Book of Common Prayer

David wrote this prayer.

God will help me

David wrote this prayer.

A prayer for help

A song to sing as we climb.

A song at night

A song to praise God

²³ Moses said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a special day of rest. It is a Sabbath day, to worship the Lord. Today, you must bake any food that you want to bake. Boil the meat that you want to boil. Keep until the morning whatever food you do not eat today.” ’

²⁴ So they kept some food until the morning, as Moses had said. This time, the food did not have a bad smell and there were no worms in it. ²⁵ Moses said, ‘Eat the food today, because this day is a Sabbath day, to worship the Lord. You will not find any food on the ground today. ²⁶ On six days of each week, you must pick food up from the ground. But on the seventh day of the week, there will not be any food on the ground. That is because the seventh day is the Sabbath day of rest.’

²⁷ But on the seventh day, some of the people went out to pick up food. But they did not find any. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The people continue to refuse to obey my commands. They refuse to do what I tell them! ²⁹ Remember this: The Lord has given the Sabbath day to you. That is why, on the sixth day, he gives you enough food for two days. Then everyone must stay at home on the seventh day. Nobody must leave his home that day.’ ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The Israelites called the special food ‘manna’. It was white, like seeds called coriander. When they tasted the manna, it was like thin pieces of bread with honey in it.

³² Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Keep one bowl (an omer) of manna for people to look at in future times. They will see the bread that I fed to you in the desert, after I had brought you out of Egypt.” ’

³³ So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Put an omer of manna into a jar. Then put the jar in the place where we worship the Lord. We must keep it safe, so that our descendants can see it in the future.’

³⁴ Aaron did what the Lord had told Moses. He put the jar in the Covenant Box, to keep it safe.^[a]

³⁵ The Israelites ate the manna for 40 years, until they had finished their journey in the desert. After those 40 years, they arrived at the edge of Canaan.

³⁶ (The people used omers to measure the food. Ten omers is equal to one ephah.)^[b]

¹³ If you always try to do good things, then nobody should hurt you. ¹⁴ But somebody might give you trouble, even when you do what is right. If that happens, God will bless you. So do not be afraid of what people may do to you. Do not worry about it. ¹⁵ Instead, always remember that Christ is your Lord. Let him rule how you live. People may ask you, ‘Why do you trust God to help you?’ You must always be ready to answer them about that. ¹⁶ But when you tell them, be kind and polite. Do only what you know is right. Then those people will see that you live in a good way because you believe in Christ. When they say bad things against you they will become ashamed. ¹⁷ Sometimes God may let you have trouble and pain even when you have done good things. But that is better than if you have trouble and pain because you have done bad things.

¹⁸ Christ himself always did what was right. But he received pain on behalf of people who do what is wrong. He died once to take away all those wrong things. He did that to bring you near to God. People killed Christ's body, but God's Spirit made him alive again. ¹⁹ Like this, he went to the spirits who were in prison. He told them God's true message. ²⁰ Those were the spirits of people who had refused to obey God long ago. At that time God waited patiently for them to turn to him while Noah was building a large ship. But only a few people agreed to go into that ship. God saved only eight people when the ship sailed on the deep water.^{[a] 21} That shows how God now saves you. It is like a picture of baptism. The water of baptism does not wash dirt from a person's body. Instead, it shows that a person has decided to obey God. He is choosing to do what is right. That saves you, because Jesus Christ became alive again after his death. ²² After that, Jesus went into heaven. Now he is sitting at God's right side. He rules over angels and over everything that has authority and power.^[b]

4 Christ had trouble and pain while he lived in his human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. ² As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.

³ You have already had enough time in your life to do bad things. Those are the kinds of things that people who do not know God like to do. You did many evil things that your bodies wanted to do. You had sex in a wrong way. You often became drunk. You went to wild parties where you drank too much alcohol. You also worshipped useless idols.^[c]

⁴ But now you no longer live in the same wicked way as those people do. They continue to enjoy those wrong things all the time. But you do not join with them. So they insult you. ⁵ But those people will have to explain to God what they have done. He is ready to judge every person, whether they are alive now or they have already died. ⁶ That is why even dead people needed to hear the good news about Christ. Their bodies had to die, as all people must die. But they heard the good news so that their spirits could live, as God wants them to live.^[d]

16 Jesus then said, ‘I have told you all these things, so that you will not turn away from God. ² People will send you away from their meeting places. There will be a time when people will want to kill you. When they do this, they will even think that they are doing what God wants. ³ They will do these things to you because they have never known either the Father or me. ⁴ But I have told you this so that you will remember. When they begin to do these things, you will remember that I told you about them already.’

The work of God's Spirit

‘I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I will go to the Father who sent me. But none of you asks me, “Where will you go?” ⁶ And now you are very sad, because I have told you these things. ⁷ But what I tell you is true. It will be better for you if I go away. Because, if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will show the people of this world what they are like. He will show clearly that they are wrong. They are wrong about what sin really is. They are wrong about who is right with God. They are wrong about how God judges people. ⁹ They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me. ¹⁰ They are wrong about who is right with God, because I will go to the Father. Then you will not see me again. ¹¹ They are wrong about how God judges people, because God has already judged Satan, the ruler of this world.

¹² I have many more things to tell you. But you are not strong enough to know them now. ¹³ But the Spirit will come. He is the one who shows people true things about God. When he comes, he will be a guide to you. He will help you to understand everything that is true. He will not speak on his own authority. He will tell you only what he hears from the Father. He will tell you about things that will happen after this time. ¹⁴ He will take my message and he will tell it to you. In that way, he will give me honour. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, “The Spirit will take what is mine and then he will tell it to you.” ’