Book of Common Prayer
To the director: To the tune “Lilies of the Agreement.” One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen to us.
You lead your people[a] like sheep.
You sit on your throne above the Cherub angels.
Let us see you.
2 Shepherd of Israel, show your greatness to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Come and save your people.
3 God, accept us again.
Smile down on us and save us!
4 Lord God All-Powerful, when will you listen to our prayers?
How long will you be angry with us?
5 Instead of bread and water,
you gave your people tears.
6 You made us the target of everyone’s hatred.
Our enemies make fun of us.
7 God All-Powerful, accept us again.
Smile down on us and save us!
8 When you brought us out of Egypt,
we were like your special vine.
You forced other nations to leave this land,
and you planted that vine here.
9 You prepared the ground for it,
and it sent its roots down deep and spread throughout the land.
10 It covered the mountains,
and its leaves shaded even the giant cedar trees.
11 Its branches spread to the Mediterranean Sea,
its shoots to the Euphrates River.
12 God, why did you pull down the walls that protect your vine?
Now everyone who passes by picks its grapes.
13 Wild pigs come and ruin it.
Wild animals eat the leaves.
14 God All-Powerful, come back.
Look down from heaven at your vine and protect it.
15 Look at the vine you planted with your own hands.
Look at the young plant[b] you raised.
16 Our enemies have cut it down and burned it up.
Show them how angry you are and destroy them.
To the director, Jeduthun.[a] One of Asaph’s songs.
77 I cry out to God for help.
I cry out to you, God; listen to me!
2 My Lord, in my time of trouble I came to you.
I reached out for you all night long.
My soul refused to be comforted.
3 I thought about you, God,
and tried to tell you how I felt, but I could not.
4 You would not let me sleep.
I tried to say something, but I was too upset.
5 I kept thinking about the past,
about things that happened long ago.
6 During the night, I thought about my songs.
I talked to myself, trying to understand what is happening.
7 I wondered, “Has our Lord rejected us forever?
Will he ever accept us again?
8 Is his love gone forever?
Will he never again speak to us?
9 Has God forgotten what mercy is?
Has his compassion changed to anger?” Selah
10 Then I said to myself, “What bothers me most is the thought
that God Most High has lost his power.”
11 Lord, I remember what you have done.
I remember the amazing things you did long ago.
12 I think about those things.
I think about them all the time.
13 God, all that you do is holy.
No god is as great as you are.
14 You are the God who does amazing things.
You showed the nations your great power.
15 By your power you saved your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 God, the water saw you and became afraid.
The deep water shook with fear.
17 The thick clouds dropped their water.
Thunder roared in the sky above.
Your arrows of lightning flashed through the clouds.
18 There were loud claps of thunder.
Lightning lit up the world.
The earth shook and trembled.
19 You walked through the water and crossed the deep sea,
but you left no footprints.
20 You led your people like sheep,
using Moses and Aaron to guide them.
One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
79 God, some people from other nations came to fight your people.
They ruined your holy Temple.
They left Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They left the bodies of your servants for the wild birds to eat.
They let wild animals eat the bodies of your followers.
3 Blood flowed like water all over Jerusalem.
No one is left to bury the bodies.
4 The countries around us insult us.
The people around us laugh at us and make fun of us.
5 Lord, will you be angry with us forever?
Will your strong feelings[a] continue to burn like a fire?
6 Turn your anger against the nations that do not know you,
against the people who do not honor you as God.
7 Those nations killed Jacob’s family
and destroyed their land.
8 Please don’t punish us for the sins of our ancestors.
Hurry, show us your mercy!
We need you so much!
9 Our God and Savior, help us!
That will bring glory to your name.
Save us and forgive our sins
for the good of your name.
10 Don’t give the other nations a reason to say,
“Where is their God? Can’t he help them?”
Let us see you punish those people.
Punish them for killing your servants.
11 Listen to the sad cries of the prisoners!
Use your great power to free those who are sentenced to die.
12 Punish the nations around us!
Pay them back seven times for what they did to us.
Punish them for insulting you.
13 We are your people, the sheep of your flock.
We will praise you forever.
We will praise you forever and ever!
Judah Pleads for Benjamin
18 Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me speak plainly with you. Please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered you, ‘We have a father—he is an old man. And we have a younger brother. Our father loves him because he was born while our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only son who is left from that mother. Our father loves him very much.’ 21 Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ 22 And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot come. He cannot leave his father. If his father loses him, his father will be so sad that he will die.’ 23 But you said to us, ‘You must bring your youngest brother, or I will not sell you grain again.’ 24 So we went back to our father and told him what you said.
25 “Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.’ 26 We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.’ 27 Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. 28 I let one son go away, and he was killed by a wild animal. And I haven’t seen him since. 29 If you take my other son away from me, and something happens to him, I will be sad enough to die.’ 30 Now, imagine what will happen when we go home without our youngest brother—he is the most important thing in our father’s life! 31 Our father will die if he sees that the boy isn’t with us—and it will be our fault. We will send our father to his grave a very sad man.
32 “I took responsibility for the young boy. I told my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me for the rest of my life.’ 33 So now I beg you, please let the boy go back with his brothers, and I will stay and be your slave. 34 I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I am very afraid of what would happen to my father.”
Questions About Getting Married
25 Now I write about people who are not married.[a] I have no command from the Lord about this, but I give my opinion. And I can be trusted, because the Lord has given me mercy. 26 This is a time of trouble. So I think it is good for you to stay the way you are. 27 If you have a wife, don’t try to get free from her. If you are not married, don’t try to find a wife. 28 But if you decide to marry, that is not a sin. And it is not a sin for a girl who has never married to get married. But those who marry will have trouble in this life, and I want you to be free from this trouble.
29 Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: We don’t have much time left. So starting now, those who have wives should be the same as those who don’t. 30 It should not be important whether you are sad or whether you are happy. If you buy something, it should not matter to you that you own it. 31 You should use the things of the world without letting them become important to you. This is how you should live, because this world, the way it is now, will soon be gone.
Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman(A)
21 Jesus went back to the other side of the lake in the boat. There, a large crowd of people gathered around him on the shore. 22 A leader of the synagogue came. His name was Jairus. He saw Jesus and bowed down before him. 23 He begged Jesus again and again, saying, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and lay your hands on her. Then she will be healed and will live.”
24 So Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around him.
25 There among the people was a woman who had been bleeding for the past twelve years. 26 She had suffered very much. Many doctors had tried to help her, and all the money she had was spent, but she was not improving. In fact, her sickness was getting worse.
27 The woman heard about Jesus, so she followed him with the other people and touched his coat. 28 She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, that will be enough to heal me.” 29 As soon as she touched his coat, her bleeding stopped. She felt that her body was healed from all the suffering. 30 Jesus immediately felt power go out from him, so he stopped and turned around. “Who touched my clothes?” he asked.
31 The followers said to Jesus, “There are so many people pushing against you. But you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 But Jesus continued looking for the one who touched him. 33 The woman knew that she was healed, so she came and bowed at Jesus’ feet. She was shaking with fear. She told Jesus the whole story. 34 He said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace. You will not suffer anymore.”
35 While Jesus was still there speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. They said, “Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the Teacher.”
36 But Jesus did not care what the men said. He said to the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him. 38 They went to the synagogue leader’s house, where Jesus saw many people crying loudly. There was a lot of confusion. 39 He entered the house and said, “Why are you people crying and making so much noise? This child is not dead. She is only sleeping.” 40 But everyone laughed at him.
Jesus told the people to leave the house. Then he went into the room where the child was. He brought the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room with him. 41 Then Jesus held the girl’s hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means “Little girl, I tell you to stand up!”) 42 The girl immediately stood up and began walking. (She was twelve years old.) The father and mother and the followers were amazed. 43 Jesus gave the father and mother very strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl some food to eat.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International