Book of Common Prayer
Aleph[a]
119 Great blessings belong to those who live pure lives!
They follow the Lord’s teachings.
2 Great blessings belong to those who follow his rules!
They seek him with all their heart.
3 They don’t do wrong.
They follow his ways.
4 Lord, you gave us your instructions
and told us to always obey them.
5 How I wish I could be more faithful
in obeying your laws!
6 Then I would never feel ashamed
when I look closely at your commands.
7 The more I understand how fair your laws are,
the more sincerely I will praise you.
8 I will obey your laws,
so please don’t leave me!
Beth
9 How can a young person live a pure life?
By obeying your word.
10 I try with all my heart to serve you.
Help me obey your commands.
11 I study your teachings very carefully
so that I will not sin against you.
12 Lord, you are worthy of praise!
Teach me your laws.
13 I will repeat the laws we have heard from you.
14 I enjoy following your rules
as much as others enjoy great riches.
15 I will study your instructions.
I will give thought to your way of life.
16 I enjoy your laws.
I will not forget your word.
Gimel
17 Be good to me, your servant,
so that I may live to obey your word.
18 Open my eyes so that I can see
all the wonderful things in your teachings.
19 I feel like a stranger visiting here on earth.
I need to know your commands.
Don’t keep them hidden from me.
20 I constantly feel a hunger
to understand your laws.
21 You tell the proud how angry you are with them.
All those who refuse to obey your word are cursed.
22 Don’t let me be ashamed and embarrassed.
I have obeyed your rules.
23 Even if rulers say bad things about me,
I am your servant,
and I continue to study your laws.
24 Your rules make me happy.
They give me good advice.
To the director: With the sheminith. A song of David.
12 Save me, Lord!
We can no longer trust anyone!
All the good, loyal people are gone.
2 People lie to their neighbors.
They say whatever they think people want to hear.
3 The Lord should cut off their lying lips
and cut out their bragging tongues.
4 Those people think they can win any argument.
They say, “We are so good with words,
no one will be our master.”
5 They took advantage of the poor
and stole what little they had.
But the Lord knows what they did, and he says,
“I will rescue those who are poor and helpless,
and I will punish those who hurt them.”[a]
6 The Lord’s words are true and pure,
like silver purified by fire,
like silver melted seven times to make it perfectly pure.
7 Lord, take care of the helpless.
Protect them forever from the wicked people in this world.
8 The wicked are all around us,
and everyone thinks evil is something to be praised!
To the director: A song of David.
13 How long will you forget me, Lord?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you refuse to accept me?[b]
2 How long must I wonder if you have forgotten me?
How long must I feel this sadness in my heart?
How long will my enemy win against me?
3 Lord my God, look at me and give me an answer.
Make me feel strong again, or I will die.
4 If that happens, my enemy will say, “I beat him!”
He will be so happy that he won.
5 But I trust in your faithful love, Lord.
I will be happy when you save me.
6 Then I will sing to the Lord
because he was so good to me.
To the director: A song of David.
14 Only fools think there is no God.
People like that are evil and do terrible things.
They never do what is right.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
to see if there is anyone who is wise,
anyone who looks to him for help.
3 But everyone has gone the wrong way.
Everyone has turned bad.
No one does anything good.
No, not one person!
4 Those who are evil treat my people like bread to be eaten.
And they never ask for the Lord’s help.
Don’t they know what they are doing?
5 They will have plenty to fear,
because God is with those who do what is right.
6 You wicked people want to spoil the hopes of the poor,
but the Lord will protect them.
7 I wish the one who lives on Mount Zion
would bring victory to Israel!
When the Lord makes his people successful again,
the people of Jacob will be happy;
the people of Israel will be glad.
The Lord Is the Eternal Creator
41 The Lord says,
“Faraway countries, be quiet and listen to me!
Nations be brave.[a]
Come to me and speak.
We will meet together
and decide who is right.
2 Who woke up the man who is coming from the east?
He called Justice to march with him.
He uses his sword to crush nations.
He uses his bow and conquers kings—
they run away like straw blown by the wind.
3 He chases armies and is never hurt.
He goes places he has never been before.
4 Who was able to make all this happen?
Who controlled the lives of everyone from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am the one.
I was here at the beginning,
and I will be here when all things are finished.
5 People along the coast saw this,
and they were frightened.
Nations at the ends of the earth
shook with fear.
They have come near.
They have arrived.
6 “Workers help each other. They encourage each other to be strong. 7 One worker cuts wood to make a statue. He encourages the man who works with gold. Another worker uses a hammer and makes the metal smooth. Then he encourages the man at the anvil.[b] This last worker says, ‘This work is good; the metal will not come off.’ Then he nails the statue to a base so that it will not fall over. And it never moves!”
Only the Lord Can Save Us
8 The Lord says, “You, Israel, are my servant.
Jacob, I chose you.
You are from the family of my friend, Abraham.
9 You were in a faraway country,
but I reached out to you.
I called you from that faraway place.
I said, ‘You are my servant.’
I chose you,
and I have not rejected you.
10 Don’t worry—I am with you.
Don’t be afraid—I am your God.
I will make you strong and help you.
I will support you with my right hand that brings victory.
11 Look, some people are angry with you,
but they will be ashamed and disgraced.
Your enemies will be lost and disappear.
12 You will look for the people who were against you,
but you will not be able to find them.
Those who fought against you
will disappear completely.
13 I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand.
And I tell you, ‘Don’t be afraid!
I will help you.’
14 People of Israel, descendants of Jacob, you may be weak and worthless,[c]
but do not be afraid.
I myself will help you.”
This is what the Lord himself says.
“I am the Holy One of Israel,
the one who saves you.
15 Look, I have made you like a new threshing board with many sharp teeth.
You will trample mountains and crush them.
You will make the hills[d] like chaff.
16 You will throw them into the air,
and the wind will blow them away and scatter them.
Then you will be happy in the Lord.
You will be proud of the Holy One of Israel.
From Death to Life
2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. 2 Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers[a] that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.
4 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) 6 Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. 7 God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
Jesus Heals Many People(A)
29 Jesus and the followers left the synagogue. They all went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was very sick. She was in bed and had a fever. The people there told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her bed. Jesus held her hand and helped her stand up. The fever left her, and she was healed. Then she began serving them.
32 That night, after the sun went down, the people brought to Jesus many who were sick. They also brought those who had demons inside them. 33 Everyone in the town gathered at the door of that house. 34 Jesus healed many of those who had different kinds of sicknesses. He also forced many demons out of people. But he would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.[a]
Jesus Goes to Other Towns(B)
35 The next morning Jesus woke up very early. He left the house while it was still dark and went to a place where he could be alone and pray. 36 Later, Simon and his friends went to look for Jesus. 37 They found him and said, “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus answered, “We should go to another place. We can go to other towns around here, and I can tell God’s message to those people too. That is why I came.” 39 So Jesus traveled everywhere in Galilee. He spoke in the synagogues, and he forced demons out of people.
Jesus Heals a Sick Man(C)
40 A man who had leprosy came to Jesus. The man bowed on his knees and begged him, “You have the power to heal me if you want.”
41 These last words made Jesus angry.[b] But he touched him and said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” 42 Immediately the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.
43 Jesus told the man to go, but he gave him a strong warning: 44 “Don’t tell anyone about what I did for you. But go and let the priest look at you.[c] And offer a gift to God because you have been healed. Offer the gift that Moses commanded.[d] This will show everyone that you are healed.” 45 The man left there and told everyone he saw that Jesus had healed him. So the news about Jesus spread. And that is why he could not enter a town if people saw him. He stayed in places where people did not live. But people came from all the towns to the places where he was.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International