Book of Common Prayer
To the director: A song of David.
41 Those who help the poor succeed will get many blessings.[a]
When trouble comes, the Lord will save them.
2 The Lord will protect them and save their lives.
He will bless them in this land.
He will not let their enemies harm them.
3 When they are sick in bed,
the Lord will give them strength and make them well!
4 I say, “Lord, be kind to me.
I sinned against you, but forgive me and make me well.”
5 My enemies say bad things about me.
They ask, “When will he die and be forgotten?”
6 If they come to see me,
they don’t say what they are really thinking.
They come to gather a little gossip
and then go to spread their rumors.
7 Those who hate me whisper about me.
They think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He did something wrong.
That is why he is sick.
He will never get well.”
9 My best friend, the one I trusted,
the one who ate with me—even he has turned against me.
10 Lord, please be kind to me.
Let me get up, and I will pay them back.
11 Don’t let my enemy defeat me.
Then I will know that you care for me.
12 I was innocent and you supported me.
You let me stand and serve you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He always was, and he always will be.
Amen and Amen!
To the director: A maskil of David written when Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Great warrior, why are you bragging about the evil you did?
You are a disgrace to God.
2 You are nothing but a hired killer,[a]
making plans to hurt people and making up lies!
3 You love evil more than goodness.
You love lies more than truth. Selah
4 You and your lying tongue love to hurt people.
5 So God will ruin you forever!
He will grab you and pull you from your home,[b] like someone pulling up a plant by the roots![c] Selah
6 Good people will see this
and learn to fear and respect God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the warrior who did not depend on God.
That fool thought his wealth and lies would protect him.”
8 But I am like a green olive tree growing in God’s Temple.
I will trust God’s faithful love forever and ever.
9 God, I praise you forever for what you have done.
I will speak your name[d] before your followers because it is so good!
To the director: A maskil from the Korah family.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our fathers told us what you did in their lifetime.
They told us what you did long ago.
2 With your great power you took this land from other people,
and you gave it to us.
You crushed those foreigners
and forced them to leave this land.
3 It was not our fathers’ swords that took the land.
It was not their strong arms that brought them victory.
It was your power.
It was because you accepted them and smiled down on them.
4 God, you are my king.
Give the command and lead Jacob’s people to victory.
5 We need your help to push our enemies back.
Only in your name can we trample those who attacked us.
6 I don’t put my trust in my bow.
My sword cannot save me.
7 You are the one who saved us from our enemies.
You are the one who put our enemies to shame.
8 We have praised you all day long,
and we will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you left us and put us to shame.
You did not go with us into battle.
10 You let our enemies push us back.
You let them take our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be killed and eaten.
You scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing.
You did not even argue over the price.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors.
They laugh and make fun of us.
14 You made us one of the stories that people love to tell.
People all over the world laugh at us and shake their heads.
15 All I can think about is my shame.
Just look at my face, and you will see it.
16 All I can hear are the jokes and insults of my enemies,
as I watch them take their revenge.
17 We have not forgotten you.
But you do all those things to us.
We did not break the agreement you gave us.
18 We did not turn away from you.
We did not stop following you.
19 But you crushed us in this home of jackals.
You left us in this place as dark as death.
20 Did we forget the name of our God?
Did we pray to foreign gods?
21 If we did, then God knows it,
because he knows our deepest secrets.
22 All day long we died for you.
We are like sheep being led away to be killed.
23 Lord, wake up!
Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t ignore us forever!
24 Why are you hiding from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt.
We are lying face down in the dust.[a]
26 Get up and help us!
Rescue us because of your faithful love.
The Four Horses
7 On the 24th day of the eleventh month (Shebat) of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, Zechariah received another message from the Lord. (This was Zechariah son of Berekiah, son of Iddo.) This is the message:
8 At night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among some myrtle bushes in the valley. Behind him, there were red, brown, and white horses. 9 I said, “Sir, what are these horses for?”
Then the angel speaking to me said, “I will show you what these horses are for.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle bushes said, “The Lord sent these horses to go here and there on earth.”
11 Then the horses spoke to the Lord’s angel standing among the myrtle bushes and said, “We have walked here and there on the earth, and everything is calm and quiet.”
12 Then the Lord’s angel said, “Lord All-Powerful, how long before you comfort Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? You have shown your anger at these cities for 70 years now.”
13 Then the Lord answered the angel who was talking with me. He spoke good, comforting words.
14 Then the angel told me to tell the people this: The Lord All-Powerful says:
“I have a strong love for Jerusalem and Zion.
15 And I am very angry at the nations that feel so safe.
I was only a little angry,
and I used them to punish my people.
But they caused too much damage.”
16 So the Lord says, “I will come back to Jerusalem and comfort her.”
The Lord All-Powerful says, “Jerusalem will be rebuilt,
and my house will be built there.”
17 The angel also said, “The Lord All-Powerful says,
‘My towns will be rich again.
I will comfort Zion.
I will again choose Jerusalem to be my special city.’”
John Writes to the Churches
4 From John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is coming; and from the seven spirits before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness. He is first among all who will be raised from death. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Jesus is the one who loves us and has made us free from our sins with his blood sacrifice. 6 He made us his kingdom and priests who serve God his Father. To Jesus be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
7 Look, Jesus is coming with the clouds! Everyone will see him, even those who pierced[a] him. All peoples of the earth will cry loudly because of him. Yes, this will happen! Amen.
8 The Lord God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.[b] I am the one who is, who always was, and who is coming. I am the All-Powerful.”
9 I am John, your fellow believer. We are together in Jesus, and we share these things: suffering, the kingdom, and patient endurance. I was on the island of Patmos[c] because I was faithful to God’s message and to the truth of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day, the Spirit took control of me. I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. 11 It said, “Write down in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. 13 I saw someone among the lampstands who looked like the Son of Man. He was dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash tied around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool—wool that is white as snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like brass that glows hot in a furnace. His voice was like the noise of flooding water. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the one who lives. I was dead, but look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 So write what you see. Write the things that happen now and the things that will happen later. 20 Here is the hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands that you saw: The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
The Danger of Emptiness(A)
43 “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry places looking for a place to rest, but it finds none. 44 So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ When it comes back, it finds that home still empty. It is all neat and clean. 45 Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself. They all go and live there, and that person has even more trouble than before. It is the same way with the evil people who live today.”
Jesus’ Followers Are His True Family(B)
46 While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers stood outside. They wanted to talk to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are waiting for you outside. They want to talk to you.”
48 Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his followers and said, “See! These people are my mother and my brothers. 50 Yes, anyone who does what my Father in heaven wants is my true brother and sister and mother.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International