Book of Common Prayer
Trusting God for Help
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Dove in the Distant Oak.” A miktam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
56 God, be merciful to me because people are chasing me.
The battle has pressed me all day long.
2 My enemies have chased me all day.
There are many of them fighting me.
3 When I am afraid,
I will trust you.
4 I praise God for his word.
I trust God. So I am not afraid.
What can human beings do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words.
All their evil plans are against me.
6 They wait. They hide.
They watch my steps.
They hope to kill me.
7 God, do not let them escape.
Punish the foreign nations in your anger.
8 You have recorded my troubles.
You have kept a list of my tears.
Aren’t they in your records?
9 On the day I call for help, my enemies will be defeated.
I know that God is on my side.
10 I praise God for his word to me.
I praise the Lord for his word.
11 I trust in God. I will not be afraid.
What can people do to me?
12 God, I must keep my promises to you.
I will give you my offerings to thank you.
13 You have saved me from death.
You have kept me from being defeated.
So I will walk with God
in light among the living.
A Prayer in Troubled Times
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A miktam of David when he escaped from Saul in a cave.
57 Be merciful to me, God. Be merciful to me
because I come to you for protection.
I will come to you as a bird comes for protection under its mother’s wings
until the trouble has passed.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to the God who does everything for me.
3 He sends help from heaven and saves me.
He punishes those who attack me. Selah
God sends me his love and truth.
4 Enemies are like lions all around me.
I must lie down among them.
Their teeth are like spears and arrows.
Their tongues are as sharp as swords.
5 God is supreme over the skies.
His greatness covers the earth.
6 They set a trap for me.
I am very worried.
They dug a pit in my path.
But they fell into it themselves. Selah
7 My heart is right, God. My heart is right.
I will sing and praise you.
8 Wake up, my soul.
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
9 Lord, I will praise you among the nations.
I will sing songs of praise about you to all the nations.
10 Your love is so great it reaches to the skies.
Your truth reaches to the clouds.
11 God, you are supreme over the skies.
Let your glory be over all the earth.
Unfair Judges
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A miktam of David.
58 Do you rulers really say what is right?
Do you judge people fairly?
2 No, in your heart you plan evil.
You think up violent crimes in the land.
3 From birth evil men start doing bad things.
They tell lies and do wrong as soon as they are born.
4 They are like poisonous snakes,
like deaf cobras that can’t hear.
5 They cannot hear the music of the snake charmer
no matter how well he plays for them.
6 God, break the teeth out of their mouths!
Tear out the fangs of those lions, Lord!
7 Let them disappear like water that flows away.
Let them be cut short like a broken arrow.
8 Let them be like snails that melt as they move.
Let them be like a child born dead who never saw the sun.
9 His anger will blow them away alive.
It will happen faster than burning thorns can heat a pot.
10 Good people will be glad when they see him get even.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then people will say,
“There really are rewards for doing what is right.
There really is a God who judges the world.”
A Prayer Against Enemies
For the director of music. A song of David.
64 God, listen to my complaint.
I am afraid of my enemies.
Protect my life from them.
2 Hide me from those wicked people,
from that gang who does evil.
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords.
They shoot bitter words like arrows.
4 They hide and shoot at innocent people.
They shoot suddenly and are not afraid.
5 They encourage each other to do wrong.
They talk about setting traps.
They think no one will see them.
6 They plan wicked things and say,
“We have a perfect plan.”
The mind of man is hard to understand.
7 But God will shoot them with arrows.
They will suddenly be struck down.
8 Their own words will be used against them.
All who see them will shake their heads.
9 Then everyone will fear God.
They will tell what God has done.
They will learn from what he has done.
10 Good people will be happy in the Lord.
They will find protection in him.
Let everyone who is honest praise the Lord.
A Hymn of Thanksgiving
For the director of music. A song of David.
65 God, you will be praised in Jerusalem.
We will keep our promises to you.
2 You hear our prayers.
All people will come to you.
3 Our guilt overwhelms us.
But you forgive our sins.
4 Happy are the people you choose.
You have them stay in your courtyards.
We are filled with good things in your house,
your holy Temple.
5 You answer us in amazing ways,
God our Savior.
People everywhere on the earth
and beyond the sea trust you.
6 You made the mountains by your strength.
You have great power.
7 You stopped the roaring seas,
the roaring waves and the uproar of the nations.
8 Even those people at the ends of the earth fear your miracles.
You are praised from where the sun rises to where it sets.
9 You take care of the land and water it.
You make it very fertile.
The rivers of God are full of water.
Grain grows because you make it grow.
10 You cause rain to fall on the plowed fields.
You soak them with water.
You soften the ground with rain.
And then you bless it.
11 You give the year a good harvest.
You load the wagons with many crops.
12 The desert is covered with grass.
The hills are covered with happiness.
13 The pastures are full of sheep.
The valleys are covered with grain.
Everything shouts and sings for joy.
Two Visions
11 The Lord spoke this word to me: “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
I answered the Lord and said, “I see a stick of almond wood.”
12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly! And I am watching to make sure my words come true.”
13 The Lord spoke his word to me again: “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
I answered the Lord and said, “I see a pot of boiling water. It is tipping over from the north!”
14 The Lord said to me, “Disaster will come from the north. It will happen to all the people who live in this country. 15 In a short time I will call all of the people in the northern kingdoms,” said the Lord.
“Those kings will come and set up their thrones
near the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.
They will attack the city walls around Jerusalem.
They will attack all the cities in Judah.
16 And I will announce my judgments against my people.
I will do this because of their evil in turning away from me.
They offered sacrifices to other gods.
And they worshiped idols they had made with their own hands.
17 “Jeremiah, get ready. Stand up and speak to the people. Tell them everything I tell you to say. Don’t be afraid of the people. If you are afraid of them, I will give you good reason to be afraid of them. 18 Today I am going to make you a strong city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall. You will be able to stand against everyone in the land: Judah’s kings, officers, priests and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you. But they will not defeat you. This is because I am with you, and I will save you!” says the Lord.
A Prayer of Thanks
1 From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. God called me to be an apostle and chose me to tell the Good News.
2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets. That promise is written in the Holy Scriptures. 3-4 The Good News is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As a man, he was born from the family of David. But through the Spirit of holiness he was declared to be God’s Son with great power by rising from death. 5 Through Christ, God gave me the special work of an apostle. This was to lead people of all nations to believe and obey. I do this work for Christ. 6 And you who are in Rome are also called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 This letter is to all of you in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his holy people.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ show you kindness and give you peace.
8 First I want to say that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. I thank God because people everywhere in the world are talking about your great faith. 9-10 God knows that every time I pray I always mention you. God is the One I serve with my whole heart by telling the Good News about his Son. I pray that I will be allowed to come to you, and this will happen if God wants it. 11 I want very much to see you, to give you some spiritual gift to make you strong. 12 I mean that I want us to help each other with the faith that we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you. 13 Brothers, I want you to know that I planned many times to come to you. But this has not been possible. I wanted to come so that I could help you grow spiritually. I wanted to help you as I have helped the other non-Jewish people.
14 I must serve all people—Greeks and non-Greeks, the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I want so much to preach the Good News to you in Rome.
27 Just then his followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She said to the people, 29 “A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Christ!” 30 So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.
31 While the woman was away, the followers were begging him, “Teacher, eat something!”
32 But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the followers asked themselves, “Did somebody already bring Jesus some food?”
34 Jesus said, “My food is to do what the One who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 You say, ‘Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.’ But I tell you, open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now. 36 Even now, the one who harvests the crop is being paid. He is gathering crops for eternal life. So now the one who plants can be happy along with the one who harvests. 37 It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another harvests the crop.’ 38 I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.”[a]
39 Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman said: “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 The Samaritans came to Jesus and begged him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of the things he said.
42 They said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us. But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.