Book of Common Prayer
56 1-2 Lord, have mercy on me; all day long the enemy troops press in. So many are proud to fight against me; how they long to conquer me.
3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you. Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him, what can mere man do to me? 5 They are always twisting what I say. All their thoughts are how to harm me. 6 They meet together to perfect their plans; they hide beside the trail, listening for my steps, waiting to kill me. 7 They expect to get away with it. Don’t let them, Lord. In anger cast them to the ground.
8 You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.
9 The very day I call for help, the tide of battle turns. My enemies flee! This one thing I know: God is for me! 10-11 I am trusting God—oh, praise his promises! I am not afraid of anything mere man can do to me! Yes, praise his promises. 12 I will surely do what I have promised, Lord, and thank you for your help. 13 For you have saved me from death and my feet from slipping, so that I can walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
57 O God, have pity, for I am trusting you! I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until this storm is past. 2 I will cry to the God of heaven who does such wonders for me. 3 He will send down help from heaven to save me because of his love and his faithfulness. He will rescue me from these liars who are so intent upon destroying me. 4 I am surrounded by fierce lions—hotheads whose teeth are sharp as spears and arrows. Their tongues are like swords. 5 Lord, be exalted above the highest heavens! Show your glory high above the earth. 6 My enemies have set a trap for me. Frantic fear grips me. They have dug a pitfall in my path. But look! They themselves have fallen into it!
7 O God, my heart is quiet and confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! 8 Rouse yourself, my soul! Arise, O harp and lyre! Let us greet the dawn with song! 9 I will thank you publicly throughout the land. I will sing your praises among the nations. 10 Your kindness and love are as vast as the heavens. Your faithfulness is higher than the skies.
11 Yes, be exalted, O God, above the heavens. May your glory shine throughout the earth.
58 1-2 Justice? You high and mighty politicians don’t even know the meaning of the word! Fairness? Which of you has any left? Not one! All your dealings are crooked: you give “justice” in exchange for bribes.[a] 3 These men are born sinners, lying from their earliest words! 4-5 They are poisonous as deadly snakes, cobras that close their ears to the most expert of charmers.
6 O God, break off their fangs. Tear out the teeth of these young lions, Lord. 7 Let them disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.[b] 8 Let them be as snails that dissolve into slime and as those who die at birth, who never see the sun. 9 God will sweep away both old and young. He will destroy them more quickly than a cooking pot can feel the blazing fire of thorns beneath it.
10 The godly shall rejoice in the triumph of right;[c] they shall walk the bloodstained fields of slaughtered, wicked men. 11 Then at last everyone will know that good is rewarded, and that there is a God who judges justly here on earth.
64 1-2 Lord, listen to my complaint: Oh, preserve my life from the conspiracy of these wicked men, these gangs of criminals. 3 They cut me down with sharpened tongues; they aim their bitter words like arrows straight at my heart. 4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent. Suddenly the deed is done, yet they are not afraid. 5 They encourage each other to do evil. They meet in secret to set their traps. “He will never notice them here,” they say. 6 They keep a sharp lookout for opportunities of crime. They spend long hours with all their endless evil thoughts and plans.[a]
7 But God himself will shoot them down. Suddenly his arrow will pierce them. 8 They will stagger backward, destroyed by those they spoke against. All who see it happening will scoff at them. 9 Then everyone shall stand in awe and confess the greatness of the miracles of God; at last they will realize what amazing things he does. 10 And the godly shall rejoice in the Lord, and trust and praise him.
65 1-2 O God in Zion, we wait before you in silent praise, and thus fulfill our vow. And because you answer prayer, all mankind will come to you with their requests. 3 Though sins fill our hearts, you forgive them all. 4 How greatly to be envied are those you have chosen to come and live with you within the holy tabernacle courts! What joys await us among all the good things there. 5 With dread deeds and awesome power you will defend us from our enemies,[b] O God who saves us. You are the only hope of all mankind throughout the world and far away upon the sea.
6 He formed the mountains by his mighty strength. 7 He quiets the raging oceans and all the world’s clamor. 8 In the farthest corners of the earth the glorious acts of God shall startle everyone. The dawn and sunset shout for joy! 9 He waters the earth to make it fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry! He prepares the earth for his people and sends them rich harvests of grain. 10 He waters the furrows with abundant rain. Showers soften the earth, melting the clods and causing seeds to sprout across the land. 11-12 Then he crowns it all with green, lush pastures in the wilderness; hillsides blossom with joy. 13 The pastures are filled with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. All the world shouts with joy and sings.
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?”
And I replied, “I see a whip made from the branch of an almond tree.”
12 And the Lord replied, “That’s right, and it means that I will surely carry out my threats of punishment.”[a]
13 Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see now?”
And I replied, “I see a pot of boiling water, tipping southward, spilling over Judah.”[b]
14 “Yes,” he said, “for terror from the north will boil out upon all the people of this land. 15 I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem and set their thrones at the gates of the city and all along its walls, and in all the other cities of Judah. 16 This is the way I will punish my people for deserting me and for worshiping other gods—yes, idols they themselves have made! 17 Get up and dress and go out and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Don’t be afraid of them, or else I will make a fool of you in front of them. 18 For see, today I have made you impervious to their attacks. They cannot harm you. You are strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar and heavy gates of brass. All the kings of Judah, its officers, priests, and people will not be able to prevail against you. 19 They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you,” says the Lord. “I will deliver you.”
1 Dear friends in Rome: This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God’s Good News. 2 This Good News was promised long ago by God’s prophets in the Old Testament. 3 It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David’s royal family line; 4 and by being raised from the dead he was proved to be the mighty Son of God, with the holy nature of God himself.
5 And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him.
6-7 And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God’s very own—yes, his holy people. May all God’s mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.
8 Let me say first of all that wherever I go I hear you being talked about! For your faith in God is becoming known around the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for this good report, and for each one of you. 9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to the one I serve with all my might, telling others the Good News about his Son.
10 And one of the things I keep on praying for is the opportunity, God willing,[a] to come at last to see you and, if possible, that I will have a safe trip. 11-12 For I long to visit you so that I can impart to you the faith[b] that will help your church grow strong in the Lord. Then, too, I need your help, for I want not only to share my faith with you but to be encouraged by yours: Each of us will be a blessing to the other.
13 I want you to know, dear brothers, that I planned to come many times before (but was prevented) so that I could work among you and see good results, just as I have among the other Gentile churches.[c] 14 For I owe a great debt to you and to everyone else, both to civilized people and uncivilized alike; yes, to the educated and uneducated alike. 15 So, to the fullest extent of my ability, I am ready to come also to you in Rome to preach God’s Good News.
27 Just then his disciples arrived. They were surprised to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why, or what they had been discussing.
28-29 Then the woman left her waterpot beside the well and went back to the village and told everyone, “Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. 32 “No,” he said, “I have some food you don’t know about.”
33 “Who brought it to him?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for reaping. 36 The reapers will be paid good wages and will be gathering eternal souls into the granaries of heaven! What joys await the sower and the reaper, both together! 37 For it is true that one sows and someone else reaps. 38 I sent you to reap where you didn’t sow; others did the work, and you received the harvest.”
39 Many from the Samaritan village believed he was the Messiah because of the woman’s report: “He told me everything I ever did!” 40-41 When they came out to see him at the well, they begged him to stay at their village; and he did, for two days, long enough for many of them to believe in him after hearing him. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.