Book of Common Prayer
To the director: To the tune “The Lilies.” A song of David.
69 God, save me from all my troubles!
The rising water has reached my neck.
2 I have nothing to stand on.
I am sinking down, down into the mud.
I am in deep water,
and the waves are about to cover me.
3 I am getting weak from calling for help.
My throat is sore.
I have waited and looked for your help
until my eyes are hurting.
4 I have more enemies than the hairs on my head.
They hate me for no reason.
They try hard to destroy me.
My enemies tell lies about me.
They say I stole from them
and they demand that I pay for things I did not steal.
5 God, you know my faults.
I cannot hide my sins from you.
6 My Lord God All-Powerful, don’t let me embarrass your followers.
God of Israel, don’t let me bring disgrace to those who worship you.
7 My face is covered with shame.
I carry this shame for you.
8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger.
They act as if I came from a foreign land.
9 My strong devotion to your Temple is destroying me.
Those who insult you are also insulting me.
10 When I spend time crying and fasting,
they make fun of me.
11 When I wear sackcloth to show my sorrow,
they tell jokes about me.
12 They talk about me in public places.
The beer drinkers make up songs about me.
13 As for me, Lord, this is my prayer to you:
Please accept me!
God, I want you to answer me with love.
I know I can trust you to save me.
14 Pull me from the mud,
and don’t let me sink down deeper.
Save me from those who hate me.
Save me from this deep water.
15 Don’t let the waves drown me.
Don’t let the deep sea swallow me
or the grave close its mouth on me.
16 Answer me, Lord, from the goodness of your faithful love.
Out of your great kindness turn to me and help me!
17 Don’t turn away from your servant.
I am in trouble, so hurry and help me!
18 Come save my soul.
Rescue me from my enemies.
19 You know the shame I have suffered.
You know all my enemies.
You saw how they humiliated me.
20 I feel the pain of their insults.
The shame makes me feel like dying!
I wanted some sympathy,
but there was none.
I waited for someone to comfort me,
but no one came.
21 They gave me poison, not food.
They gave me vinegar, not wine.
22 Their tables are covered with food.
Let their fellowship meals destroy them.
23 Let them go blind and their backs become weak.
24 Show them how angry you are.
Let them feel what your anger can do.
25 Make their homes empty.
Don’t let anyone live there.
26 They try to hurt people you have already punished.
They tell everyone about the suffering you gave them.
27 Punish them for the bad things they have done.
Don’t show them how good you can be.
28 Erase their names from the book of life.
Don’t let their names appear on the list of those who do what is right.
29 I am sad and hurting.
God, lift me up and save me!
30 I will praise God’s name in song.
I will honor him by giving him thanks.
31 The Lord will be happier with this
than with the offering of an ox or a full-grown bull as a sacrifice.
32 Poor people, you came to worship God.
You will be happy to know these things.
33 The Lord listens to poor, helpless people.
He does not turn away from those who are in prison.
34 Praise him, heaven and earth!
Sea and everything in it, praise him!
35 God will save Zion.
He will rebuild the cities of Judah.
The people will settle there again and own the land.
36 The descendants of his servants will get that land.
Those who love his name will live there.
Book 3
(Psalms 73-89)
Asaph’s song of praise.
73 God is so good to Israel,
to those whose hearts are pure.
2 But I almost slipped and lost my balance.
I almost fell into sin.
3 I saw that wicked people were successful,
and I became jealous of those proud people.
4 They are healthy.
They don’t have to struggle to survive.[a]
5 They don’t suffer like the rest of us.
They don’t have troubles like other people.
6 So they are proud and hateful.
This is as easy to see as the jewels and fancy clothes they wear.
7 If they see something they like, they go and take it.
They do whatever they want.
8 They make fun of others and say cruel things about them.
In their pride they make plans to hurt people.
9 They think they are gods!
They think they are the rulers of the earth.
10 [b] Even God’s people turn to them
and do what they say.
11 Those evil people say, “God does not know what we are doing!
God Most High does not know!”
12 Those proud people are wicked,
but they are rich and getting richer.
13 Clearly, then, I gain nothing by keeping my thoughts pure!
What good is it to keep myself from sin?
14 God, I suffer all day long,
and you punish me every morning.
15 I wanted to tell others these things,
but that would have made me a traitor to your people.
16 I tried hard to understand all this,
but it was too hard for me.
17 But then, God, I went to your Temple,
and I understood what will happen to the wicked.
18 Clearly, you have put them in danger.
You make it easy for them to fall and be destroyed.
19 Trouble can come suddenly,
and they will be ruined.
Terrible things can happen to them,
and they will be finished.
20 Then they will be like a dream
that we forget when we wake up.
You will make them disappear
like the monsters in our dreams.
21-22 I was so stupid.
I thought about such people and became upset.
God, I was upset and angry with you!
I acted like a senseless animal.
23 But I am always with you.
You hold my hand.
24 You lead me and give me good advice,
and later you will lead me to glory.[c]
25 In heaven, God, I have only you.
And if I am with you, what on earth could I want?
26 Maybe my mind[d] and body will become weak,
but God is my source of strength.[e]
He is mine forever!
27 God, people who leave you will be lost.
You will destroy all who are not faithful to you.
28 As for me, all I need is to be close to God.
I have made the Lord God my place of safety.
And, God, I will tell about all that you have done.
The Israelites Make David King
5 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron. They said to David, “Look, we are one family[a]! 2 Even when Saul was our king, you were the one who led us into battle. And you were the one who brought Israel back home from war. The Lord himself said to you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people, the Israelites. You will be the ruler over Israel.’”
3 So all the leaders of Israel came to meet with King David at Hebron. He made an agreement with them in Hebron in front of the Lord, and they anointed David to be the king of Israel.
4 David was 30 years old when he began to rule. He was king for 40 years. 5 In Hebron he ruled over Judah for 7 years and 6 months, and in Jerusalem he ruled over all Israel and Judah for 33 years.
David Captures Jerusalem
6 The king and his men went to fight against the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites said to David, “You cannot come into our city.[b] Even our blind and crippled people can stop you.” (They said this because they thought that David would not be able to enter into their city. 7 But David did take the fort of Zion. This fort became the City of David.)
8 That day David said to his men, “Whenever you strike at the Jebusites, aim for the throat and kill them.”[c] David said this because he hates to have people left who are crippled and blind. That is why people now say, “The lame and blind are not allowed in the temple.[d]”
9 David lived in the fort and called it “The City of David.” David built up the city from the Millo[e] inward.[f] 10 He became stronger and stronger because the Lord All-Powerful was with him.
11 King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar trees, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a house for David. 12 Then David knew that the Lord had really made him king of Israel and had made him ruler over his kingdom for the good of his people, Israel.
Paul and Silas in Thessalonica
17 Paul and Silas traveled through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia. They came to the city of Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 Paul went into the synagogue to see the Jews as he always did. The next three weeks, on each Sabbath day, he discussed the Scriptures with them. 3 He explained the Scriptures to show them that the Messiah had to die and then rise from death. He said, “This Jesus that I am telling you about is the Messiah.” 4 Some of the Jews there believed Paul and Silas and decided to join them. Also, a large number of Greeks who were worshipers of the true God and many important women joined them.
5 But the Jews who did not believe became jealous, so they got some bad men from around the city center to make trouble. They formed a mob and caused a riot in the city. They went to Jason’s house, looking for Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them out before the people. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other believers to the city leaders. The people shouted, “These men have made trouble everywhere in the world, and now they have come here too! 7 Jason is keeping them in his house. They all do things against the laws of Caesar. They say there is another king called Jesus.”
8 When the city leaders and the other people heard this, they became very upset. 9 They made Jason and the other believers deposit money to guarantee that there would be no more trouble. Then they let them go.
Paul and Silas Go to Berea
10 That same night the believers sent Paul and Silas to another city named Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 The people in Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They were so glad to hear the message Paul told them. They studied the Scriptures every day to make sure that what they heard was really true. 12 The result was that many of them believed, including many important Greek women and men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was telling people God’s message in Berea, they came there too. They upset the people and made trouble. 14 So the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. 15 Those who went with Paul took him to the city of Athens. They returned with a message for Silas and Timothy to come and join him as soon as they could.
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman(A)
24 Jesus went from there to the area around Tyre. He did not want the people in that area to know he was there, so he went into a house. But he could not stay hidden. 25 A woman heard that he was there. Her little daughter had an evil spirit inside her. So the woman came to Jesus and bowed down near his feet. 26 She was not a Jew. She was born in Phoenicia, an area in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”
28 She answered, “That is true, Lord. But the dogs under the table can eat the pieces of food that the children don’t eat.”
29 Then he told her, “That is a very good answer. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30 The woman went home and found her daughter lying on the bed. The demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon. On his way to Lake Galilee he went through the area of the Ten Towns. 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk clearly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the people to be alone with him. He put his fingers in the man’s ears. Then he spit on a finger and put it on the man’s tongue. 34 Jesus looked up to the sky and with a loud sigh he said, “Ephphatha!” (This means “Open!”) 35 As soon as Jesus did this, the man was able to hear. He was able to use his tongue, and he began to speak clearly.
36 Jesus told the people not to tell anyone about this. But the more he told them not to say anything, the more people they told. 37 They were all completely amazed. They said, “Look at what he has done. It’s all good. He makes deaf people able to hear and gives a new voice to people who could not talk.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International