Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN
49 Remember the word that you have spoken to me, your servant.
You have made me put my hope in it.
50 When I have trouble,
your promise gives me peace in my mind.
It makes my life strong again.
51 Proud people laugh at me all the time.
But I do not turn away from your Law.
52 Lord, I remember the rules that you made long ago.
When I do that, I feel happy.
53 When wicked people turn against your Law,
I become very angry.
54 Wherever I live, I sing songs about your rules.
55 In the night, Lord, I think about who you are.
I will continue to obey your Law.
56 This is what I do every day:
I obey your teaching.
HETH
57 Lord, you are everything that I need.
I promise to obey your rules.
58 I ask you, ‘Please, please take care of me.
Be kind and forgive me,
as you have promised to do.’
59 I have thought about the way that I live.
I have decided to return to your teaching.
60 I will be quick to obey your commands.
I will not be slow to do that.
61 Wicked people try to catch me in their traps,
but I will not forget your Law.
62 I get up in the middle of the night to praise you.
I thank you for your fair rules.
63 I am a friend of everyone who respects you,
and who obeys your teaching.
64 Lord, your faithful love is everywhere!
Please teach me your commands.
TETH
65 Lord, you have blessed me, your servant,
as you have promised to do.
66 Teach me to understand what is right,
because I trust your commands.
67 Before you showed me what was right, I made mistakes,
but now I obey your teaching.
68 You are good and you do good things.
So please teach me your laws.
69 Proud people have told many lies against me,
but I love to obey your rules.
70 Those people do not understand anything,
but your Law makes me very happy.
71 When I suffered, it was good for me.
It helped me to learn your commands.
72 The rules that you have taught me are very valuable.
They are more valuable to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
Riches cannot save you
49 Listen to this, people from every nation.
Yes, listen carefully,
everyone who lives in this world!
2 All people must listen, whoever you are,
whether you are rich people or poor people.
3 I will speak wise words to you.
When you know my thoughts,
you will understand things better.
4 I have studied proverbs.
I explain what they mean
as I make music on my harp.
5 When trouble comes,
why am I afraid?
When cruel people are all round me,
and they want to hurt me,
why am I afraid?
6 Those people think that their money will keep them safe.
They are proud about their riches.
7 Nobody can pay the price to save another person.
Nobody can pay God the price for their life.
8 A human life costs too much to buy it back.
Nobody could ever pay enough.
9 So nobody can live for ever.
Everyone goes to their grave one day.
10 Surely you see that even wise people die,
in the way that fools and stupid people also die.
Then their money will belong to someone else.
11 Their graves will be their homes for ever.
They had their own land,
which was called by their name,
12 but people do not live for ever,
even if they are very rich.
They will die, just like the animals.
13 The same thing will happen to fools,
and to those who copy their way of life.
Selah.
14 They will follow one another like sheep.
Death will be their shepherd
that leads them into their graves.
But when the day arrives,
righteous people will rule over them.
They will no longer live in their great houses,
but death will destroy their bodies in their graves.
15 But God will save my life from the power of death.
He will take me to a safe place with him.
Selah.
16 If somebody becomes rich
and he has more and more things,
do not be afraid![a]
17 He cannot take anything with him when he dies.
His riches cannot go with him into death.
18 While he lived, he was happy with his life.
He thought, ‘People will praise me,
because I am rich.’
19 But he will join his ancestors in death.
He will never see the light of day again.
20 Rich people do not always understand the truth.
They will die, just like the animals.
David wrote this special song for the music leader. Use the music called Mahalath.
People are wicked[a]
53 A fool thinks that there is no God.
People like that are bad.
They do evil things.
None of them does anything that is good.
2 God looks down from heaven
at the people on earth.
He wants to see if there is anyone who is really wise
and who wants to know God.
3 But they have all turned away.
They have all become evil.
Nobody does anything that is good,
not even one person.
4 People who do wicked things understand nothing.
They destroy my people
as easily as they eat bread.
They never pray to God.
5 But now they are very afraid
when there is nothing to be afraid of!
God has completely won against his enemies,
the people that attack you, his people.
God has turned against them,
so you are able to make them ashamed!
6 God, you are the one who saves your people, Israel!
Leave your home in Zion
and make your people strong again!
When God blesses his people,
Jacob's descendants will sing!
Yes, Israel's people will be very happy![b]
Job speaks about his life[a]
29 Job continued to speak. This is what he said:
Job continues to speak[a]
30 ‘But now it is different.
Men who are younger than I am laugh at me.
I would not even trust their fathers
to take care of my sheep.
2 The work that those old men could do was no help to me.
They no longer were strong.
16 Now I know that my life will soon end.
Every day I continue to suffer.
17 At night, my bones are painful.
The pain is always there in my body.
18 God has used his power to take hold of me.
He has held my shirt around my neck.
19 He has thrown me down into the mud.
I am no better than dust and ashes on the ground.
20 I call aloud to you, God,
but you do not answer me.
When I stand to pray,
you only look at me.
21 You have become cruel to me.
You have used your strength to attack me.
22 You take hold of me and you carry me away,
like a strong wind that blows.
You use a storm to destroy me.
23 I know that you are already taking me to my death.
Everyone who lives has to go to that place.
24 When someone is weak and in trouble,
people do not usually try to hurt him.
When someone calls aloud for help,
they do not refuse to help him.
25 When other people were in trouble,
I wept for them.
When I saw poor people
it made me very upset.
26 But when I hoped for good things to happen,
trouble came instead.
When I looked for light to shine on me,
everything became dark.
27 I hurt inside me all the time.
Every day I suffer from pain.
28 Illness has caused my skin to become black.
It is not the sun that has made that happen.
I stand up in the public meeting place
and I call aloud for help.
29 I have become like the jackals and the ostriches.
My sad voice sounds like them.
30 My skin has become black,
and bits of skin fall off.
My body is hot with fever.[a]
31 Now, when I make music with my harp,
I only sing funeral songs.
When I make music with my flute,
I do it for people who are weeping.’
19 Then some Jews arrived there in Lystra. They had travelled from Antioch and from Iconium. They talked to the people, so that they turned against Paul. Then these Jews threw stones at Paul to kill him. They pulled his body to outside the town. They thought that he was dead. 20 But some believers came out from the town and they stood around Paul. Then Paul stood up! He went back with them into the town.
Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch in Syria
The next day, Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and they went to Derbe. 21 While they were there, they told people the good news about Jesus. Many people in Derbe became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra. From there they went back to Iconium. Then they returned to Antioch in the region of Pisidia. 22 In all these towns, they taught the believers to be strong. They said to them, ‘Continue to trust in the Lord Jesus! All believers will have trouble at different times. That will continue to happen in our lives. But one day we will go into the kingdom of God where he rules.’
23 Paul and Barnabas chose leaders for each group of believers in these places. They fasted and they prayed to God for some time about this. They asked the Lord Jesus to help these leaders who trusted in him.
24 Then Paul and Barnabas travelled through Pisidia. They arrived in Pamphylia. 25 They spoke God's message to the people in Perga. Then they went down to the coast, to the town of Attalia.
26 From there they went in a ship back to Antioch. That was the place where the believers had chosen them to do God's work. They had asked God to help Paul and Barnabas in this work. Now Paul and Barnabas had finished this work and they had returned home. 27 When they arrived, they sent a message to the group of believers in Antioch. When all the believers had come together, Paul and Barnabas told them about their journey. They told the believers about everything that God had helped them to do. They said, ‘God has made it possible now for Gentiles to believe in Jesus.’
28 Paul and Barnabas stayed there with the believers in Antioch for a long time.
Lazarus dies
11 There was a certain man, who was called Lazarus. He lived at Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived too. He became ill. 2 It was this Mary who had poured oil with a nice smell over the feet of the Lord Jesus. Then she had cleaned his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was ill. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus to say, ‘Lord, the friend that you love is ill.’
4 Jesus heard the message. Then he said, ‘This illness will not finish with Lazarus's death. No, its purpose is to show how great God is. Because of this, people will see how great God's Son is.’ 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and their brother Lazarus, too. 6 He heard the news that Lazarus was ill. But then he stayed in the place where he was for two more days.
7 After that, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘We should return to Judea.’ 8 The disciples said, ‘Teacher, only a short time ago, the Jews there tried to kill you with stones. You should not return there!’ 9 Jesus answered, ‘You know that there are 12 hours in the day. Anyone who walks during the day will not fall down. He will not fall down because he sees this world's light. 10 But anyone who walks during the night will fall down. He will fall down because he has no light.’
11 After Jesus said that, he said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. But I will go there to wake him up.’ 12 So the disciples said to him, ‘If he is sleeping, Lord, he will get well again.’ 13 The disciples thought that Jesus was talking about sleep as rest. But Jesus meant that Lazarus had died. 14 So then, Jesus told them clearly, ‘Lazarus is dead. 15 But I am happy that I was not there with him. I am happy about that because it will help you. Now you will believe in me. We must go to him now.’ 16 Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to the other disciples, ‘We should go with our Teacher, so that we can die with him!’[a]
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