Jewish leaders spoke to the important men in the city. They also spoke to some rich women who worshipped God. The Jewish leaders told them bad things about Paul and Barnabas. So these important people started to speak against Paul and Barnabas. They caused Paul and Barnabas to leave that region. 51 So Paul and Barnabas cleaned the dirt of that place off their feet. This showed that the people in that town had done a bad thing. Paul and Barnabas then travelled to a town called Iconium.
52 The believers in Antioch continued to be very happy. The Holy Spirit completely filled them.
19 Again, the Jews could not agree about these things that Jesus said. 20 Many of them said, ‘He has a demon in him and he is crazy. You should not listen to him!’ 21 But other people said, ‘A man with a demon in him could not teach like this! A demon could not make blind people able to see!’
The Jewish leaders do not believe in Jesus
22 It was the time for the Jewish Festival called Hanukkah.[a] This happened in Jerusalem. It was winter.
23 Jesus was walking in the yard of the temple, under a place with a roof. The place was called Solomon's porch. 24 The Jewish leaders stood around him. They said to him, ‘We want to know who you are. When will you tell us? If you are the Messiah, tell us clearly.’ 25 Jesus answered, ‘I have already told you, but you do not believe. The things that I do by my Father's authority show you who I am. 26 But you refuse to believe, because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me. 28 I give them life for ever with God. They will never die. Nobody can ever take them away from me. 29 My Father has given them to me. He is greater than all things. Nobody can ever take my sheep out of my Father's hand. 30 My Father and I are one.’
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