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
15 “On the day the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb, you did not see him—there was no shape for God. 16 So be careful! Don’t sin and destroy yourselves by making false gods or statues in the shape of any living thing. Don’t make an idol that looks like a man or a woman, 17 or like an animal on the earth, or like a bird that flies in the sky. 18 And don’t make an idol that looks like anything that crawls on the ground or like a fish in the sea. 19 And be careful when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the many things in the sky. Be careful that you are not tempted to worship and serve them. The Lord your God lets the other people in the world do this. 20 But the Lord brought you out of Egypt to make you his own special people. He saved you from Egypt. It was as if he pulled you from a hot furnace.[a] And now you are his people.
21 “The Lord was angry with me because of you. He swore that I could not go across the Jordan River into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you. 22 So I must die here in this land. I cannot go across the Jordan River, but you will soon go across it and take that good land and live there. 23 You must be careful not to forget the agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord’s command. Don’t make any idols in any form, 24 because the Lord your God hates for his people to worship other gods. And he can be like a fire that destroys!
The Change in Paul’s Plans
12 This is what we are proud of, and I can say with a clear conscience that it is true: In everything we have done in the world, we have done it with an honest and pure heart from God. And this is even truer in what we have done with you. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. 13 We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope you will fully understand, 14 just as you already understand many things about us. I hope you will understand that you can be proud of us, just as we will be proud of you on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
15 I was very sure of all this. That is why I made plans to visit you first. Then you could be blessed twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. 17 Do you think that I made these plans without really thinking? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, saying yes and no at the same time.
18 But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. 19 The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. 20 The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. 21 And God is the one who makes you and us strong in Christ. God is also the one who chose us for his work.[a] 22 He put his mark on us to show that we are his. Yes, he put his Spirit in our hearts as the first payment that guarantees all that he will give us.
Joy in Heaven(A)
15 Many tax collectors and sinners came to listen to Jesus. 2 Then the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to complain, “Look, this man[a] welcomes sinners and even eats with them!”
3 Then Jesus told them this story: 4 “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep, but one of them gets lost. What will you do? You will leave the other 99 sheep there in the field and go out and look for the lost sheep. You will continue to search for it until you find it. 5 And when you find it, you will be very happy. You will carry it 6 home, go to your friends and neighbors and say to them, ‘Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep!’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, heaven is a happy place when one sinner decides to change. There is more joy for that one sinner than for 99 good people who don’t need to change.
8 “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins,[b] but she loses one of them. She will take a light and clean the house. She will look carefully for the coin until she finds it. 9 And when she finds it, she will call her friends and neighbors and say to them, ‘Be happy with me because I have found the coin that I lost!’ 10 In the same way, it’s a happy time for the angels of God when one sinner decides to change.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International