Book of Common Prayer
[a] To the director: A song of David, the Lord’s servant. He sang this song to the Lord when the Lord saved him from Saul and all his other enemies.
18 I love you, Lord!
You are my strength.
2 The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, my place of safety.
He is my God, the Rock I run to for protection.
He is my shield; by his power I am saved.[b]
He is my hiding place high in the hills.
3 I called to the Lord for help,
and he saved me from my enemies!
He is worthy of my praise!
4 Death had its ropes wrapped around me.
A deadly flood was carrying me away.
5 The ropes of the grave wrapped around me.
Death set its trap right there in front of me.
6 In my trouble I called to the Lord.
Yes, I cried out to my God for help.
There in his temple he heard my voice.
He heard my cry for help.
7 The earth shook and shivered.
The foundations of the mountains trembled.
They shook because he was angry.
8 Smoke came from his nose.
Burning flames came from his mouth.
Red-hot coals fell from him.
9 He tore open the sky and came down!
He stood on a thick, dark cloud.
10 He flew across the sky, riding on a Cherub angel
racing on the wings of the wind.
11 He wrapped himself in darkness that covered him like a tent.
He was hidden by dark clouds heavy with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him,
hail broke through the clouds with flashes of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from the sky;
God Most High let his voice be heard.[c]
14 He scattered his enemies with his arrows—
the lightning bolts that threw them into confusion.
15 Lord, you shouted your command,
and a powerful wind began to blow.[d]
Then the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the earth’s foundations were uncovered.
16 He reached down from above and grabbed me.
He pulled me from the deep water.
17 He saved me from my powerful enemies, who hated me.
They were too strong for me, so he saved me.
18 They attacked me in my time of trouble,
but the Lord was there to support me.
19 He was pleased with me, so he rescued me.
He took me to a safe place.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing what is right.
He was good to me because I am innocent.
21 The Lord did this because I have obeyed him.
I have not turned against my God.
22 I always remembered his laws.
I never rejected his rules.
23 He knows I did nothing that was wrong.
I have kept myself from sinning.
24 So the Lord rewarded me for doing what is right.
He could see that I am innocent.
25 Lord, you are faithful to those who are faithful.
You are good to those who are good.
26 You never do wrong to those who have done no wrong.
But you outsmart the wicked, no matter how clever they are.
27 You help those who are humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 Lord, you provide the flame for my lamp.
You, God, turn the darkness around me into light.
29 With your help I can defeat an army.
If my God is with me, I can climb over enemy walls.
30 God’s way is perfect.
The Lord’s promise always proves to be true.
He protects those who trust in him.
31 There is no God except the Lord.
There is no Rock except our God.
32 God is the one who gives me strength.
He clears the path I need to take.
33 He makes my feet as steady as those of a deer.
Even on steep mountains he keeps me from falling.
34 He trains me for war
so that my arms can bend the most powerful bow.
35 Lord, you have given me your shield to protect me.
You support me with your right hand.
It is your help that has made me great.
36 You cleared a path for my feet
so that I could walk without stumbling.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them.
I did not stop until they were destroyed.
38 I struck them down, and they could not get up again.
They fell under my feet.
39 God, you made me strong in battle.
You made my enemies fall before me.
40 You made my enemies turn and run away.
I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out for help,
but there was no one to save them.
They cried out to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them to pieces like dust blown by the wind.
I smashed them like mud in the streets.
43 You saved me from those who fought against me.
You made me the ruler over nations.
People I never knew now serve me.
44 As soon as they heard about me, they were ready to obey.
Those foreigners fall helpless before me!
45 They lose all their courage
and come out of their hiding places shaking with fear.
46 The Lord lives!
I praise my Rock, the God who saves me.
How great he is!
47 He is the God who punishes my enemies for me,
the one who puts people under my control.
48 He saves me from my enemies!
You, Lord, help me defeat those who attack me.
You save me from cruel people.
49 Lord, that is why I praise you among the nations.
That is why I sing songs of praise to your name.
50 The Lord helps his king win battle after battle.
He shows his faithful love to his chosen one,[e]
to David and his descendants forever.
12 The Lord All-Powerful has a special day planned when he will punish the proud and boastful people. They will be brought down. 13 They might be like the tall cedar trees from Lebanon or the great oak trees from Bashan, but they will be cut down. 14 They might be like the tall mountains and high hills 15 or like the tall towers and high walls, but they will be brought down. 16 They might be like great ships from Tarshish,[a] filled with such wonderful cargo, but they will be brought down.
17 At that time those proud people will fall. They will bow low to the ground, and only the Lord will stand high. 18 All the idols will be gone. 19 People will go into the holes in the ground and the cracks in the rocks because they fear the Lord and his great power as he stands to shake the earth.
20 At that time people will throw away their idols they made from gold and silver. They made these statues to worship, but they will throw them into holes in the ground where bats and moles live. 21 They will go down into cracks in the rocks and boulders because they are afraid of the Lord and his glorious power as he stands to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting other people to save you. Do not think too highly of them; they are only humans who have not stopped breathing yet.
3 We could not come to you, but it was very hard to wait any longer. So we decided to send Timothy to you and stay in Athens alone. Timothy is our brother. He works with us for God to tell people the Good News about Christ. We sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you in your faith. 3 We sent him so that none of you would be upset by the troubles we have now. You yourselves know that we must have these troubles. 4 Even when we were with you, we told you that we would all have to suffer. And you know that it happened just as we said. 5 This is why I sent Timothy to you, so that I could know about your faith. I sent him when I could not wait anymore. I was afraid that the devil who tempts people might have defeated you with temptations. Then our hard work would have been wasted.
6 But now Timothy has come back from his visit with you and told us good news about your faith and love. He told us that you always remember us in a good way. He told us that you want very much to see us again. And it is the same with us—we want very much to see you. 7 So, brothers and sisters, we are encouraged about you because of your faith. We have much trouble and suffering, but still we are encouraged. 8 Our life is really full if you stand strong in the Lord. 9 We have so much joy before our God because of you! So we thank God for you. But we cannot thank him enough for all the joy we feel. 10 Night and day we continue praying with all our heart that we can come there and see you again. We want to give you everything you need to make your faith strong.
11 We pray that our God and Father and our Lord Jesus will prepare the way for us to come to you. 12 We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that he will give you more and more love for each other and for all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you. 13 This will strengthen your desire to do what is right, and you will be holy and without fault before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy people.
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus(A)
27 Some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that people will not rise from death.) They asked him, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and had no children, his brother must marry his widow. Then they will have children for the dead brother.[a] 29 One time there were seven brothers. The first brother married a woman but died. He had no children. 30 Then the second brother married the woman, and he died. 31 And the third brother married the woman, and he died. The same thing happened with all the other brothers. They all died and had no children. 32 The woman was the last to die. 33 But all seven brothers married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will this woman be?”
34 Jesus said to the Sadducees, “On earth, people marry each other. 35 Some people will be worthy to be raised from death and live again after this life. In that life they will not marry. 36 In that life people are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from death. 37 Moses clearly showed that people are raised from death. When Moses wrote about the burning bush,[b] he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[c] 38 So they were not still dead, because he is the God only of living people. Yes, to God they are all still living.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law said, “Teacher, your answer was very good.” 40 No one was brave enough to ask him another question.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International