Book of Common Prayer
Worship God and obey him[a]
95 Come now! Let us sing together to worship the Lord!
We will shout aloud
to praise God, the strong Rock who makes us safe!
2 Let us come near to God
and thank him![b]
Let us sing songs to praise him,
because we are so happy!
3 Yes, the Lord is the great God.
He is the great king who rules over all gods.
4 The deepest places of the earth are in his hand.
The highest mountains belong to him.
5 The seas are his,
because he made them.
He also made the dry land,
with his own hands.
6 Come now! Let us bend down to worship him!
Let us bend our knees in front of the Lord.
He is the one who made us.
7 He is our God.
He takes care of us,
like a shepherd takes care of his sheep.[c]
As his sheep, he gives us what we need.
Today, you must listen to him
and obey him.
8 He says, ‘Do not refuse to obey me,
like my people did at Meribah.
They also did that one day at Massah,
in the desert.
9 Your ancestors tested me there,
to see if I would punish them.
But they had already seen the great things
that I had done for them!
10 So I was angry with those people
all the time for 40 years.
I said, “These people love to go the wrong way.
They refuse to follow my ways.”
11 I was very angry and I promised,
“They will never come into my place of rest.” ’[d]
David wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.
Trust God for help
69 Please rescue me, God,
because the deep water has come up to my neck.
2 I will soon sink into deep mud.
There is no safe place to put my feet.
I am now in deep water,
and the floods pour over me.
3 I have shouted so much for help
that I am tired and weak.
My mouth is so dry that it hurts.
I have looked so long for help from you, my God,
that my eyes have become weak.
4 Very many people hate me with no good reason.
They are more than the number of hairs on my head!
My enemies are too strong for me.
They want to destroy me with their lies.
They make me give back to them
things that I did not take from them!
5 You know, God, that I do foolish things.
I cannot hide my sins from you.
6 My Lord, Almighty Lord, Israel's God,
do not let anyone who trusts you
become ashamed because of me.
Do not let anyone who serves you
become ashamed because of me.
7 Because I belong to you,
people insult me.
They make me feel ashamed.
8 I have become like a stranger to my brothers.
I am like a foreigner to my family.
9 My love for your house burns inside me like a fire.
Anybody who insults you,
is also insulting me!
10 When I weep and I stop eating food,
it causes people to insult me.
11 When I wear rough clothes to show that I am sad,
people laugh at me.
12 People who sit at the city gate talk about me.[a]
People who are drunk make songs
to sing about me.
13 But as for me, Lord,
I continue to pray to you.
Please answer me at the right time.
Be kind to me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Save me, as you have promised to do.
14 Save me out of the mud
and do not let me sink down into it.
Rescue me from the people that hate me.
Save me from the deep water.
15 Do not let the floods pour over me.
Do not let the deep sea cause me to drown.
Do not let me fall into the deep hole of death.
16 Please answer me, Lord,
because your faithful love is great.
Turn to hear me,
because you are so very kind.
17 Do not turn away from me, your servant.
I am in great trouble,
so please answer me very soon.
18 Come very near to me,
and make me safe.
Rescue me from my enemies.
19 God, you know that people are insulting me.
They laugh at me
to make me feel ashamed.
You can see what all my enemies are doing.
20 When they insult me,
it makes me very upset.
I feel helpless.
I hoped that someone would be kind and help me,
but there was nobody.
I wanted someone to comfort me,
but I did not find anyone.
21 Instead, my enemies put poison in my food.
When I was thirsty,
they gave me vinegar to drink.[b]
22 Please God, cause their feasts to become a trap for them.
Let it bring trouble to them and their friends.
23 Let their eyes be in the dark
so that they cannot see.
Let their bodies become weak.
24 Yes, punish them,
because you are so angry with them!
25 Let their homes become empty,
so that nobody lives in them any more.
26 Do this, because they chase after
the people that you have already punished.
They talk about the pain
of the people that you have hurt.
27 Make a note of all their sins.
Do not ever forgive them,
so that they are righteous.
28 Remove their names from the book of living people.
Do not write their names
on the list of righteous people.
29 But I have pain in my body
and trouble in my mind.
God, rescue me and keep me safe!
30 I will sing to praise God's name!
I will thank him because he is great!
31 That will please the Lord more
than if I offer him an ox,
or a great bull with horns.[c]
32 When humble people see it,
they will be very happy.
People who want to serve God
will become strong in their lives.
33 For the Lord listens to the prayers of poor people.
He does not forget to help his people
when they are prisoners.
34 Heaven and earth should praise him!
The seas and everything that lives in them
should praise him!
35 For God will rescue Zion's people.
He will build again Judah's cities.
Then his people will live there.
The land will belong to them again.
36 Then the descendants of his servants
will have the land for themselves.
The people who love God
will live there safely.
This is a psalm that Asaph wrote.
God has helped me to understand[a]
73 God is truly good to the people of Israel,
to people who want to serve him honestly.
2 But this is what happened to me:
I nearly slipped and fell over.
I could no longer stand properly.
3 When I saw that wicked people had plenty of things,
I was jealous of those proud people.
4 Their bodies are fat and strong,
and they feel no pain in their lives.
5 They do not have trouble like other people.
They seem to have no problems.
6 Their pride is like their necklace.
They like to be cruel,
as they like to wear clothes.
7 Their greedy eyes lead them into sin.
Their minds think of evil things to do.
8 They laugh at people
and they say bad things about them.
They proudly speak about cruel things
that they want to do to people.
9 They think that they rule in heaven,
as well as on the earth!
10 As a result, God's people become confused,
and they listen to them.
They think that everything is true
that those wicked people say.[b]
11 They say, ‘Does God really know what we do?
Does the Most High God know everything?’
12 Take a good look,
and see how wicked those people are!
They have no troubles,
and they become richer and richer.
13 I decided that I had tried to do what is right,
but it did not help me at all!
I had refused to do anything wrong,
for no good reason!
14 I had trouble each and every day.
Punishment came to me every morning!
15 If I had spoken aloud things like that,
I would have turned against your own people.
16 When I thought about all this,
it was so hard for me to understand.
17 But I went into your temple, God.
Then I understood what would happen
to wicked people in the end.
18 Yes, I realized that they are in a dangerous place,
where they will easily slip.
You will cause them to fall down to their death.
19 It will take just a moment to destroy them!
Great fear will sweep them away!
20 They will completely disappear,
like a dream disappears after you wake up.
Lord, when you decide to do something,
you will forget that they were there!
21 I was very upset,
and my thoughts were confused.
22 I was stupid,
and I did not understand you properly.
I was no better than an animal.
23 But I am always near to you.
You hold my right hand,
as my guide.
24 You teach me the right way to go,
and you will lead me to glory.[c]
25 You are the only one in heaven or on earth
that I need to help me.
You are the only one that I want.
26 My body and my mind may become weak,
but God will always keep me safe and strong.
27 Those people who stay far away from you will die.
You destroy everybody who turns away from you.
28 But as for me, it is good for me to stay near to God.
I have gone to the Almighty Lord
as the place where I can be safe.
I will tell people about the great things that you have done.
Joseph's brothers return to Egypt
43 The famine was still bad in Canaan. 2 Jacob's family ate all the food that they had brought from Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, ‘Go back to Egypt, and buy some more food for us.’[a] 3 But Judah said, ‘The man told us many times, “Unless your brother is with you, I will not let you see me again.” 4 So you must send Benjamin with us. Then we will go and buy food for you. 5 But if you do not send Benjamin, we will not go. The man clearly said to us, “Unless your brother is with you, you will not see me again.” ’
6 Jacob said to them, ‘You have brought great trouble to me! You should not have told the man that you had another brother.’ 7 The brothers replied, ‘The man asked us many questions about our family. He asked us, “Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?” We only answered his questions. We did not know that he would say, “Bring your brother here.” ’
8 Then Judah said to his father Jacob, ‘Agree to send the boy with me. We will go to Egypt immediately. Then all our family can continue to live. We will not die.[b] 9 I promise you to keep Benjamin safe. I myself will take care of him and I will bring him back to you. If I do not bring him back home, then you should say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life. 10 We must go now! We have already talked for too long. By now, we could have gone to Egypt and returned twice!’
11 Then their father Jacob said to them, ‘If you must take Benjamin, do what I tell you. Put some of the best things from our land in your bags. Take them to the man as a gift. Take some oil, some honey and some spices. Also take some myrrh, and some nuts.[c] 12 Also take twice the amount of money with you. You must give back the money that they put back into your bags last time. It may have been a mistake. 13 Take your brother Benjamin too. Go back to the man now. 14 I pray that God Almighty will help you. I pray that God will cause the man to be kind to you. Then he will let your older brother go free. He and Benjamin will return here with you. As for me, if I must lose my sons, then I will lose them. There is nothing that I can do to stop it.’
15 So the brothers took the gifts, and they took twice as much money with them. They took Benjamin and they hurried to Egypt. When they arrived there, they went to meet Joseph.
Questions about marriage
7 You wrote to ask me about certain things. You say, ‘It is a good thing when a man does not marry.’ 2 That may be true, but then people may have sex in wrong ways. So every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband. 3 Then they may have sex with each other in the right way. A husband should agree to have sex with his wife. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. 4 The wife does not rule over her own body to decide when to have sex. She belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body. He belongs to his wife.
5 Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you can use more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else. 6 I am saying these things to help you. I am not telling you what you must do. 7 It would be good if all of you could live in the way that I do. But each person has his own gift from God. God helps one person to live in a certain way. God helps another person with a different gift.
8 I will say this to those of you who have not married yet, and to those who are widows. It is better for you to remain alone. That is how I myself live. 9 But if you want to have sex too strongly, then you should marry. It is better to do that than to want to have sex all the time.
Jesus stops a storm
35 On that same day, in the evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘We should go across the lake to the other side.’ 36 So they went and left the crowd behind. Jesus was already in the boat. So the disciples took him across the lake. Some other boats also went with them. 37 Then a strong wind began to blow across the lake. Water began to go into the boat and fill it. Soon the boat was almost going under the water. 38 Jesus was in a comfortable place at the back of the boat. He was sleeping. The disciples woke him. They said to him, ‘Teacher, we will die here in the water! Please do something!’
39 Jesus woke up and he spoke strongly to the wind and to the water. ‘Be quiet!’ he said. ‘Stop!’ Then the wind stopped and the water became quiet again.
40 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You should not be afraid like that. You should trust me.’
41 But the disciples became very afraid. They said to each other, ‘Who is this man? Even the wind and the water obey him.’
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