Book of Common Prayer

David wrote this song for the music leader.

God has helped me^[a]

David wrote this special song for the music leader. He must use stringed instruments. It was when the men of Ziph went to Saul and they said, ‘David is hiding with us.’

God keeps me safe^[a]

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]

¹⁸ Eat the Feast of Flat Bread every year. Eat bread that has no yeast in it for seven days, as I commanded you. Do this on the right day in the month of Abib. That is the month that you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹ Every firstborn child that a woman gives birth to belongs to me. That is also true for every firstborn male that your animals give birth to. That includes your cows and your sheep. ²⁰ For a firstborn donkey, you may pay for it with a lamb instead. If you do not pay for it, you must break the donkey's neck. You must pay me back for every firstborn son that you have.

Nobody may come to worship me without an offering to give me.

²¹ You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day you must rest. That is true even when it is the time to plough your fields. It is also true at harvest time. You must rest on the seventh day each week.

²² Eat the Feast of Weeks every year when you cut the first wheat in your fields. Eat the Feast of Harvest at the end of each year.^{[a] 23} Three times in every year, all your men must come to worship the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will chase the nations out of the land as you move in. I will give you more and more land to live in. Three times each year you must come to worship the Lord your God. When you do that, nobody will try to take your land for themselves.

²⁵ When you offer the blood of an animal to me as your sacrifice, do not also offer any bread with yeast in it. When you kill a lamb for the Passover sacrifice, do not keep any of the meat until the next morning.

²⁶ When you cut the first crops from your fields, bring the best food to the house of the Lord your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.’

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words. They are the rules of the covenant that I have made with you and with the Israelites.’

²⁸ Moses was there on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He did not eat anything or drink anything during that time. He wrote the words of God's covenant on the flat stones. Those were God's ten special commands.

Moses' face shines

²⁹ Moses came down from Sinai mountain. He carried the two stones of the covenant in his hands. As he came down the mountain, he did not know that his face was shining. His face was shining because he had spoken with the Lord. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, they could see that his face was shining. They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them. So Aaron and the leaders of the people came back to him. Then Moses talked to them. ³² After this, all the Israelites came near to Moses. He told them all the commands that the Lord had given to him on Sinai mountain.

³³ When Moses had finished speaking to the people, he covered his face with a thin cloth. ³⁴ But when he went into the special tent to speak with the Lord, he would remove the cloth. When he came out again, he would tell God's commands to the Israelites. ³⁵ They could see that his face was shining. So Moses would put the thin cloth over his face again. The cloth would stay on his face until he went into the special tent again to speak with the Lord.

Timothy has brought news to Paul

3 ^1-2 After a long time, we could not be patient any longer. So we decided to send our friend Timothy to come to visit you. We ourselves would stay here in Athens. Timothy serves God with us here. He tells people the good news about Christ. We sent him to you so that he could help you to trust Christ more and more. ³ You are receiving many troubles. We did not want anyone among you to turn away from Christ because of that. You already know that we who are believers must receive troubles like that.

⁴ Even when we were there with you, we told you that troubles would come. We told you before the troubles came and now it has really happened. You know that it is true. ⁵ That is why I had to send Timothy to come to you. I could not wait to hear news about you any longer. I wanted to know whether you still trusted Christ. I was afraid that Satan had deceived you. If he had made you turn away from Christ, our work among you would have had no results.

⁶ But now Timothy has come back to us. And he has told us good news about you. He has told us that you continue to trust Christ and you love one another. He says that you always think about us in a good way. You want very much to meet us again, as we also want to meet you. ⁷ So we have become happy again because of you, our Christian friends. We continue to suffer and we have much trouble. But we are happy because you continue to trust Christ. ⁸ Yes, we are like people who have become alive again. We know that you are strong as you trust the Lord.

⁹ We thank God very much for you! You make us very happy when we talk to God about you. ¹⁰ We pray very much for you, during the day and during the night. We ask God to give us the chance to visit you again. We want to help you to understand the things that you still need to know. Then you will be able to trust Christ even more.

¹¹ We pray that our Father God himself and our Lord Jesus will prepare the way for us. Then we will come to visit you. ¹² We pray that the Lord will cause you to love people more and more. We love you very much. We pray that you will love each other and all people, as we love you. ¹³ Then God will cause you to become strong inside yourselves. You will live in a completely good way. One day our Lord Jesus will come back with all the people who belong to him. Then you will stand in front of God, our Father. He will say that you are not guilty of anything that is wrong.

Jesus teaches people about bad thoughts

²⁷ Jesus then said, ‘You know what God's rule says: “You must not have sex with anyone who is not your husband or your wife.” ²⁸ But what I tell you is this: A man may look at a woman who is not his wife. And he may want to have sex with her. In his thoughts, he has had sex with her, so he has done a wrong thing. ²⁹ If your right eye leads you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. Yes, you will lose one eye. But it will be much worse if you keep your whole body and God throws you into hell. ³⁰ Also, if your right hand leads you to do wrong things, then you should cut it off. You should throw it away. You will lose one hand. But it will be much worse if you keep your body in one piece and go to hell.’^[a]

Jesus talks about when a man sends his wife away

³¹ ‘God's Law also says: “Any man who wants to send his wife away must give her a letter. This letter must say that they are no longer married.” ³² But what I tell you is this: A man must not send his wife away except for one reason. He may only send her away if she has had sex with another man. If he sends her away for any other reason, he has done a wrong thing. It is like he has caused her to have sex with another man. Also, if a woman has left her husband, another man must not marry her. That is the same as if he had sex with another man's wife.’

Jesus teaches people about promises to God

³³ ‘You also know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “If you make a promise to God, you must do what you have said.” ³⁴ But what I tell you is this. Do not use any name to make a promise stronger. Do not use the words “by heaven” to make a promise stronger. Heaven is the place where God rules. Do not use the words “by the earth” to make a promise stronger. The earth is the place where God rests his feet. ³⁵ Do not use the words “by Jerusalem” to make a promise stronger. Jerusalem is God's city. He is the great King who rules from there. ³⁶ Do not use the words “by my head” to make a promise. You cannot make the colour of even one of your hairs black or white. ³⁷ Instead, when you make a promise, you should say only “Yes, I will do it.” Or you should say only “No, I will not do it.” If you say anything more than this, what you say is bad.^[b] It comes from Satan.’