Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.
Please forgive me, Lord[a]
51 Please forgive me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Because you are so kind,
please clean away my sins.
2 I have done bad things,
so wash me to make me clean again.[b]
3 I know that I have not obeyed you.
I cannot forget that I am guilty.
4 It is you that I have done bad things against,
only you![c]
I have done things that are evil,
as you know.
And so you are fair when you speak against me.
You are right when you say that I am guilty.
5 Yes, even from the day I was born
I have done bad things.
I have always been guilty of sin.
6 But you want me to be completely good and honest.
You want to teach me to be wise
in the way that I live.
7 Splash water over me with a hyssop plant,
and I will be really clean.[d]
Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.[e]
8 Please forgive me so that I can be happy.
Then my whole body will feel well again.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Clean away all the bad things that I have done.[f]
10 God, please make my heart new and clean.
And make my spirit strong and true,
deep inside me.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me joy again,
because you have made me safe.
Make me strong and ready to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways
to people who have turned against you.
Then sinners will turn back
and they will obey you.
14 God, I am guilty of murder.
Please forgive me!
You are the one who saves me.
When you rescue me,
I will sing aloud about your righteousness.
15 My Lord, help me to speak,
and then I will praise you.
16 I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you,
but that is not what you really want.
You do not want a burnt offering from me.
17 You want me to be humble and sorry.
That is the sacrifice that you want.
When people are humble
and they turn away from their sins,
you will not refuse them.
18 God, please be kind and help Zion.
Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.
19 Then you will accept our proper sacrifices.
Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals
will make you happy.
Once again, people will offer bulls to you,
on your altar.[g]
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.
The prophet speaks
1 The city that was full of people is lonely now.
The city is like the wife of a dead husband.
Once she was great.
She was like a queen among the other places in the country.
Now she is a slave.[a]
2 She weeps in the night
and there are tears on her face.
Not one of her lovers comforts her.
All her friends have left her.
They have gone against her and they are now her enemies.[b]
6 Zion is not beautiful any longer.
Her leaders are like animals without food.
They are too weak to run from their enemies.
7 Jerusalem's people are in trouble and they are away from their homes now.
So they remember the good things
that they had a long time ago.
When their enemies came, nobody was there with them.
Nobody helped them.
Their enemies laughed when they destroyed Jerusalem.
8 Jerusalem's people have sinned very much.
That is why this city is not clean any longer.
People thought that this city was the best.
Now they think that it is not important.
They see it as it is.
Jerusalem's people make sad noises and they want to hide themselves away.
9 Jerusalem seemed dirty because the people were so bad.
They never thought that the end would be like this.
But their enemies destroyed the city.
They do not have anyone who can comfort them.
God did not listen any longer when they asked for his help.
‘Lord, see our troubles.
See how happy our enemies are,’ the people pray.
10 The enemies have taken away all Jerusalem's valuable things.
Foreign people have walked into God's holy house.
But God had said that people like that must not go in there.
They are not his people.
11 Jerusalem's people are making sad noises.
They are sad as they look for food.
They sell things that they love.
They use them to buy food.
That way, they can keep themselves alive.[a]
‘Lord, see what is happening.
Think about me,
because nobody else does,’ the people pray.
12 ‘Come and really look at me!
All you people who pass me do not show any interest in me.
But you have never seen anything as sad as I am.
The Lord was very angry with me.
So it was the Lord who did this to me.[b]
Paul says ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. Our Christian friend Timothy is here with me as I write.
I am sending this letter to you, the people of the church in Corinth city. I am sending it also to all of God's people who live in other places in Achaia.
2 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds.
God himself comforts us
3 We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because he is so good to us. As our Father, he is very kind to us. He is our God who comforts us in every way. 4 Whenever we have trouble, he comforts us. Because of that, we ourselves can comfort other people. When they have any kind of trouble, we can comfort them, in the same way that God has comforted us. 5 Christ himself received much pain, and God comforted him. As Christ's servants, we also receive the same kind of pain. But, God also comforts us very much, because we belong to Christ.
6 So, when we receive trouble, the result is that we can comfort you. And then also, God saves you. When God comforts us, that helps us to comfort you too. As a result, when you receive the same kinds of trouble that we receive, you learn to be patient and strong. 7 So we continue to be sure that you will remain strong. You receive many troubles, as we do too. But we know that God will also comfort you, as he comforts us.
A tree without fruit
12 On the next day, they left Bethany. Jesus was hungry. 13 He saw a fig tree which was a long way away. There were leaves on it. So he went to see if it had fruit on it. When he reached it, he found nothing except leaves. That was because it was not the right season for it to have fruit. 14 So Jesus said to the tree, ‘Nobody will ever eat your fruit again.’ And his disciples heard what he said.
Jesus goes to the temple
15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus went into the yard of the temple.[a] People were buying and selling things there. Jesus began to make them all leave that place. Some men were changing coins there for people.[b] He pushed over their tables. And he pushed over the seats of the men who sold birds.[c]
16 Jesus would not let anyone carry things through that place. 17 While he was teaching the people, Jesus said, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people from all countries pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’
18 The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law heard this. And they thought about how they could kill Jesus. They were afraid of him. That was because all the crowd were listening to him. And the things that he taught caused the crowd to be very surprised.
19 When it was evening, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city again.
The fig tree is dead
20 The next morning, Jesus and his disciples passed the fig tree. They saw that it was completely dead. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said. So he said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, look at that fig tree. You said that it should die, and it has died.’
22 So Jesus said to them, ‘You must believe in God. 23 I tell you this: A person could say to this mountain, “Move and throw yourself into the sea.” Then it will happen like he says. But he must not let other ideas come into his mind. He must really believe that those things will happen. If he does believe it, God will do those things for him. 24 So I tell you this. When you pray to ask God for anything, believe in him. Believe that you have received that thing. Then you will have whatever you have asked for. 25 But when you stand up to pray, first you must forgive other people. If anyone has done something bad against you, forgive that person. If you do forgive them, your Father in heaven will forgive you. God will forgive you for the bad things that you have done.’
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