Book of Common Prayer
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
Lord, please help me!
31 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
You always do what is right
so please save me!
2 Listen to me,
and quickly send help to me.
Lord, be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place to keep me safe.
3 You are my high rock and my strong place.
Because of your good name,
lead me and be my guide.[a]
4 You are the place where I can hide,
so keep me safe.
Do not let my enemies' traps catch me.
5 I put my life into your hands.
I know that you will save me, Lord,
because you are a God that I can trust.
6 I hate people who worship useless idols.
As for me, I trust in the Lord.
7 I am very happy because of your faithful love.
You see when I suffer.
You know when I am very upset.
8 You have not put me under the power of my enemies.
You have led me into an open place,
where I can be safe.
9 Lord, I am very upset,
so please be kind to me.
My eyes are tired because I weep so much.
My whole body has become very weak.
10 I am near to death, because I am so sad.
I am crying with pain as my life comes to an end.
I have so much trouble
that I have no strength at all.
Even my bones have become weak.
11 All my enemies hate me.
My friends insult me.
Everyone who knows me is afraid of me.
They run away when they see me in the street.
12 Everybody has forgotten about me.
I might as well be dead!
They think that I am useless,
like a broken plate.
13 I hear what many people are saying against me.
News from everywhere makes me afraid.
They are deciding together
how to kill me.
14 But I continue to trust you, Lord.
I say, ‘You are my God!’[b]
15 You are the one who decides
what will happen to me in my whole life.
Save me from the power of my enemies
and from the people who want to catch me.
16 Turn towards me, your servant,
and be kind to me!
Keep me safe,
because of your faithful love.
17 Lord, do not let me become ashamed.
I call to you for help.
Cause evil people to become ashamed.
Let them go to their graves
and be silent there!
18 May people that tell lies become silent.
They insult righteous people.
They are proud people,
and they boast about themselves.
19 You have prepared many good things
to bless people who respect you.
While everyone watches,
you bless those who come to you for help.
20 You give them a place to hide,
and you keep them safe with you.
When their enemies want to attack them,
you take care of them.
When their enemies speak lies against them,
they are safe with you.
21 Praise the Lord!
When my enemies were all around me,
he showed me that his faithful love is very great.
22 When I was afraid, I said,
‘God is no longer with me!’
But I spoke too soon.
When I called to you for help,
you heard me and you answered me.
23 Love the Lord, all you people who belong to him!
If people serve the Lord faithfully,
he keeps them safe.
But if people are proud,
he punishes them as they deserve.
24 All you people who trust the Lord to help you,
you should be strong and very brave!
David wrote this song.
God, please help me
35 Lord, please attack those people who are attacking me.
Fight against those people who are fighting against me.
2 Yes, pick up your shield
and put on your armour!
Prepare to fight and give me help!
3 Take your spears and throw them,
to stop the people who are chasing me.
Say to me, ‘I will make you safe.’
4 Cause the people who want to kill me
to become ashamed.
Chase away the people who want to hurt me,
so that they become confused.
5 Make them become like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Send the angel of the Lord
to chase them away.
6 Make their way dark and dangerous,
as the angel of the Lord chases after them.
7 They hid a trap to catch me.
There was no reason for them to do that.
They even dug a deep hole for me to fall into.
8 Surprise my enemies and destroy them!
Let their own traps catch them!
Let them fall to their own death!
9 Then I will be happy
because of what the Lord has done.
I will be happy
because he has made me safe.
10 I will shout with all my strength,
‘Lord, who is like you?
When strong people try to hurt weak people,
you are the one who keeps the weak people safe.
You also keep poor people safe
when robbers try to take things from them.’
11 Cruel people tell lies against me in court.
I do not even know what they are talking about.
12 When I do good things to help them,
they pay me back with evil things!
That makes me feel very sad and upset.
13 When they were ill,
I wore rough clothes,
and I stopped eating food.
I bent down my head as I prayed for them.
14 I wept as I prayed,
as I would weep when a friend or my mother had died.
15 But when I had troubles myself,
they were happy.
They stood together
and they laughed at me.
Even strangers attacked me
and they would not stop.
16 Useless people like that insulted me,
and they showed their teeth to frighten me.
17 My Lord, how long will you continue to watch
as they do this to me?
Keep me safe when they attack me.
They attack me like hungry lions.
Do not let them kill me!
18 Then I will praise you
in the great meeting of your people.
I will thank you so that everyone hears me.
19 My enemies tell lies about me.
Do not let them win against me,
and be happy.
They have no reason to hate me,
so do not let them laugh at me.
20 They do not talk in a way that brings peace.
Instead, they try to deceive people who want to live quietly.
21 They open their mouths wide
to speak against me.
They say, ‘Aha![a]
We have seen the bad things that you do!’
22 Lord, you have seen all this.
Do not remain silent, my Lord.
Do not stay far away from me.
23 Wake up! Get ready to give me justice!
Show that I am not guilty,
my Lord and my God.
24 Lord, you are righteous.
Give me justice, my God.
Do not let them laugh at me.
25 Do not let them say,
‘Aha! This is what we wanted.’
Do not let them say,
‘We have eaten him alive!’
26 Punish those people who are happy when I have troubles.
Make them ashamed and confused!
Bring down those proud people who laugh at me.
Make them feel very ashamed.
27 But for those who want justice for me,
let them shout aloud in their pleasure.
May they always say, ‘The Lord is great!
He is happy when his servant is safe and well!’
28 Then I will tell everyone that you are righteous.
I will praise you all through each day.
The sixth trumpet
13 Then the sixth angel made a sound with his trumpet. I heard a voice that spoke to him from the four corners of the gold altar. This altar is near to God himself. 14 The voice said to the sixth angel, ‘There are four angels at the great Euphrates river. Someone has tied them so that they cannot move. You must go and undo them!’ 15 So the four angels now became free. God had kept them ready for that special time, for that hour, in that day, in that month, in that year. They were now ready to kill a third of people everywhere. 16 I heard how many soldiers there were in their great army. There were 200 million soldiers who rode on horses.
17 In my vision, I saw the soldiers and their horses. The soldiers had shields over the front of their bodies. The shields had many colours. They were bright red like fire, bright blue, and yellow like sulphur. The horses' heads looked like lions' heads. Fire, smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths. 18 The fire, the smoke and the sulphur killed people. These three dangerous things killed a third of people everywhere. 19 The horses had great power in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails were like snakes, with heads that could hurt people very much.
20 But all the people that the fire, the smoke and the sulphur did not kill continued to do bad things. They did not change how they lived. They worshipped things that they had made for themselves. They worshipped demons and idols that they made from gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. Those idols cannot see anything or hear anything. They cannot walk anywhere. But the people continued to worship them. 21 They were not sorry that they murdered other people. They were not sorry that they used magic to hurt people. They continued to have sex with people in wrong ways. They continued to rob other people. They did not want to change the way that they lived.[a]
Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary
38 Jesus and his disciples continued their journey. They arrived at a certain village. There, a woman called Martha asked Jesus to come into her home.[a] 39 Martha had a sister called Mary. Mary sat down near Jesus. She was listening to the things that he was teaching. 40 But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’
41 The Lord Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. 42 But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her.’[b]
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