Book of Common Prayer

A Cry for Help

69 Save me, O God, for the waters have almost taken my life. ² I have gone down into deep mud and there is no place to put my feet. I have come into deep waters and a flood comes over me. ³ I have cried until I am tired. My mouth is dry. My eyes become weak while I wait for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me, without a reason, are more than the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are powerful. I am made to return things that I did not steal.

⁵ O God, You know how foolish I am. My sins are not hidden from You. ⁶ May those who wait for You not be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of All. May those who look for You not lose respect because of me, O God of Israel. ⁷ I have been put to shame because of You. Shame has covered my face. ⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons. ⁹ For the strong desire for Your house has burned me up. And the bad things said about You have fallen on me. ¹⁰ When I cried and went without food, I was put to shame. ¹¹ When I put on clothes made from hair, they made fun of me. ¹² Those who sit by the gate talk about me. And I am the song of those who drink too much.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to You at the right time, O Lord. Answer me with Your saving truth in Your great loving-kindness, O God. ¹⁴ Take me out of the mud and do not let me go down in it. Take me away from those who hate me and from the deep waters. ¹⁵ Keep the flood water from covering me. Do not let the sea swallow me up. Do not let the deep hole close its mouth over me.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is good. Turn to me because of Your great loving-pity. ¹⁷ Do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble. Hurry to answer me. ¹⁸ Come near to me and save me. Pay the price to set me free from those who hate me. ¹⁹ You know how I have been put to shame by the bad things said about me. All those who hate me are before You.

²⁰ Being put to shame has broken my heart, and I feel very sick. I looked for pity but there was none. I looked for someone to comfort me but there was no one. ²¹ They gave me bitter drink in my food. And because I was thirsty they gave me sour wine.

²² May their table in front of them become a net. May it become a trap when they are in peace. ²³ May their eyes grow dark so they cannot see. And may their backs always shake. ²⁴ Pour out Your anger on them. May Your burning anger catch up with them. ²⁵ May their place of living be empty and may no one live in their tents. ²⁶ For they have made it hard for the one You have punished. And they talk about the pain of those You have hurt. ²⁷ Let their sins add up, and may they not become right with You. ²⁸ May they be taken out of the book of life, and not be written down with those who are right with You.

²⁹ But I am suffering and in pain. O God, may You save me and set me up on high. ³⁰ I will praise the name of God with song. And I will give Him great honor with much thanks. ³¹ This will please the Lord more than any ox or young bull with horns and hoofs. ³² Those without pride will see it and be glad. You who look for God, let your heart receive new strength. ³³ For the Lord hears those who are in need, and does not hate His people in prison.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth and the seas and all the things that move in them give thanks to Him. ³⁵ For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah. Then His people may live there and have it for their own. ³⁶ And the children of those who obey Him will have it given to them. Those who love His name will live there.

The Good and the Sinful

73 For sure God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. ² But as for me, my feet came close to falling. My steps had almost tripped. ³ For I was jealous of the proud when I saw that all was going well with the sinful. ⁴ For they suffer no pain in their death, and their body is fat. ⁵ They do not have the troubles of other men or suffer like other men. ⁶ So they wear pride around their neck. Fighting covers them like a coat. ⁷ They are so fat that their eyes are pushed out. The crazy thoughts of their hearts run wild. ⁸ They laugh at the truth, and speak sinful things about making it hard for others. They speak from a high place. ⁹ They say bad things against heaven, and their tongue walks through the earth.

¹⁰ And so his people return to this place and drink water from a full cup. ¹¹ They say, “How does God know? Is there much learning with the Most High?”

¹² See, this is what the sinful are like. They always have it easy and their riches grow. ¹³ For no good reason I have kept my heart pure and have not sinned. ¹⁴ For I have suffered all day long. I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵ I would not have been true to Your children if I had spoken this way. ¹⁶ It was too hard for me when I tried to understand this, ¹⁷ until I went into the holy place of God. Then I understood their end. ¹⁸ For sure, You set the sinful in places where there is danger at every step. You throw them down to be destroyed. ¹⁹ How they are destroyed right away! They come to an end with much fear. ²⁰ Like a dream when one wakes up, so You will hate what they look like when You rise up, O Lord.

²¹ My heart was troubled and I was hurt inside. ²² I was without reason and did not know better. I was like an animal before You. ²³ Yet I am always with You. You hold me by my right hand. ²⁴ You will lead me by telling me what I should do. And after this, You will bring me into shining-greatness.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but You? I want nothing more on earth, but You. ²⁶ My body and my heart may grow weak, but God is the strength of my heart and all I need forever. ²⁷ For, see, those who are far from You will be lost from You forever. You have destroyed all those who are not faithful to You. ²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my safe place. So I may tell of all the things You have done.

Isaac and Rebekah

24 Now Abraham was old. He had lived many years. And the Lord had brought good to Abraham in every way. ² Abraham said to the oldest servant in his house and the one who took care of all that he owned, “Place your hand under my hip, ³ and I will have you promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth. Promise that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, who live around me. ⁴ But go to my country and to those of my family. Take a wife for my son Isaac from there.” ⁵ The servant said to Abraham, “What if the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land? Should I take your son to the land you came from?” ⁶ Abraham said to him, “Make sure that you do not take my son there. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, Who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, spoke to me and promised me. He said, ‘I will give this land to your children and to their children’s children.’ He will send His angel in front of you. And you will take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this promise to me. Only do not take my son there.” ⁹ So the servant placed his hand under the hip of Abraham, and he promised to do this.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of Abraham’s camels and left. He took with him all kinds of gifts from Abraham. Then he went to the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia. ¹¹ He made the camels get down on their knees outside the city by the well of water in the evening. It was the time when women go out to get water. ¹² He said, “O Lord, the God of my boss Abraham, let all go well for me today. Show loving-kindness to my boss Abraham. ¹³ See, I am standing here by the well of water. And the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to get water. ¹⁴ If I say to a girl, ‘Let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she answers, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels also,’ let her be the one whom You have chosen for your servant Isaac. I will know by this that You have shown loving-kindness to my boss.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah came out, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor, the brother of Abraham. She had a jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The girl was very beautiful and had never lain with a man. She went down to the well, filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her. He said, “Let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she was quick to lift her jar to her hand and give him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will get water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ She was quick to empty her jar into the animals’ drinking place. Then she ran to the well for more water, and got enough for all his camels.

²¹ The man was quiet and watched her, waiting to know if the Lord had made all go well or not during his visit. ²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a heavy gold ring and two heavy gold objects to wear on her arms. ²³ He said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, is there a place for us to stay in your father’s house?” ²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor.” ²⁵ She also said, “We have both enough straw and food, and a place to stay.” ²⁶ Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of my boss Abraham. He has not kept His loving-kindness and His truth from my boss. He has led me in the way to the house of my boss’s brothers.”

³ Sinful men spoke words of hate against Christ. He was willing to take such shame from sinners. Think of this so you will not get tired and give up. ⁴ In your fight against sin, you have not yet had to stand against sin with your blood. ⁵ Do you remember what God said to you when He called you His sons? “My son, listen when the Lord punishes you. Do not give up when He tells you what you must do. ⁶ The Lord punishes everyone He loves. He whips every son He receives.” ^{(A) 7} Do not give up when you are punished by God. Be willing to take it, knowing that God is teaching you as a son. Is there a father who does not punish his son sometimes? ⁸ If you are not punished as all sons are, it means that you are not a true son of God. You are not a part of His family and He is not your Father. ⁹ Remember that our fathers on earth punished us. We had respect for them. How much more should we obey our Father in heaven and live? ¹⁰ For a little while our fathers on earth punished us when they thought they should. But God punishes us for our good so we will be holy as He is holy. ¹¹ There is no joy while we are being punished. It is hard to take, but later we can see that good came from it. And it gives us the peace of being right with God.

The Brothers of Jesus Argue with Him

7 Jesus did not stay in the country of Judea because the Jews were trying to kill Him. After this He went from place to place in the country of Galilee. ² A religious gathering of the Jews was near. This gathering was called the Supper of Tents. ³ The brothers of Jesus said to Him, “Leave here and go to the country of Judea. Let Your followers there see the things You do. ⁴ If a person wants others to know what he is doing, he does things to be seen. Since You are doing such things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ Not even His brothers were putting their trust in Him.

⁶ Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come. But any time is good for you. ⁷ The world cannot hate you but it hates Me. I speak against the world because of its sinful works. ⁸ You go to the religious gathering. I am not going yet. My time has not yet come.”

⁹ Jesus told His brothers this and then stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰ His brothers went to the religious gathering. He went later by Himself so He would not be seen there.

¹¹ At the religious gathering the Jews were looking for Jesus. They were saying, “Where is He?” ¹² There was much talk among the people about Him. Some said, “He is a good Man.” Others said, “No, He leads the people in the wrong way.” ¹³ No one spoke about Him in front of other people. They were afraid of the Jews.