Book of Common Prayer
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
131 Lord, I am not proud.
I do not think that I am a great person.
I do not try to do great things.
I do not worry about things that are too hard for me to understand.
2 Instead, I am quiet
and there is peace in my mind.
I am like a young child who sits on his mother's knee.
Yes, I have peace in my mind.
3 Israel's people, trust the Lord to help you,
now and for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
The house of God
132 Lord, remember King David
and all the troubles that he suffered.
2 He made a special promise to the Lord.
He promised you, the Mighty One of Jacob.[a]
3 He said, ‘I will not go into my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not sleep even for a moment,
5 until I find a house for the Lord.
Yes, the Mighty One of Jacob needs a proper home.’[b]
6 Listen! We heard the news at Ephrathah.[c]
We found God's Covenant Box in the fields of Jaar.[d]
7 We will go to the Lord's home!
We will worship him on his throne!
8 Lord, come now and stay here, in your home!
Come with the Covenant Box that shows your great power.[e]
9 May your priests serve you in a good way.
Cause your faithful people to shout with joy!
10 Remember your servant, King David.
Do not turn away from your chosen king.[f]
11 The Lord made a strong promise to David.
He will not change what he has promised to do.
The Lord said,
‘I will put one of your sons on your throne to rule as king.
12 If your sons obey my covenant and my rules,
their descendants will rule for ever.’
13 The Lord has chosen Zion to be his home.
14 He said, ‘This is where I will live for ever.
This is where I want my home to be.
15 I will give Zion's people everything that they need.
Zion's poor people will have plenty of food to eat.
16 I will keep Zion's priests safe.
The people who serve God faithfully will shout loudly,
because they are so happy.
17 In Zion I will give strength to King David's family.
My chosen king will continue to rule well,
like a light that shines brightly.
18 I will cause his enemies to be ashamed.
But his own kingdom will be great!’
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
133 It is good for a family of God's people to live together in peace.
Yes! It brings great pleasure!
2 It brings pleasure like valuable olive oil
that is poured on your head,
and it goes down onto your beard.
They poured it onto Aaron's head and his beard,
and it went down onto his clothes.[g]
3 It brings pleasure like the dew on Hermon.[h]
It makes the mountains of Zion become wet.[i]
That is the place where the Lord has promised to bless his people.
He blesses them with life for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
A song at night
134 Listen, all you servants of the Lord,
come and praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
all you who serve him in his temple during the night.
2 Lift up your hands towards his Holy Place,
and praise him.
3 The Lord made the heaven and the earth.
From his home in Zion, may he bless you!
A song to praise God
135 Hallelujah![j]
Praise the name of the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
2 You serve the Lord in his temple.
You serve him in the temple yards.
3 The Lord is good, so praise him!
His name is good and great,
so praise him with songs!
4 The Lord chose Jacob's family for himself.
Yes, he chose Israel's people to belong to him.[k]
5 I know that the Lord is great.
Our Lord is greater than any other god.
6 He does whatever he decides to do.
He rules the sky and the earth,
and the deepest parts of the sea.
7 The Lord causes clouds to rise up all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the storms of rain.
He sends out the wind from its place,
so that it blows where he chooses.
8 God destroyed the firstborn sons in Egypt,
both men and animals.[l]
9 He did great miracles in Egypt.
He warned Pharaoh and his officers
that he would punish them.
10 He destroyed many nations
and he killed powerful kings.
11 He killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
He killed Og, the king of Bashan,
and all the other kings of Canaan.
12 He gave their land to his people, the Israelites.
The land would belong to them and to their descendants.
13 Lord, people will always remember your name.
You will always be famous.
14 The Lord shows that his people are right.
He is kind to those who serve him.
15 Other nations make idols with silver and gold.
People worship things that they have made with their hands!
16 Their idols have mouths, but they cannot speak!
They have eyes, but they cannot see!
17 They have ears, but they cannot hear!
They cannot even breathe!
18 The people who made them will become as they are.
Everyone who trusts in idols
will become as useless as their idols are.[m]
19 Israel's family, praise the Lord!
Descendants of Aaron, praise the Lord!
20 Descendants of Levi, praise the Lord!
Everyone who serves the Lord, praise him!
21 Everyone in Zion should praise the Lord.
He is the one who has his home in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Micah speaks against the bad leaders of Israel
3 Then I spoke to the leaders:
Listen to me, I said.
You are the leaders of Jacob's people,
you are the rulers of Israel.
You ought to know what is right or wrong.
2 But you hate what is good.
And you love what is bad.
You would like to tear the skin off my people,
and pull the meat from their bones.
3 You look at my people and you are like butchers.
They strip the skin off an animal and they break its bones.
Then they cut the meat into pieces and they cook it in a pot.
They are happy when they eat the meat.
4 One day you will shout to the Lord for help,
but he will not answer you.
Instead, God will turn away from you at that time,
because you have done those bad things.
5 The Lord says this: ‘It will be very bad for the prophets who tell false messages. They lead my people the wrong way with false promises. If people give food to them, then they are happy. So they promise that there will be no war. But, if people do not feed them, they become angry. They promise that war will come.
6 Because of that, it will become like night for you.
I will not show you my messages.
You will no longer see what will happen in future times.
The sun will go down over you prophets,
and the day will become dark for you.
7 Then you prophets will be ashamed.
You who tell what will happen in future times will be confused.
You will hide your faces in shame because you have no message from me.’
8 But the Spirit of the Lord fills me, to make me powerful.
He helps me to know what is right and fair.
He makes me brave so that I can speak to you, Jacob's people.
I can tell you what you have done wrong.
You are Israel's people,
but you have not obeyed God.[a]
The Jews say bad things about Paul
24 Five days after that, Ananias, the leader of the priests, went to Caesarea. Some important Jews went with him. A man called Tertullus also went with them. He was a lawyer. All these people went to meet with Felix, the ruler. They told Felix what Paul had done. Felix would judge who was right. 2 Felix told a soldier to bring Paul to the meeting. Then Tertullus began to speak against Paul. He said, ‘Sir, you have ruled us well for many years. Because of you, our country has had no wars for a long time. You have made new laws that are good for our country. You have thought well about how you should lead us. 3 Everywhere, the people are happy about what you have done. So we want to thank you very much for all these good things. 4 I do not want you to sit here for a long time. So I will speak for a short time about our problem. Please be kind to us and listen to me.
5 We know that this man brings trouble everywhere. Anywhere in the world that Jewish people live, he makes them angry. Then they all fight each other. He is the leader of a group called the Nazarenes.’[a]
6 ‘He also did bad things in the temple that are against our laws. So we took hold of him.[b] [We wanted to judge him by what our own law says. 7 But Lysias, the leader of the soldiers, came to us. He attacked us and he took Paul away from us. 8 Then he told us to come and to speak to you about it.] You should ask this man some questions about what he has done. You will find out that what we say against him is true.’
9 The other Jews that were there also spoke against Paul. They said, ‘All these things that Tertullus has said are true.’
Paul tells Felix his own story
10 Then Felix raised his hand towards Paul to show that he should speak. So Paul said to Felix, ‘I know that you have judged the people in this region for many years. So now I am happy to tell you everything. 11 I went to Jerusalem less than 12 days ago. You can check that that is true. I went there to worship God. 12 When the Jews saw me in the temple, I was not arguing with anyone. I was not causing trouble among Jewish people in their meeting places. Nor did I cause problems in any other places in Jerusalem. 13 They have said bad things against me. But they cannot show you that these things are true. 14 What I do agree is this: I worship the same God that our Jewish ancestors worshipped. But I do this in the Way that Jesus has taught us. These men say that this is not the right way. But I believe in all God's Law that Moses wrote for us. I also believe in the messages that God's prophets have written in the Bible. 15 I also trust God like these men do. Like them, I believe that people will become alive again after death. God will do this for all people, both good people and bad people. 16 Because of that, I always try to do what is right. I do not want to do anything bad against God or against other people.
17 I had not been to Jerusalem for several years. Now I returned there with a gift of some money. I brought it to give to poor people who are Jews, like me. I also wanted to offer sacrifices to God. 18 I was doing this in the yard of the temple when these men found me. I had obeyed all the rules to make myself clean in front of God. There was no crowd with me. Nobody was arguing or fighting because of me. 19 But there were some Jews there who had come from Asia. They are the people who caused the trouble. Maybe they have something bad to say against me. They themselves should come here to speak to you about it. 20 Or these men here should tell you what wrong thing I have done. I stood in front of the meeting of the Jewish leaders and they asked me questions. 21 When I stood there, I shouted, “I believe that dead people will rise and they will live again. That is the reason why you are judging me today.” They may think that is a wrong thing that I did.’
22 Felix knew much about the Way of the Lord Jesus. He now said that the meeting had finished. He said to Paul, ‘Soon Lysias, the leader of the soldiers, will arrive here. Then I will decide what to do with you.’ 23 He said to the officer who was holding Paul, ‘Continue to guard this man carefully. But his friends can come and see him. They can help him and they can bring things for him.’
A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. 37 In that town was a woman who had done many wrong things. She heard that Jesus was eating a meal at the house of the Pharisee. So she took a small stone jar with oil in it, and she went there. The oil had a very nice smell. 38 She went into the house and she stood behind Jesus. She was crying and she made his feet wet with her tears. Then she made his feet dry again with her hair and she kissed them. She then poured the oil out of the jar onto his feet. 39 When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, ‘This man cannot be a prophet from God. If he were, he would know all about this woman. He would know that she is a very bad person. He would not let her touch him.’
40 Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, I want to tell you something.’ Simon replied, ‘Yes, Teacher, tell me.’ So Jesus told him a story about two men:
41 ‘Someone had lent two men some money. He had lent one of them 500 silver coins. He had lent the other one 50 coins.[a] 42 Neither of the men had enough money to pay him back. Then the man that had lent them the money forgave them. “You do not need to pay back my money,” he said to them both.’
Jesus then asked Simon, ‘Which of these two men will love that man most?’ 43 Simon replied, ‘I think that it is the man that needed to pay back the most money.’
‘You are right,’ Jesus said. 44 Then he turned towards the woman. ‘You see this woman,’ he said to Simon. ‘When I came into your house, you did not give me water for my feet.[b] But she has washed my feet with her tears and she has made them dry with her hair. 45 You did not say “Hello” to me with a kiss. But this woman began to kiss my feet when she came in. And she has not stopped. 46 You did not put oil on my head. But she has brought oil with a nice smell and put it on my feet. 47 So I tell you, this woman has done many bad things. But I have forgiven her. She loves me a lot, because I have forgiven her for many bad things. If I only forgive someone a little, that person only loves me a little.’
48 Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Woman, I forgive you for all the bad things that you have done.’
49 The other people at the meal talked among themselves. They said, ‘Who is this man? Can he really forgive the bad things that people have done?’
50 Jesus said to the woman, ‘You have believed in me, so God has saved you. You may go now, and be happy.’
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