Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader, to ask God to help him.
A prayer for help[a]
70 God, please save me!
Lord, come quickly to help me!
2 Stop the people who want to kill me,
so that they become ashamed and confused.
Chase the people who want to hurt me,
so that they run away in shame.
3 When people laugh at me,
make them ashamed for what they have done.
4 God, may those who want to know you be very happy.
Everyone who loves you because you have saved them
should never stop saying, ‘Praise God.’
5 But I am poor and weak, God.
Please hurry to give me help.
You are the one who helps me
and who saves me.
Lord, come quickly to help me!
A song for old age
71 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
2 You always do what is right,
so please rescue me!
Listen to me, and come to save me!
3 Be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place where I can be safe.
You are my high rock and my strong, safe place.
4 My God, save me from the power of wicked people,
so that those cruel people cannot catch me.
5 My Lord, I trust you to help me.
I have trusted in you, Lord,
since I was young.
6 Since I was born,
you have been there to help me.
You have taken care of me
since my mother gave birth to me.
So I will always praise you!
7 When people see me,
they see trouble!
But you are a strong place to keep me safe.
8 I can never stop praising you!
All the time, I speak about your glory!
9 Do not chase me away when I am old.
When I am no longer strong,
do not turn away from me.[b]
10 For my enemies say things against me.
They think of ways that they can kill me.
11 They say, ‘God has turned away from him.
Run after him and catch him,
for nobody will rescue him.’
12 God, do not stay far away from me.
My God, come quickly to help me!
13 Make my enemies become completely ashamed.
They speak against me and they want to hurt me.
So let them fall with great shame!
14 But as for me, I will always wait for you to help me.
I will continue to praise you more and more.
15 I will tell people that you always do what is right.
I will always speak about your power to save people.
But you have done more than I will ever know about!
16 I will tell about the great things that you have done,
Almighty Lord.
I will tell everyone that you are righteous.
You, only you, are righteous.
17 God, you have taught me since I was young.
I still tell people about the great things that you have done.
18 And even when I am old and my hair is grey,
do not turn away from me, God.
I need to tell the people still to be born
about your great strength.
My descendants need to know about your power.
19 Your justice reaches beyond the sky above!
You have done such great things, God.
There is nobody like you!
20 You have caused me to have many bad troubles.
But you will make my life strong again.
You will lift me back out
from this deep hole under the earth.[c]
21 You will make me great again,
so that people respect me.
You will turn back to me,
so that I feel strong.
22 I will pick up my harp
and I will sing to thank you.
I will praise you, my God,
because you do what you promise.
I will sing to praise you, the Holy One of Israel,
with the music of a lyre.[d]
23 I will shout aloud with joy,
as I praise you with music!
I will sing songs to praise you,
because you have rescued me.
24 I will talk about your justice all the time.
The people who want to hurt me
will become confused and ashamed.
This is a special song that Asaph wrote.
A prayer for our nation[a]
74 God, have you turned against us for ever?
Why are you so angry with us?
We belong to you, so please take care of us,
like a shepherd takes care of his sheep.
2 Remember that we are your people.
Long ago you chose us for yourself.
You rescued us from being slaves,
so that we could be your special nation of people.[b]
So please think about us,
as well as your home on Mount Zion.
3 Come and look at our buildings!
Your enemies have completely destroyed them.
They have also destroyed everything that is in your temple.
4 Your enemies shout battle cries
inside your special meeting place.
They have put up their own flags there.
5 They used axes to cut the temple into pieces,
like people who cut down trees!
6 They used their hammers and axes
to break the wooden boards with pictures on them.
7 They completely burned your temple.
They knocked it down to the ground!
They caused your special place to become useless!
8 They said to themselves,
‘We will completely destroy them all.’
So they burned down every place in the land
where people meet to worship God.
9 We no longer see any signs that God is with us.
There are no more prophets among us.
Nobody can tell us how long this will continue.
10 God, how long will our enemies laugh at you?
Will they insult your name for ever?
11 Why do you do nothing to help us?
Use your power now to punish them!
12 God, you have been my king from the beginning.
You have done great things to rescue us
all over the earth.
13 You broke the sea into separate pieces,
because you are so strong.[c]
You broke the heads of the monsters
in the waters of the sea.[d]
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan.[e]
You gave his body as food
for the animals that live in the desert.
15 You caused springs and streams of water to appear.
And you made large rivers become dry![f]
16 Days and nights both belong to you.
You put the moon and the sun in their places.
17 You said where the land must be among the seas.
You made both summer and winter.[g]
18 Lord, think about your enemies.
They are always laughing at you.
Foolish people are insulting your name.
19 We, your people, are like your own special dove.
Do not let wild animals destroy us!
We are weak and poor,
so do not forget about us!
20 Remember what you have promised to do for us.
There are dark places everywhere,
where cruel people hide.
21 We are weak, and people want to hurt us.
Do not let us become ashamed.
Instead, let the poor, weak people praise your name!
22 Do something, God!
Show everyone that you are good.
Think how fools are laughing at you all the time.
23 Do not forget what your enemies are saying.
They shout things against you all the time!
26 You must not eat any meat that has the blood in it. You must not do magic. You must not use magic to learn about future times.
27 A man must not cut the hair on the sides of his head. He must not cut the edges of his beard.
28 He must not cut his body to remember the dead people. He must not paint his body. I am the Lord your God.
29 He must not sell his daughter for sex. You would make her ashamed. If he does this, all the people might do the same. The whole land would become full of sin.
30 God has said what the people can do on the Sabbath day of rest. On the day of rest, the people must do only those things. They must respect the Lord's house. I am the Lord.
31 They must not ask people who do magic to help them. That would make Israel's people unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 The people must stand up when they are with old people. They must respect the old people. They must give honour to their God. I am the Lord your God.
33 A foreign person may live in your land. You must be kind to him or to her. 34 People must love the person from a different country as they love themselves. They must remember the time when they lived in Egypt. Egypt was not their country. I am the Lord your God.
35 They must be fair when they measure length or weight or size. 36 They must use correct weights and measures. I am the Lord your God. I led you out of Egypt.
37 They must obey all my rules. I am the Lord.’
Paul says ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy.
We are writing to the people of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God our Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We pray that God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. We pray that they will give you peace in your minds.
Paul thanks God because of the believers at Thessalonica
3 Our Christian friends, we ought always to thank God because of you. It is right that we do this, because you are learning to trust Christ more and more. All of you are also loving each other more and more. 4 As a result, we are proud to tell believers in other churches about you. We tell them how you continue to trust God in your many troubles. You are patient and brave, even when people cause you to have much pain.
5 This shows us that God judges people in a way that is right. Now you are receiving much trouble because you belong to God's kingdom. This shows that God accepts you as the people that he rules.
6 God will punish those people who are causing trouble for you. He will cause trouble for them. That is right and fair. 7 God will also do what is right and fair for you. You have troubles now. But one day God will cause you to have rest, together with us. That will happen when the Lord Jesus comes down from heaven. He will come with his powerful angels, 8 and with a very hot fire. He will punish those people who do not know God. Yes, he will punish those people who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9 Their punishment will continue for ever, as God destroys them. He will keep them away from the Lord. They will never see the Lord, or his great power. 10 This will happen when Jesus comes on that special day. His own people will praise him for the great things that he has done for them. All of us who are believers will be surprised when we see his great power. This includes you, because you believed our message about the Lord Jesus.
Paul prays for the believers
11 So we always pray for you. Our God has chosen you to be his own people. We pray that he will help you, so that you continue to please him. We also pray that God will work powerfully in you. Then you will be able to do every good thing that you want to do. You will do the things that you want to do because you trust God. 12 As a result, people will praise our Lord Jesus because of how you live. You also will receive praise, because you belong to Jesus. All this is possible because our God and the Lord Jesus Christ are very kind.
25 So I tell you this. You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes. 26 Think about the wild birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God, your Father in heaven, gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. 27 Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer!
28 You should not worry about your clothes. Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not work or make clothes for themselves. 29 But I tell you this. Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. 30 It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.[a] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!
31 So do not worry about these things. Do not always say, “What will we eat?”, or “What will we drink?”, or “What will we wear?” 32 People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father in heaven knows that you need them. 33 Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then he will also give you the things that you need each day. 34 So do not have trouble in your mind about what might happen tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own problems. It is enough for you to be thinking each day about the problems of that day.’
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