Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A song of David.
41 Happy is the person who thinks about the poor.
When trouble comes, the Lord will save him.
2 The Lord will protect him and spare his life.
The Lord will bless him in the land.
The Lord will not let his enemies take him.
3 The Lord will give him strength when he is sick.
The Lord will make him well again.
4 I said, “Lord, be kind to me.
Heal me because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying bad things about me.
They say, “When will he die and be forgotten?”
6 Some people come to see me.
But they lie.
They just come to get bad news.
Then they go and gossip.
7 All my enemies whisper about me.
They think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He has a terrible disease.
He will never get out of bed again.”
9 My best and truest friend ate at my table.
Now even he has turned against me.
10 Lord, have mercy on me.
Give me strength so I can pay them back.
11 My enemies do not defeat me.
That’s how I know you are pleased with me.
12 Because I am innocent, you support me.
You will let me be with you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He has always been,
and he will always be.
Amen and amen.
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
God’s love will continue forever.
2 You think up evil plans.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
making up lies.
3 You love wrong more than right
and lies more than truth. Selah
4 You love words that bite
and tongues that lie.
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and throw you out of your tent.
He will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
6 Those who do right will see this and fear God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the man
who did not depend on God.
Instead, he depended on his money.
He grew strong by his evil plans.”
8 But I am like an olive tree
growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
forever and ever.
9 God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our ancestors told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land.
You placed our ancestors here.
You destroyed those other nations.
But you made our ancestors grow strong.
3 It wasn’t their swords that took the land.
It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.
But it was your great power and strength.
You were with them because you loved them.
4 My God, you are my King.
Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.
5 With your help we pushed back our enemies.
In your name we walked on those who came against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me.
My sword can’t save me.
7 You saved us from Egypt.
You made our enemies ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day.
We will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you have rejected us and shamed us.
You don’t march with our armies anymore.
10 You let our enemies push us back.
Our enemies have taken our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten.
You scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing.
You made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors.
The community laughs and makes fun of us.
14 You made us a joke to the other nations.
People shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace.
I am covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting even
with insults and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you.
We have kept our agreement with you.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away from you.
We haven’t stopped following you.
19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live.
You covered us with deep darkness.
20 We did not forget our God.
We did not lift our hands in prayer to foreign gods.
21 God would have known if we had.
He knows what is in our hearts.
22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why are you hidden from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt.
We are flat on the ground.
26 Get up and help us.
Because of your love, save us.
God Controls the Future
48 The Lord says, “Family of Jacob, listen to me.
You are called Israel.
You come from the family of Judah.
You use the Lord’s name to make promises.
You praise the God of Israel,
but you are not honest or sincere.
2 You call yourselves people of the holy city.
You depend on the God of Israel.
He is named the Lord of heaven’s armies.
3 Long ago I told you what would happen.
I said these things and made them known.
Suddenly I acted, and these things happened.
4 I did that because I knew you were stubborn.
Your neck was like an iron muscle.
It was as if your head were made of bronze.
5 So a long time ago I told you about these things.
I told you about them before they happened.
I did this so you couldn’t say, ‘My idols did this.
My wooden and metal statues made these things happen.’
6 “You heard and saw all the things that happened.
So you should tell this news to others.
Now I will tell you about new things.
These are hidden things that you don’t know yet.
7 These things are happening now, not long ago.
You have not heard about them before today.
So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.’
8 But you have not heard me. You have not understood.
Even long ago you did not listen to me.
I knew you would surely turn against me.
You have fought against me since you were born.
9 But for my own sake I will be patient.
People will praise me for not becoming angry
and destroying you.
10 I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.
I have purified you by giving you troubles.
11 I do this for myself, for my own sake.
I will not let people speak evil against me.
I will not let some false god take my glory.
The Only Good News
1 From Paul, an apostle.
I was not chosen to be an apostle by men. I was not sent from men. It was Jesus Christ and God the Father who made me an apostle. God is the One who raised Jesus from death.
2 This letter is also from all the brothers who are with me.
To the churches in Galatia.[a]
3 I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be good to you and give you peace. 4 Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in. This is what God the Father wanted. 5 The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.
6 A short time ago God called you to follow him. He called you by his grace that came through Christ. But now I am amazed at you! You are already turning away and believing something different than the Good News. 7 Really, there is no other Good News. But some people are confusing you and want to change the Good News of Christ. 8 We preached to you the Good News. So if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, preach to you something different than the Good News, he should be condemned! 9 I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If anyone tells you another way to be saved, he should be condemned!
10 Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No! God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please men? If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul’s Authority Is from God
11 Brothers, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made by men. 12 I did not get it from men, nor did any man teach it to me. Jesus Christ showed it to me.
13 You have heard about my past life. I belonged to the Jewish religion. I hurt the church of God very much and tried to destroy it. 14 I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion. I did better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the old rules. These rules were the customs handed down by our ancestors.
15 But God had special plans for me even before I was born. So he called me through his grace that I might 16 tell the Good News about his Son to the non-Jewish people. So God showed me about his Son. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any man. 17 I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia and later went back to Damascus.
Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals A Sick Woman
21 Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake. There, a large crowd gathered around him. 22 A ruler from the synagogue, named Jairus, came to that place. Jairus saw Jesus and bowed before him. 23 The ruler begged Jesus again and again. He said, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her. Then she will be healed and will live.” 24 So Jesus went with the ruler, and many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around him.
25 A woman was there who had been bleeding for the past 12 years. 26 She had suffered very much. Many doctors had tried to help her. She had spent all the money she had, but she was not improving. She was getting worse. 27 When the woman heard about Jesus, she followed him with the people and touched his coat. 28 The woman thought, “If I can even touch his coat, that will be enough to heal me.” 29 When she touched his coat, her bleeding stopped. She could feel in her body that she was healed.
30 At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he stopped and turned around. Then he asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 The followers said, “There are so many people pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. 33 The woman knew that she was healed. So she came and bowed at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole story. 34 Jesus said to the woman, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace. You will have no more suffering.”
35 Jesus was still speaking to her when some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. The men said, “Your daughter is dead. There is now no need to bother the teacher.”
36 But Jesus paid no attention to what the men said. He said to the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; only believe.”
37 Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him to Jairus’s house. 38 They came to the house of the synagogue ruler, and Jesus found many people there crying loudly. There was much confusion. 39 Jesus entered the house and said to the people, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? This child is not dead. She is only asleep.” 40 But they only laughed at Jesus. He told all the people to leave. Then he went into the room where the child was. He took the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room with him. 41 Then he took hold of the girl’s hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means, “Little girl, I tell you to stand up!”) 42 The girl stood right up and began walking. (She was 12 years old.) The father and mother and the followers were amazed. 43 Jesus gave the father and mother strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl some food.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.