Book of Common Prayer
[a] A song of David.
37 Don’t get upset about evil people.
Don’t be jealous of those who do wrong.
2 They are like grass and other green plants
that dry up quickly and then die.
3 So trust in the Lord and do good.
Live on your land and be dependable.[b]
4 Enjoy serving the Lord,
and he will give you whatever you ask for.
5 Depend on the Lord.
Trust in him, and he will help you.
6 He will make it as clear as day that you are right.
Everyone will see that you are being fair.
7 Trust in the Lord and wait quietly for his help.
Don’t be angry when people make evil plans and succeed.
8 Don’t become so angry and upset that you, too, want to do evil.
9 The wicked will be destroyed,
but those who call to the Lord for help will get the land he promised.
10 In a short time there will be no more evil people.
You can look for them all you want, but they will be gone.
11 Humble people will get the land God promised,
and they will enjoy peace.
12 The wicked plan bad things for those who are good.
They show their teeth in anger at them.
13 But our Lord will laugh at them.
He will make sure they get what they deserve.
14 The wicked draw their swords to kill the poor and the helpless.
They aim their arrows to murder all who live right.
15 But their bows will break,
and their swords will pierce their own hearts.
16 A few good people are better
than a large crowd of those who are evil.
17 The wicked will be destroyed,
but the Lord cares for those who are good.
18 The Lord protects pure people all their life.
Their reward will continue forever.
19 When trouble comes,
good people will not be destroyed.
When times of hunger come,
good people will have plenty to eat.
20 But evil people are the Lord’s enemies,
and they will be destroyed.
Their valleys will dry up and burn.
They will be destroyed completely.
21 The wicked borrow money and never pay it back.
But good people are kind and generous.
22 Everyone the Lord blesses will get the land he promised.
Everyone he curses will be destroyed.
23 The Lord shows us how we should live,
and he is pleased when he sees people living that way.
24 If they stumble, they will not fall,
because the Lord reaches out to steady them.
25 I was young, and now I am old,
but I have never seen good people left with no one to help them;
I have never seen their children begging for food.
26 They are kind and generous,
and their children are a blessing.
27 Stop doing anything evil and do good,
and you will always have a place to live.
28 The Lord loves what is right,
and he will never leave his followers without help.
He will always protect them,
but he will destroy the families of the wicked.
29 Good people will get the land God promised
and will live on it forever.
30 Those who do what is right give good advice.
Their decisions are always fair.
31 They have learned God’s teachings,
and they will never stop living right.[c]
32 The wicked are always looking for ways to kill good people.
33 But the Lord will not let the wicked defeat them.
He will not let good people be judged guilty.
34 Do what the Lord says, and wait for his help.
He will reward you and give you the land he promised.
You will see the wicked being forced to leave.
35 I once saw a wicked man who was powerful.
He was like a strong, healthy tree.
36 But then he was gone.
I looked for him, but I could not find him.
37 Be pure and honest.
Peace loving people will have many descendants.
38 But those who break the law will be destroyed completely.
And their descendants will be forced to leave the land.[d]
39 The Lord saves those who are good.
When they have troubles, he is their strength.
40 The Lord helps good people and rescues them.
They depend on him, so he rescues them from the wicked.
Think About the Great Things God Did
32 “Has anything this great ever happened before? Never! Look at the past. Think about everything that happened before you were born. Go all the way back to the time when God made people on the earth. Look at everything that has happened anywhere in the world. Has anyone ever heard about anything as great as this? No! 33 You people heard God speaking to you from a fire, and you are still alive. Has that ever happened to anyone else? No! 34 Has any other god ever tried to go and take a people for himself from inside another nation? No! But you yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God did for you. He showed you his power and strength. You saw the troubles that tested the people. You saw miracles and wonders. You saw war and the terrible things that happened. 35 The Lord showed you all this so that you would know that he is God. There is no other god like him. 36 He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could teach you a lesson. On earth he let you see his great fire, and he spoke to you from it.
37 “He loved your ancestors. That is why he chose you, their descendants. And that is why he brought you out of Egypt. He was with you and brought you out with his great power. 38 When you moved forward, he forced out nations that were greater and more powerful than you. And he led you into their land. He gave you their land to live in, as he is still doing today.
39 “So today you must remember and accept that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god! 40 And you must obey his laws and commands that I give you today. Then everything will go well with you and your children who live after you. And you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you—it will be yours forever.”
Servants of God’s New Agreement
3 Why are we beginning again to tell you all these good things about ourselves? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? 2 No, you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by all people. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone[a] tablets but on human hearts.
4 We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. 5 I don’t mean that we are able to do anything good ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. 6 He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
An Agreement With Greater Glory
7 The old agreement[b] that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. 8 So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. 9 This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory. 10 That old agreement had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of the new agreement. 11 If the agreement that was brought to an end came with glory, then the agreement that never ends has much greater glory.
12 We are so sure of this hope that we can speak very openly. 13 We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face. He covered his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. 14 But their minds were closed. And even today, when those people read the writings of the old agreement,[c] that same covering hides the meaning. That covering has not been removed for them. It is taken away only through Christ. 15 Yes, even today, when they read the Law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. 16 But when someone changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. 17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And our faces are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
True Wealth
16 Jesus said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He hired a manager to take care of his business. Later, he learned that his manager was cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can’t be my manager anymore.’
3 “So, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me. I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. 4 I know what I will do! I will do something to make friends, so that when I lose my job, they will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in each person who owed the master some money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘I owe him 100 jars[a] of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill. Hurry! Sit down and make the bill less. Write 50 jars.’
7 “Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘I owe him 100 measures[b] of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 80 measures.’
8 “Later, the master told the dishonest manager that he had done a smart thing. Yes, worldly people are smarter in their business with each other than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, use the worldly things you have now to make ‘friends’ for later. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed into a home that lasts forever.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International