Book of Common Prayer

⁷ So brothers, take your troubles quietly and wait until the Lord comes. A farmer waits until the harvest grows from the ground. He waits for it a long time until it has had the first and second rain.

⁸ You must wait also. Keep your hearts strong, because the Lord will come soon.

⁹ Brothers, do not say mean things to each other. If you do, you will be judged. Listen, the judge is standing at the door now.

¹⁰ My brothers, look at the lives of the prophets of God who spoke in the name of the Lord. See the troubles they had. They took them and waited. Do as they did.

¹¹ God blesses those who take their troubles quietly and keep on believing. You have heard about Job's troubles and how he took them. And you have seen what the Lord did for him at the end. The Lord is very kind and helps people.

¹² My brothers, here is something that matters very much. When you make a promise do not ask heaven to hear it, or the earth, or any other thing. When you mean `Yes,' just say, `Yes.' And when you mean `No,' just say, `No.' If you do that, you will not be judged.

¹⁹ My brothers, has one of you left the right way? Has another person brought him back again?

²⁰ Do not forget that the person who has brought a man back from his wrong ways will save that man from death. He will cover up many wrong things and be forgiven.

³³ About midday the whole land became dark and stayed dark for three hours.

³⁴ About three o'clock, Jesus called out loud, `Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' That means, `My God, my God, why have you left me alone?'

³⁵ Some of the people standing there heard what Jesus said. They said, `Listen, he is calling for Elijah!'

³⁶ One man ran to get something called a sponge. He made it wet with sour wine and put it on the end of a stick. With it he gave Jesus a drink. He said, `We will see if Elijah will come and take him down!'

³⁷ Then Jesus called out loud. Then he died.

³⁸ The big cloth that hung in the temple was torn into two pieces. It was torn from the top down to the bottom.

³⁹ The captain who stood in front of Jesus saw that he died. He said, `Surely, this man was God's Son.'