Book of Common Prayer
A song of David.
26 Lord, you be the judge and prove that I have lived a pure life.
I have depended on you, Lord, to keep me from falling.
2 Look closely at me, Lord, and test me.
Judge my deepest thoughts and emotions.
3 I always remember your faithful love.
I depend on your faithfulness.
4 I don’t run around with troublemakers.
I have nothing to do with hypocrites.
5 I hate being around evil people.
I refuse to join those gangs of crooks.
6 Lord, I wash my hands to make myself pure,
so that I can come to your altar.
7 I sing a song to give you thanks,
and I tell about all the wonderful things you have done.
8 Lord, I love the house[a] where you live,
the place where your glory is.
9 Lord, don’t treat me like one of those sinners.
Don’t kill me with those murderers.
10 They are guilty of cheating people.
They take bribes to do wrong.
11 But I am innocent,
so be kind to me and save me.
12 I am safe from all danger
as I stand here praising you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
A song of David.
28 Lord, you are my Rock.
I am calling to you for help.
Don’t close your ears to my prayers.
If you don’t answer me,
I will be counted among the dead.
2 I lift my hands and pray toward your Most Holy Place.
Hear me when I call to you.
Show mercy to me.
3 Don’t treat me like the evil people
who do wicked things.
They greet their neighbors like friends,
but secretly plan to hurt them.
4 They do bad things to others,
so make bad things happen to them.
Give them the punishment they deserve.
5 They don’t notice what the Lord does.
They ignore all the good things he has made.
So instead of building them up,
he will destroy them.
6 Praise the Lord!
He has heard my prayer for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trusted him with all my heart.
He helped me, so I am happy.
I sing songs of praise to him.
8 The Lord protects his chosen one.[a]
He saves him and gives him strength.
9 Save your people.
Bless those who belong to you.
Lead them and honor them[b] forever.
To the director: A song of David, the Lord’s servant.
36 Deep in the hearts of the wicked a voice tells them to do wrong.
They have no respect for God.
2 They lie to themselves.
They don’t see their own faults,
so they are not sorry for what they do.
3 Their words are wicked lies.
They have stopped doing anything wise or good.
4 They make wicked plans in bed at night.
They choose a way of life that does no good.
And they never say no to anything evil.
5 Lord, your faithful love reaches to the sky.
Your faithfulness is as high as the clouds.
6 Your goodness is higher than the highest mountains.
Your fairness is deeper than the deepest ocean.
Lord, you protect people and animals.
7 Nothing is more precious than your loving kindness.
All people can find protection close to you.
8 They get strength from all the good things in your house.
You let them drink from your wonderful river.
9 The fountain of life flows from you.
Your light lets us see light.
10 Continue to love those who really know you,
and do good to those who are true to you.[a]
11 Don’t let proud people trap me.
Don’t let the wicked force me to run away.
12 Put this on their grave markers:
“Here fell the wicked.
They were crushed.
They will never stand up again.”
To the director, Jeduthun.[a] A song of David.
39 I said, “I will be careful about what I say.
I will not let my tongue cause me to sin.
I will keep my mouth closed[b]
when I am around wicked people.”
2 So I didn’t say anything.
I didn’t even say anything good,
but I became even more upset.
3 I was very angry,
and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became.
So I said something.
4 Lord, tell me, what will happen to me now?
Tell me, how long will I live?
Let me know how short my life really is.
5 You gave me only a short life.
Compared to you, my whole life is nothing.
The life of every human is like a cloud that quickly disappears. Selah
6 Our life is like an image in a mirror.[c]
We rush through life collecting things,
but we don’t know who will get them after we die.
7 So, Lord, what hope do I have?
You are my hope!
8 Save me from the bad things I did.
Don’t let me be treated like a fool.
9 I will not open my mouth.
I will not say anything.
You did what should have been done.
10 But please stop punishing me.
You will destroy me if you do not stop.
11 You punish people for doing wrong to teach them the right way to live.
As a moth destroys cloth, you destroy what people love.
Yes, our lives are like a small cloud that quickly disappears. Selah
16 “You must not test the Lord your God like you tested him at Massah. 17 You must be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God. You must follow all the teachings and laws he has given you. 18 You must do what is right and good—what pleases the Lord. Then everything will go well for you, and you can go in and take the good land that the Lord promised your ancestors. 19 And you will force out all your enemies, just as the Lord said.
Teach Your Children the Things God Did
20 “In the future, your children might ask you, ‘The Lord our God gave you teachings, laws, and rules. What do they mean?’ 21 Then you will say to them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power. 22 The Lord did great and amazing things. We saw him do these things to the Egyptian people, to Pharaoh, and to the people in Pharaoh’s house. 23 He brought us out of Egypt so that he could give us the land that he promised our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to follow all these teachings. We must respect the Lord our God. Then he will always keep us alive and doing well, as we are today. 25 If we carefully obey the whole law, exactly as the Lord our God told us to, he will say that we have done a very good thing.’[a]
Our Salvation Is Greater Than the Law
2 So we must be more careful to follow what we were taught. We must be careful so that we will not be pulled away from the true way. 2 The teaching that God spoke through angels was shown to be true. And every time his people did something against that teaching, they were punished for what they did. They were punished when they did not obey that teaching. 3 So surely we also will be punished if we don’t pay attention to the salvation we have that is so great. It was the Lord Jesus who first told people about it. And those who heard him proved to us that it is true. 4 God also proved it by using miraculous signs, wonders, and all kinds of miracles. And he proved it by giving people various gifts through the Holy Spirit in just the way he wanted.
Christ Became Like People to Save Them
5 God did not choose angels to be the rulers over the new world that was coming. That future world is the world we have been talking about. 6 It is written some place in the Scriptures,
“Why are people so important to you?
Why do you even think about them?
Why do you care about the son of man[a]?
Is he so important?
7 For a short time you made him lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You put everything under his control.[b]” (A)
If God put everything under his control, then there was nothing left that he did not rule. But we don’t yet see him ruling over everything. 9 For a short time Jesus was made lower than the angels, but now we see him wearing a crown of glory and honor because he suffered and died. Because of God’s grace, Jesus died for everyone.
10 God—the one who made all things and for whose glory all things exist—wanted many people to be his children and share his glory. So he did what he needed to do. He made perfect the one who leads those people to salvation. He made Jesus a perfect Savior through his suffering.
John Tells About the Messiah(A)
19 The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John to ask him, “Who are you?” He told them the truth. 20 Without any hesitation he said openly and plainly, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He answered, “No, I am not Elijah.”
They asked, “Are you the Prophet[a]?”
He answered, “No, I am not the Prophet.”
22 Then they said, “Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Give us an answer to tell the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John told them the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“I am the voice of someone shouting in the desert:
‘Make a straight road ready for the Lord.’” (B)
24 These Jews were sent from the Pharisees. 25 They said to John, “You say you are not the Messiah. You say you are not Elijah or the Prophet. Then why do you baptize people?”
26 John answered, “I baptize people with water. But there is someone here with you that you don’t know. 27 He is the one who is coming later. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties the strings on his sandals.”
28 These things all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International