Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.
A morning song[a]
63 God, you are my God.
I want to be near to you.
I need you to give me life,
like a thirsty person in a dry desert.
As a person needs water to live,
that is how I need you.[b]
2 When I have gone into your temple,
I have seen what you are like.
I have seen your great power and your glory.
3 Your faithful love for me is better than life itself.
So I will speak out to praise you.
4 Yes, I will thank you for as long as I live.
I will lift up my hands and I will pray to you.
5 You make me very happy,
better than a feast of good food.
I will sing happy songs to praise you.
6 When I lie on my bed,
I think about you all through the night.
7 You are the one who keeps me safe,
like a bird protects its babies under its wings.
So I sing happy songs.
8 I keep very near to you
and your strong right hand keeps me safe.
9 My enemies are trying to kill me,
but I know that they themselves will die.
They will go down into the deep hole of death.
10 Soldiers will kill them with swords.
Wild dogs will eat their dead bodies.
11 But the king will sing songs to praise God.[c]
Everybody who promises to serve God
will speak aloud to praise him.
But everyone who tells lies
will not be able to say anything!
God rules the world[a]
98 Sing a new song to praise the Lord.
He has done great things.
He has used his own power and his holy strength
to win against his enemies.
2 The Lord has shown everybody
that he has the power to save.
All the nations of the world
can see that he does what is right.
3 He has kept his promise
that he made to the people of Israel.
He has continued to take care of them
with his faithful love.
Everyone who lives everywhere on the earth can see
that God has the power to save people.
4 All people on the earth should shout aloud
to praise the Lord![b]
Sing happy songs to praise him!
5 Make music on your harps to praise him!
Make beautiful music!
6 Make a happy sound with trumpets and horns!
Shout aloud to praise the Lord, your king!
7 The sea and everything that is in it
should shout to praise the Lord!
The earth and all those who live in it
should shout as well!
8 The rivers should clap their hands,
and the mountains should all sing together,
9 to praise the Lord.
He is coming to judge the earth.[c]
He is a fair judge.
He will judge all the people of the world honestly.
This is a song that David wrote.
The love of God[a]
103 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Everything that is in me, praise his holy name!
2 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Never forget all the good things that he has done for you!
3 He forgives all my sins.
He makes me well again when I am ill.
4 He saves me from the deep hole of death's power.
He always loves me and he is kind to me.
That is how he blesses me so much!
5 He gives me many good things for my life here.
So I become strong again, with the strength of a young eagle.
6 The Lord does what is right and fair.
He helps poor people who suffer.
7 He showed Moses how he works to help his people.
He showed the Israelites the great things that he could do.
8 The Lord is kind to people and he forgives them.
He is slow to get angry and his love always continues.
9 He will not always tell us that we are wrong.
He will not always continue to be angry.
10 We should receive much punishment for the bad things that we do.
But the Lord does not punish us so much.
11 For people who worship him, his faithful love is very great.
How far is the sky above the earth? His love is greater than that!
12 How far is the east from the west?
The Lord has taken our sins further away than that!
He no longer says that we are guilty.
13 As a father is kind to his children, the Lord is kind to us.
He is kind to people who worship him.
14 He knows that we are weak humans.
He remembers that he used dust to make us.
15 A person's life is like grass that quickly dies.
He is strong only for a short time, like wild flowers in a field.
16 A hot wind blows over flowers and they die!
Nobody even remembers where they were growing.
17 But the faithful love of the Lord
will always be with people who worship him.
He promises to be kind to their children's children for ever.
18 He continues to love people who obey his covenant.
Those are the people who obey his laws.
19 The Lord rules from his throne in heaven.
He rules as king over everything.
20 You who are the Lord's angels,
you strong angels who do what he tells you to do,
praise the Lord!
21 All of you who belong to his armies in heaven,
his servants who do what he wants,
praise the Lord!
22 Yes, everything that the Lord has made,
in all the places that he rules over,
praise the Lord!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
15 You are people who think carefully about things. So think about what I am saying to you. 16 When we eat the Lord's Supper together, we remember that Christ died on our behalf. We thank God for the wine that we drink from the cup. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his blood. We also break the bread and we eat it together. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his body that died on the cross. 17 We are many people, but all of us eat part of the same loaf of bread. That shows that we are one group of people. We belong together because Christ died on our behalf.
18 Think about Israel's people. They eat part of the animals that the priests offer on the altar as a sacrifice. This shows that they share together in the sacrifice. 19 So think about food that people offer to idols as a sacrifice. I am not saying that the idols are real gods. The food that people offer to them is not special food. 20 But the people who offer food to idols are worshipping demons. They are not worshipping God when they do that. I do not want you to share in what they do to worship demons. 21 If you drink anything from the cup of demons, you can not then drink wine from the Lord's cup. If you share a meal with demons, you can not also share in the Lord's meal.
22 If we do things like that, we will cause the Lord to be angry. We should worship only him. You know that we are not stronger than he is!
23 Some of you may say, ‘We are free to do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for you to do. You may say, ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps you to be strong as a believer. 24 Do not think about the things that will help you. Instead, each of you should think about what will help other people.
A friend does wrong things against you
15 Jesus said, ‘If your Christian friend has done something wrong against you, you must go and speak to him. When you are alone with him, tell him what he has done that is wrong. He may agree with what you say. If he does, then you can call him your friend again.
16 But maybe he does not want to listen to you. Then take one or two other people with you to speak to him. They will then know what wrong things your friend has done. Remember what the Bible says: “There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree what has happened.” 17 If your friend still will not agree that he has done something wrong, then go and tell the church leaders.[a] If he does not agree with the leaders, stop being his friend. He is like somebody who refuses to obey God.[b]
18 I tell you this: You will tell people here on earth what is right for them to do. And you will tell them what is not right for them to do. God in heaven will give you this authority. He will agree with what you say.
19 Two people may agree together to ask God for something. If they agree like that, then my Father in heaven will give them what they ask for.[c] 20 Two or more people may meet together because they believe in me. If they do that, I will be there with them.’
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