Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader.
God has helped me[a]
40 I was patient while I waited for the Lord to help me.
He turned towards me,
and he heard me when I called to him.
2 He lifted me out of the deep hole of danger.
He picked me up out of the mud.
He put my feet on a rock.
Then I could walk and not slip.
3 He gave me a new song to sing.
It was a song to praise our God.
Many people will see what God has done to help me.
Then they will respect and obey him.
Yes, they will trust in the Lord.
4 If anyone trusts in the Lord
he blesses them!
They do not expect proud people to help them.
They do not join with those people who worship false gods.
5 Lord, my God, you have done many great things.
You have done so many things for us
that we cannot count them!
There is nobody else like you!
I want to talk about the things that you have done,
but there are too many things to speak about!
6 You do not really want sacrifices and offerings.
I understand that!
You do not ask for burnt offerings
or sin offerings.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, my God!
The message that is written in the book
tells me what I must do.[b]
8 I want to do what pleases you.
Your law is always in my thoughts.’
9 In the great meeting of your people,
I have told them about your justice.
I cannot keep quiet!
You know that this is true, Lord.
10 I have not hidden the good news about your justice.
I have told everyone that they can trust you,
and that you have the power to save.
I tell the great meeting of your people about your faithful love.
11 You, Lord, will continue to be kind to me.
Please continue to keep me safe,
because of your faithful love.
12 There are many dangerous troubles all around me.
They are too many to count!
My sins are too strong for me.
They are more than all the hairs on my head!
So I am weak and I cannot see clearly.
13 Lord, please save me!
Lord, come quickly to help me!
14 Chase away the people who want to kill me!
Cause them to become ashamed and confused.
Chase away the people who want to hurt me,
so that they run away in shame.
15 When people laugh at me,
make them sorry for what they have done.
16 Lord, may those who come to you be very happy,
because you have saved them.
They should never stop saying,
‘Praise the Lord!’
17 But I am poor and weak, my Lord.
Please continue to think about me.
You are the one who helps me and who saves me.
My God, come quickly to help me!
David wrote this special song for the music leader. He must use stringed instruments. It was when the men of Ziph went to Saul and they said, ‘David is hiding with us.’
God keeps me safe[a]
54 God, you are great, so please help me!
Use your power to show that I am right.
2 God, hear my prayer,
and listen carefully to what I am saying.
3 Strangers are attacking me!
Cruel people want to kill me.
They do not respect you, God.[b]
Selah.
4 But I know that God is the one who gives me help.
My Lord takes care of me.
5 Pay back my enemies with their own evil.
Please do what you have promised
and destroy them.
6 I choose to offer a sacrifice to thank you.
Lord, you are always good,
so I want to praise your name.
7 Yes, God has saved me from all my trouble.
When I looked at my enemies,
I see that I have won against them.[c]
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.
Please forgive me, Lord[a]
51 Please forgive me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Because you are so kind,
please clean away my sins.
2 I have done bad things,
so wash me to make me clean again.[b]
3 I know that I have not obeyed you.
I cannot forget that I am guilty.
4 It is you that I have done bad things against,
only you![c]
I have done things that are evil,
as you know.
And so you are fair when you speak against me.
You are right when you say that I am guilty.
5 Yes, even from the day I was born
I have done bad things.
I have always been guilty of sin.
6 But you want me to be completely good and honest.
You want to teach me to be wise
in the way that I live.
7 Splash water over me with a hyssop plant,
and I will be really clean.[d]
Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.[e]
8 Please forgive me so that I can be happy.
Then my whole body will feel well again.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Clean away all the bad things that I have done.[f]
10 God, please make my heart new and clean.
And make my spirit strong and true,
deep inside me.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me joy again,
because you have made me safe.
Make me strong and ready to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways
to people who have turned against you.
Then sinners will turn back
and they will obey you.
14 God, I am guilty of murder.
Please forgive me!
You are the one who saves me.
When you rescue me,
I will sing aloud about your righteousness.
15 My Lord, help me to speak,
and then I will praise you.
16 I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you,
but that is not what you really want.
You do not want a burnt offering from me.
17 You want me to be humble and sorry.
That is the sacrifice that you want.
When people are humble
and they turn away from their sins,
you will not refuse them.
18 God, please be kind and help Zion.
Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.
19 Then you will accept our proper sacrifices.
Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals
will make you happy.
Once again, people will offer bulls to you,
on your altar.[g]
Job speaks about his life[a]
29 Job continued to speak. This is what he said:
24 I have not trusted in money or in gold.
I have never thought that they would make me strong.
25 When I was very rich,
I was not proud about it.
I did not think that I had worked hard to deserve it.
26 I have looked at the sun when it shines brightly.
And I have seen the moon when it is very beautiful.
27 But I have never wanted to worship them
or to give them honour.
28 If I had done that,
I would not have been faithful to God in heaven.
I would have deserved punishment for that sin.
29 I do not laugh at my enemies
when they suffer.
If my enemy has troubles,
it does not make me happy.
30 I have not cursed my enemies,
to ask God to kill them.
That would have caused a sin to come from my mouth!
31 None of the people who work in my house have ever said,
“Job has not welcomed strangers into his house.
He has not shared his food with them.”
32 Travellers may come to sleep in my house.
They do not have to sleep outside in the street.
33 I do not try to hide my sins,
as some people do.
34 I am not afraid of what people think about me.
Even if a great crowd of people speak against me,
I do not stay inside my house and keep quiet.
35 I want someone to listen to me!
All the things that I say are true.
Almighty God should give me an answer!
I need to know what I have done that is wrong.
He should write down the reason why I am guilty!
36 Then I would show that paper clearly on my shoulders.
I would be proud to wear it like a crown on my head.
37 I would explain to God everything that I have done.
I would stand in front of him without fear, like a ruler.
38 I have not grown crops on land that does not belong to me.
The land itself would accuse me if that were true.
39 I have always paid for the food
that other people have worked to grow.
I have never cheated the farmers
so that they suffered.
40 If I have ever done any of those things,
then may thorn bushes grow in my fields instead of wheat.
May weeds grow in my fields instead of barley.’
That is the end of the things that Job said.
12 After Peter said this everybody in the group was quiet. Then Barnabas and Paul spoke to them. They said, ‘God helped us to do great miracles among the Gentiles. These showed that God was with us.’
13 When they had finished their report, James spoke to the group. He said, ‘Listen to me, my friends. 14 Simon Peter has just described to us what happened first with the Gentile believers. He explained how God chose some of them to belong to him as his own people.
15 The message of God's prophets agrees completely with this. They wrote long ago:
16 The Lord God said,
“Later I will return.
At that time I will make David's kingdom strong again.[a]
It has become like a house that has fallen down,
but I will build it again so that it is strong.
17 Then many other people will want to know me, the Lord God.
Those are the Gentiles that I have chosen to belong to me.
I, the Lord God, say this,
and I will make these things happen.
18 Long ago I caused people to know all these things.” ’[b]
19 James then said, ‘So this is what I have decided about this problem. Many Gentiles are now turning to God as believers. We should not make it difficult for them. 20 Instead of that, we should write a letter to tell them how to live as believers. We should say to them, “Do not eat any food which people have given to their idols. That food has become unclean. Do not have sex with anyone that you are not married to. If people have strangled an animal to kill it, do not eat its meat. Do not eat anything that still has blood in it.”[c] 21 These rules are important, because people have known the Law of Moses for a very long time. On every Jewish day of rest, someone teaches us about the Law in our Jewish meeting places in every city.’
30 Jesus had not arrived in the village yet. He was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 There were still Jews in the house who were with Mary to help her. They saw her get up quickly and go out. So they followed her. They thought that she was going to the place where they had put Lazarus's dead body. They thought that she wanted to go there to weep.
32 Mary arrived at the place where Jesus was. When she saw Jesus, she bent down low at his feet. She said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33 Jesus saw that Mary was weeping. He saw that the Jews who had come with her were weeping too. When Jesus saw them, he felt very sad in his spirit. He was upset about Lazarus's death. 34 He asked them, ‘Where have you put his dead body?’ They answered, ‘Come and see, Lord.’ 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said to each other, ‘See how much he loved Lazarus!’ 37 But some of them said, ‘He opened the eyes of the blind man. So surely he would have been able to stop the death of Lazarus.’
Jesus makes Lazarus alive again
38 Jesus arrived at the grave where they had put Lazarus's dead body. It was a cave. A large stone covered the front of the hole. Again, Jesus felt very upset. 39 He said, ‘Take the stone away.’ Martha, the dead man's sister, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, by now his dead body will have a bad smell. He has been dead for four days!’ 40 Jesus said to her, ‘I told you already that you must believe in me. Then you will see how great and how powerful God is.’ 41 So they moved the stone away. Jesus looked up towards the sky. He said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. 42 I know that you listen to me always. But I said this to help all the people who are standing here. I want them to believe that you sent me.’ 43 When Jesus had said this, he shouted with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44 The dead man came out. There were pieces of cloth round his hands and round his feet. Another piece of cloth was round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Undo the cloths and let him go.’
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