Book of Common Prayer
95 Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
2 Come and worship him with songs of thanks.[a]
Let us sing happy songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
the great King ruling over all the other “gods.”
4 The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him.
5 The ocean is his—he created it.
He made the dry land with his own hands.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship him!
Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 He is our God,
and we are the people he cares for,
his sheep that walk by his side.
Listen to his voice today:
8 “Don’t be stubborn, as you were at Meribah,
as you were at Massah[b] in the desert.
9 Your ancestors doubted and tested me,
even after they saw what I could do!
10 I was angry with them for 40 years.
I said, ‘They are not faithful to me.
They refuse to do what I say.’
11 So in my anger I made this vow:
‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”
To the director: A song of David.
31 Lord, I come to you for protection.
Don’t let me be disappointed.
You always do what is right, so save me.
2 Listen to me.
Come quickly and save me.
Be my Rock, my place of safety.
Be my fortress and protect me!
3 Yes, you are my Rock and my protection.
For the good of your name, lead me and guide me.
4 Save me from the traps my enemy has set.
You are my place of safety.
5 Lord, you are the God we can trust.
I put my life[a] in your hands.
Save me!
6 I hate those who worship false gods.
I trust only in the Lord.
7 Your kindness makes me so happy.
You have seen my suffering.
You know about the troubles I have.
8 You will not let my enemies take me.
You will free me from their traps.
9 Lord, I have many troubles, so be kind to me.
I have cried until my eyes hurt.
My throat and stomach are aching.
10 Because of my sin, my life is ending in grief;
my years are passing away in sighs of pain.
My life is ending in weakness.
My strength is draining away.
11 My enemies despise me,
and even my neighbors have turned away.
When my friends see me in the street,
they turn the other way.
They are afraid to be around me.
12 People want to forget me like someone already dead,
thrown away like a broken dish.
13 I hear them whispering about me.
They have turned against me and plan to kill me.
14 Lord, I trust in you.
You are my God.
15 My life is in your hands.
Save me from those who are persecuting me.
16 Please welcome and accept your servant.[b]
Be kind to me and save me.
17 Lord, I am praying to you.
Don’t let me be disappointed.
The wicked are the ones who should be disappointed.
Let them go to the grave in silence.
18 Those evil people brag
and tell lies about those who do right.
They are so proud now,
but their lying lips will be silent.
19 Lord, you have hidden away many wonderful things for your followers.
You have done so many good things for those who trust in you.
You have blessed them so that all the world can see.
20 Others make plans to hurt them.
They say such bad things about them.
But you hide your people in your shelter and protect them.
21 Praise the Lord, because he showed me how wonderful his faithful love is
when the city was surrounded by enemies.
22 I was afraid and said, “I am in a place where he cannot see me.”
But I prayed to you, and you heard my loud cries for help.
23 Love the Lord, all of you who are his loyal followers.
The Lord protects those who are loyal to him.
But he punishes those who brag about their own power.
He gives them all the punishment they deserve.
24 Be strong and brave,
all of you who are waiting for the Lord’s help.
A song of David.
35 Lord, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight those who fight me.
2 Pick up your shields, large and small.
Get up and help me!
3 Take a spear and javelin
and fight those who are chasing me.
Tell me, “I will rescue you.”
4 Some people are trying to kill me.
Disappoint them and make them ashamed.
Make them turn and run away.
They are planning to hurt me.
Defeat and embarrass them.
5 Make them like chaff blown by the wind.[a]
Let them be chased by the Lord’s angel.
6 Make their road dark and slippery.
Let the Lord’s angel chase them.
7 I did nothing wrong, but they tried to trap me.
For no reason at all, they dug a pit to catch me.
8 So let them fall into their own traps.
Let them stumble into their own nets.
Let some unknown danger catch them.
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will be happy when he saves me.
10 With my whole self I will say,
“Lord, there is no one like you.
You protect the poor from those who are stronger.
You save the poor and helpless from those who try to rob them.”
11 There are witnesses[b] trying to harm me.
They ask me questions that I know nothing about.
12 They pay me back evil for the good I have done.
They make me so very sad.
13 When they were sick, I was sad and wore sackcloth.
I went without eating to show my sorrow.
(May my prayers for them not be answered!)
14 I mourned for them as I would for a friend or a brother.
I bowed low with sadness, crying as I would for my own mother.
15 But when I had troubles, they laughed at me.
They were not really friends.
I was surrounded and attacked
by people I didn’t even know.
16 They made fun of me, using the worst language.
They ground their teeth to show their anger.
17 My Lord, how long will you watch this happen?
Save my life from these people
who are attacking me like lions and trying to destroy me.
18 I will praise you in the great assembly.
I will praise you there among the crowds.
19 Don’t let my lying enemies keep on laughing at me.
They have no reason to hate me.
Surely they will be punished for their secret plans.[c]
20 They have no friendly words for others,
but plan ways to hurt those who want to live in peace.
21 They are telling lies about me.
They say, “Aha! We know what you did!”
22 Lord, surely you can see what is happening.
So don’t keep quiet.
Lord, don’t leave me.
23 Wake up! Get up!
My God and my Lord, fight for me, and bring me justice.
24 Lord my God, judge me with your fairness.
Don’t let those people laugh at me.
25 Don’t let them think, “Aha! We got what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say, “We destroyed him!”
26 Let my enemies be ashamed and embarrassed—
all those who were happy about my troubles.
Proud of themselves, they treated me as worthless.
So let them be covered with shame and disgrace.
27 To those who want the best for me,
I wish them joy and happiness.
May they always say, “Praise the Lord,
who wants what is best for his servant.”
28 So, Lord, I will tell people how good you are.
I will praise you all day long.
12 “If you listen to these laws, and if you are careful to obey them, the Lord your God will keep his agreement of love with you. He promised this to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you. He will make your nation grow. He will bless your children. He will bless your fields with good crops and will give you grain, new wine, and oil. He will bless your cows with calves and your sheep with lambs. You will have all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you.
14 “You will be blessed more than all people. Every husband and wife will be able to have children. Your cows will be able to have calves. 15 The Lord will take away all sickness from you and he will not let you catch any of the terrible diseases that you had in Egypt. But he will make your enemies catch those diseases. 16 You must destroy all the people the Lord your God helps you defeat. Don’t feel sorry for them, and don’t worship their gods! They will trap you—they will ruin your life.
Following the True Teaching
2 You, however, must tell everyone how to live in a way that agrees with the true teaching. 2 Teach the older men to have self-control, to be serious, and to be wise. They must be strong in faith, in love, and in patience.
3 Also, teach the older women to live the way those who serve the Lord should live. They should not go around saying bad things about others or be in the habit of drinking too much. They should teach what is good. 4 By doing this they will teach the younger women to love their husbands and children. 5 They will teach them to be wise and pure, to take care of their homes, to be kind, and to be willing to serve their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us.
6 In the same way, tell the young men to be wise. 7 You should be an example for them in every way by the good things you do. When you teach, be honest and serious. 8 And your teaching should be clearly right so that you cannot be criticized. Then anyone who is against you will be ashamed. There will not be anything bad they can say about us.
9 And tell this to those who are slaves: They should be willing to serve their masters at all times; they should try to please them, not argue with them; 10 they should not steal from them; and they should show their masters that they can be trusted. Then, in everything they do, they will show that the teaching of God our Savior is good.
11 That is the way we should live, because God’s grace has come. That grace can save everyone. 12 It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God. 13 We should live like that while we are waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our great hope, and he will come with glory. 14 He gave himself for us. He died to free us from all evil. He died to make us pure—people who belong only to him and who always want to do good.
15 These are the things you should tell people. Encourage them, and when they are wrong, correct them. You have full authority to do this, so don’t let anyone think they can ignore you.
The First Followers of Jesus
35 The next day John was there again and had two of his followers with him. 36 He saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 The two followers heard him say this, so they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw the two men following him. He asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (“Rabbi” means “Teacher.”)
39 He answered, “Come with me and you will see.” So the two men went with him. They saw the place where he was staying, and they stayed there with him that day. It was about four o’clock.
40 These men followed Jesus after they had heard about him from John. One of them was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to go and find his brother Simon. Andrew said to him, “We have found the Messiah.” (“Messiah” means “Christ.”)
42 Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (“Cephas” means “Peter.[a]”)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International