Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Praise
101 I will sing of loving-kindness and of what is right and fair. I will sing praises to You, O Lord. 2 I will be careful to live a life without blame. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a right and good heart. 3 I will set no sinful thing in front of my eyes. I hate the work of those who are not faithful. It will not get hold of me. 4 A sinful heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with sin. 5 I will stop whoever talks against his neighbor in secret. I will not listen to anyone who has a proud look and a proud heart.
6 My eyes will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so they may serve me. He who walks without blame will help me. 7 He whose ways are false will not live in my house. He who tells lies will not stand in front of me. 8 I will destroy all the sinful in the land every morning. I will cut off all those who do wrong from the city of the Lord.
A Man in Trouble
109 I give praise to You, O God. Do not be quiet. 2 For sinners and liars have opened their mouths against me. They have spoken against me with lying tongues. 3 They have gathered around me with words of hate. They fought against me for no reason. 4 I give them my love but they speak against me in return. But I am in prayer. 5 They pay me what is bad for what is good. They give me hate for my love.
6 Let a sinful man have power over him. Let one who speaks against him stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty. And may his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few. Let another person take over his work. 9 Let his children be without a father. And let his wife be without a husband. 10 May his children go around begging. And may they look for food far from their destroyed homes. 11 Let the one to whom he owes money take all that he has. May strangers take away all he has worked for. 12 May no one show him kindness. Let no one pity his children who have no father. 13 Let his children be cut off. Do not let their family name be remembered by the people-to-come.
14 Let the sins of his fathers be remembered by the Lord, and do not let the sins of his mother be forgotten. 15 May these sins always be before the Lord. So He may not let them be remembered on the earth. 16 Because he did not remember to show loving-kindness. Instead he made it hard for the poor and those in need and those with a broken heart. He even put them to death. 17 He loved to curse others, so may it come to him. He did not like to have good come to others, so good was far from him. 18 He dressed himself with cursing as with a coat. They came into his body like water and into his bones like oil. 19 May they be like clothing that covers him and like a belt that he always wears. 20 Let this be what the Lord pays to those who speak against me and wish bad things would happen to me.
21 But You, O God, the Lord, be kind to me because of Your name. Take me out of trouble because Your loving-kindness is good. 22 For I am in trouble and in need. And my heart is hurt within me. 23 I am passing like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees are weak from going without food. And my body has lost all its fat. 25 Others laugh at me. They look at me and shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God! Save me by Your loving-kindness. 27 Let them know that this is Your hand and that You, O Lord, have done it. 28 Let them hope that bad things will happen. But You make good things happen. Let them be ashamed when they rise up against me. But let Your servant be full of joy. 29 Let those who speak against me be dressed with shame. Let them cover themselves with shame as with a coat. 30 I will give thanks to the Lord in a loud voice. I will praise Him among many people.
121 I have done what is fair and right. Do not leave me to those who would make it hard for me. 122 Promise that You will bring good to Your servant. Do not let the proud make it hard for me. 123 My eyes become weak with desire for Your saving power and for Your Word that is right and good. 124 Act in Your loving-kindness toward Your servant, and teach me Your Laws. 125 I am Your servant. Give me understanding so I may know Your Law. 126 It is time for You to work, Lord, for they have broken Your Law. 127 I love Your Word more than gold, more than pure gold. 128 And so I look upon all of Your Law as right. I hate every false way.
129 Your Laws are wonderful, and so I obey them. 130 The opening up of Your Word gives light. It gives understanding to the child-like. 131 I opened my mouth wide, breathing with desire for Your Law. 132 Turn to me and show me loving-favor, as You always do to those who love Your name. 133 Set my steps in Your Word. Do not let sin rule over me. 134 Set me free from the power of man, and I will obey Your Law. 135 Make Your face shine upon Your servant and teach me Your Law. 136 Tears flow from my eyes because of those who do not keep Your Law.
137 You are right and good, O Lord, and Your Law is right. 138 The Law You have made is right and good and very faithful. 139 I feel weak because those who hate me have forgotten Your Word. 140 Your Word is very pure and Your servant loves it. 141 I am not important and I am hated but I do not forget Your Law. 142 You are right forever, and Your Law is truth. 143 Trouble and suffering have come upon me, yet Your Word is my joy. 144 Your Law is right forever. Give me understanding and I will live.
2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and shining with greatness. The fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of those of Israel who are still alive. 3 He who is left in Zion and stays in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been written down among the living in Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will wash away the sin of the daughters of Zion. He will wash away the blood that was shed in Jerusalem, by the spirit of punishment and the spirit of fire. 5 Then the Lord will cover the whole land of Mount Zion and her people with a cloud of smoke during the day, and a bright fire that shines during the night. The Lord’s shining-greatness will cover everything. 6 It will be a covering from the heat during the day and it will keep the people safe from the storm and the rain.
Full-Grown Christians
4 I am being held in prison because of working for the Lord. I ask you from my heart to live and work the way the Lord expected you to live and work. 2 Live and work without pride. Be gentle and kind. Do not be hard on others. Let love keep you from doing that. 3 Work hard to live together as one by the help of the Holy Spirit. Then there will be peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit. There is one hope in which you were called. 5 There is one Lord and one faith and one baptism. 6 There is one God. He is the Father of us all. He is over us all. He is the One working through us all. He is the One living in us all.
7 Loving-favor has been given to each one of us. We can see how great it is by the gift of Christ. 8 The Holy Writings say, “When Christ went up to heaven, He took those who were held with Him. He gave gifts to men.” (A) 9 When they say, “He went up,” what does it mean but that He had first gone down to the deep parts of the earth? 10 Christ Who went down into the deep also went up far above the heavens. He did this to fill all the world with Himself.
11 Christ gave gifts to men. He gave to some the gift to be missionaries, some to be preachers, others to be preachers who go from town to town. He gave others the gift to be church leaders and teachers. 12 These gifts help His people work well for Him. And then the church which is the body of Christ will be made strong. 13 All of us are to be as one in the faith and in knowing the Son of God. We are to be full-grown Christians standing as high and complete as Christ is Himself. 14 Then we will not be as children any longer. Children are like boats thrown up and down on big waves. They are blown with the wind. False teaching is like the wind. False teachers try everything possible to make people believe a lie, 15 but we are to hold to the truth with love in our hearts. We are to grow up and be more like Christ. He is the leader of the church. 16 Christ has put each part of the church in its right place. Each part helps other parts. This is what is needed to keep the whole body together. In this way, the whole body grows strong in love.
Demons Ask Jesus to Let Them Live in Pigs (A)
28 Jesus came to the other side of the lake into the country of the Gadarenes. Two men came to Him from among the graves. They had demons in them and were very wild men. They were so bad that no one would go near them. 29 They called out, saying, “What do You want of us, You Son of God? Have You come here to make us suffer before it is our time to suffer?”
30 A long way from there many pigs were eating. 31 The demons begged Jesus, saying, “If You put us out, send us into the pigs.” 32 Jesus said to the demons, “Go!” They came out of the men and went into the pigs. At once the pigs ran down the mountain side. They fell into the water and died.
33 The men who cared for the pigs ran fast into the city and told everything. They told what happened to the men who had the demons. 34 Every person in the city came to meet Jesus. When they saw Jesus, they asked Him to leave their country.
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