Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this psalm.
The king's song[a]
101 I will sing and praise you, Lord!
I will sing about your faithful love and your justice.[b]
2 I will be careful to live in a completely good way.
When will you come to help me, Lord?
In my own home,
I will always be completely honest.
3 As for evil things,
I will not even think about them.
I hate the things that wicked people do.
They will not be my friends.
4 I will keep away from people with wrong thoughts.
I will not mix with them.
5 If anyone secretly speaks against his friend,
I will destroy them.
If anyone is proud and they boast about themselves,
I will send them away from me.
6 Instead, I will work with people
that I can trust.
I will let them live with me and be my guides.
My servants will be people
who live in an honest way.
7 People who deceive others or who tell lies
will not have a place in my home.
8 Every morning I will remove
any wicked person who lives in our land.[c]
Nobody who does evil things
will remain in the city of the Lord.
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
A prayer for help in trouble[a]
109 You are the God that I praise.
Let me hear you speak!
2 Wicked people are saying bad things against me.
They are telling lies about me.
3 They are all round me,
and they say cruel things.
I have done nothing against them,
but they still attack me.
4 I have loved them,
but they still accuse me.
I will continue to pray for them.[b]
5 I have been kind to them,
but they do bad things to me in return.
I have loved them,
but they hate me in return.
6 Find an evil man to judge my enemy!
Put somebody at his right side to accuse him!
7 When they judge him,
show that he is guilty.
Show that even his prayers are a sin.
8 Make his life very short!
Let somebody else do the job which he did.
9 May he soon die,
so that his children have no father,
and his wife has no husband.
10 Cause his children to have no home,
so that they go from place to place,
and ask people to give them food.
11 May the people who lent money to my enemy,
take away everything that belonged to him.
Let strangers take everything
that he worked hard to get for himself.
12 Do not let anyone be kind to him.
Do not let anyone help his children,
even when they have no father.
13 Remove all the descendants in his family.
When his children die,
may nobody remember his family any more!
14 Lord, please remember his ancestors sins.
Please do not forgive his mother's sins.
15 Lord, never forget his family's sins.
May nobody on earth remember his family's name.
16 My enemy was never kind to anyone.
He was cruel to poor, weak, and helpless people.
He even caused them to die,
17 He loved to curse people.
Now may those curses happen to him!
He never asked God to bless other people,
so nobody will ask God to bless him!
18 He always cursed others,
as he always put on clothes.
So those curses have become like his food and drink.
May they go deep inside him,
like olive oil that goes into his bones.
19 Then curses will truly be his clothes.
They will be like the belt that he wears every day.
20 Yes, Lord, please punish all my enemies like that,
because they say evil things to accuse me!
21 You, Almighty Lord, must help me!
Show that your name is great.
Rescue me,
because your faithful love is good.
22 I am weak and helpless.
My heart beats fast inside me.
23 I will soon be gone,
like a shadow that disappears in the evening.
I am like an insect
that the wind blows away.
24 I am so hungry that my knees shake.
I am so thin that my bones show.
25 My enemies laugh at me!
When they see me,
they shake their heads at me.
26 Lord my God, please help me!
Please rescue me,
because of your faithful love.
27 Lord, cause my enemies to know
that you are the one who has rescued me.
28 They may curse me,
but you will bless me.
When they attack me,
they will become ashamed.
But I will be very happy,
as your servant.
29 Shame will come on my enemies.
It will cover them like a coat.
30 I will thank the Lord with a loud voice!
I will praise him,
in front of a big crowd of people.
AYIN
121 I have done what is fair and right.
Do not leave me alone
so that my cruel enemies can hurt me.
122 Promise to take care of me, your servant.
Do not let proud people hurt me.
123 I have been waiting a long time for you to save me.
My eyes have become tired.
I am waiting for you to save me,
as your true promise has said.
124 Please be kind to me, your servant,
so that I see your faithful love.
Continue to teach me your laws.
125 I am your servant. Help me to be wise,
so that I can understand your rules.
126 It is time for you to do something, Lord,
because people have turned against your Law.
127 That is why I love your commands.
They are more valuable to me than very pure gold.
128 So I carefully obey your teaching.
I hate everything that is false.
PE
129 Your laws are wonderful, Lord!
So I obey them.
130 Your message brings light to people,
when they understand it.
It helps ordinary people to become wise.
131 I want very much to know your commands,
like a thirsty dog needs water to drink.
132 Turn towards me and be kind to me,
as you always do for those who serve you.
133 Use your word to lead me along the right way.
Do not let sin rule over me.
134 Keep me safe from cruel people,
so that I can obey your teaching.
135 Show a kind face to me, your servant.
Teach me your laws.
136 I weep with streams of tears,
because people do not obey your Law.
TSADHE
137 Lord, you are righteous
and your laws are completely fair.
138 The rules that you have given to us are good and right.
We can trust them completely.
139 I am so upset that it almost kills me,
because my enemies do not accept your message.
140 I know that your promises are completely true.
I love them more than anything.
141 I am not important enough for people to respect me,
but I do not forget your teaching.
142 You will always do what is right
and your law is completely true.
143 I have much trouble and it makes me afraid,
but your commands make me happy.
144 Your rules are always fair.
Help me to understand them,
so that I may find true life.
15 Now Jacob was dead and Joseph's brothers became frightened. They said to each other, ‘We did a bad thing to Joseph. Now he will be angry and he will punish us for what we did.’ 16 So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, ‘Your father said this to us before he died. 17 He told us to say to you, “Please forgive your brothers for the very bad thing that they did against you. They did a very cruel thing to you.” So please forgive our sin. We are servants of your father's God.’
When Joseph received their message, he was very upset and he wept. 18 His brothers came to see him. They bent down low to the ground in front of Joseph. They said to him, ‘We are your slaves.’ 19 But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of me. It is God who has the authority to punish people. I am not God! 20 You decided to hurt me. But God caused a good thing to happen because of that. God brought me here to save the lives of many people. You can see how that has really happened! 21 So do not be afraid. I will continue to take care of you. You and your children will receive what you need.’ In this way Joseph comforted them and he spoke kind words to them.
Joseph dies
22 Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived for 110 years. 23 And he was still alive to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also saw Makir's children. Makir was Manasseh's son. Joseph took Makir's children to be his own children.[a]
24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I will soon die. But God will come to you and he will help you. He will take you out of Egypt. He will take you back to the land that he promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ 25 He also said, ‘God will help you to leave Egypt. When that happens, you must carry my bones away from here.’ Joseph made the other sons of Israel promise that they would do that.
26 So Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They put special oil on his body so that it would not become spoiled. Then they put his body in a box there in Egypt.[b]
Gifts from God's Spirit
12 My Christian friends, I want you to understand clearly about spiritual gifts. 2 You know how you lived before you came to know God. You let idols lead you in many wrong ways. And those idols cannot even speak! 3 This is what I want you to understand now. God's Spirit will never lead anyone to say, ‘God has cursed Jesus.’ And it is only God's Spirit that will lead someone to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
4 The Holy Spirit helps us with different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Spirit who gives them. 5 We serve the Lord in different ways, but all of us serve the same Lord. 6 We do different kinds of work. But it is the same God who helps us all to work in different ways.
7 God helps each of us with a gift from his Spirit. He does that so that we can help others.
8 The Spirit helps some people to speak wise messages. Other people can speak messages that help people to know what is true. It is the same Spirit that helps them to do that. 9 The same Spirit causes other people to trust God strongly. He gives to other people gifts to make sick people well. 10 The same Spirit gives other people power to do miracles. Other people can speak messages from God. Some people can recognize whether spirits are good or bad. Some people can speak in different kinds of languages. And other people can explain what those languages mean. 11 There is only one Holy Spirit. The same Spirit helps people to do all these different things. He decides which gifts he will give to each person.
11 Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began to argue with him. They wanted to see him do something powerful. That would show them that God had really sent him. 12 Jesus cried with a low, sad sound. He said, ‘People who are alive today want God to show them something powerful. But I tell you this: God will not do the powerful thing for them that they want.’ 13 Then Jesus left those Pharisees. He got back into the boat to go to the other side of the lake.
Jesus talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod
14 Jesus' disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They only had one loaf in the boat. 15 Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful. Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees or the yeast of Herod.’[a]
16 The disciples began to say to each other, ‘Jesus is saying that because we do not have any bread.’
17 Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing about the bread. You still do not understand my teaching. You seem unable to learn. 18 You are like people who have eyes but they cannot see with them. You are like people who have ears but they cannot hear with them. 19 Remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. How many baskets did you fill with pieces of food that were left?’
‘There were 12 baskets,’ they replied.
20 Jesus asked them, ‘I also used seven loaves to feed 4,000 people. That time, how many baskets did you fill with pieces of food?’
‘There were seven baskets,’ they replied.
21 ‘You really should understand about me now,’ he said to them.
Jesus makes a blind man able to see
22 Jesus and his disciples came to a village called Bethsaida. Some people led a blind man to Jesus. They asked Jesus to touch the man. 23 Jesus took the blind man's hand and he led the man out of the village. Jesus put water from his own mouth on the man's eyes. And he put his hands on the man. ‘Can you see anything?’ Jesus asked.
24 The man looked up. He said, ‘I can see people. But they look like trees that are walking about.’
25 So Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again. The man looked carefully and then his eyes were completely well. Now he could see everything clearly. 26 Jesus told the man that he must go back to his home. Jesus said, ‘Do not even go into the village.’
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