Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song to ask God not to forget him.
Lord, please remember me[a]
38 Lord, when you are angry,
please do not punish me.
2 You have shot your arrows deep into me.
Your hand has pushed me down to the ground.[b]
3 Your punishment has made my whole body ill.
My health has gone, because of my sin.
4 My sin is too much for me!
It is like a heavy weight,
that I cannot carry.
5 My wounds make a bad smell,
and they get worse.
This is because I have done stupid things.
6 My body is bent down to the ground.
Every day I weep because I am so sad.
7 My body is hot with fever.[c]
I am very ill.
8 The pain has made me tired and weak.
I am so upset that I cry aloud.
9 My Lord, you already know what I want most.
You hear me when I cry with pain.
10 My heart beats very fast,
and my strength is leaving me.
Even my eyes can no longer see properly.
11 My family and my friends stay away from me,
because of my illness.
They do not come near to me.
12 My enemies prepare traps,
because they want to kill me.
They talk about ways to destroy me.
They want to hurt me,
so they talk about that all through the day.
13 But I am like a deaf man who hears nothing.
I am like a dumb man who says nothing.
14 So I live like a man who cannot hear what people say.
I refuse to argue against them.
15 Yes, Lord, I wait for you to help me!
I believe that you will answer me, my Lord and my God.
16 I have prayed that my enemies will not laugh at me.
If I slip and fall down,
they will be very happy!
17 I will soon fall down to the ground.
I have nothing but pain all the time.
18 But I agree that I have done wrong things.
I am sorry about my sins.
19 I have many enemies and they are strong.
They have no reason to hate me.
20 When I do good things,
they do evil things to me in return!
I try to do what is right,
but they turn against me.
21 Lord, please do not leave me alone.
Do not stay far away from me, my God!
22 My Lord, you are the one who can save me,
so come quickly to help me!
DALETH
25 I have fallen to the ground. I am almost dead.
Give me life again, as you have promised to do.
26 I told you what my life is like,
and you answered me.
Please teach me your laws.
27 Help me to understand what your teaching means.
Then I will think carefully about the great things that you do.
28 I am so sad that I feel very weak.
Use your word to make me strong again.
29 Stop me from living in a wrong way.
Please be kind to me,
so that I know your Law.
30 I have chosen to live in the right way.
I will continue to obey your rules.
31 Yes, Lord, I will always respect your teaching.
Please do not let me become ashamed.
32 I want to obey your commands all the time.
Help me to understand them more and more.
HE
33 Lord, help me to understand your teaching,
then I will always obey it.
34 Explain your Law to me, then I will obey it.
I will always love to do what it says.
35 Help me to live in a way that respects your commands.
That is what makes me very happy.
36 Help me to love your rules.
That is better for me than riches.
37 Turn my eyes away from useless things.
Use your word to help me to live.
38 I am your servant.
Please do what you have promised to do.
You have promised to bless anyone who respects you.
39 I am afraid when people insult me.
Your rules are good,
so do not let me be ashamed.
40 I really want to obey your rules.
Because you are righteous,
please let me continue to live.
WAW
41 Lord, I want your faithful love to be with me.
Please keep me safe, as you have promised.
42 Then I will be able to answer the people who insult me.
I will show them that I trust in your word.
43 Do not stop me from speaking your true word!
I know that you will do what is right.
44 I will always obey your Law,
now and for ever.
45 I will not be in danger as I live,
because I try to obey your teaching.
46 I will speak to kings about your rules.
I will not be ashamed to do that.
47 I love your commands
and they make me very happy.
48 I respect your commands,
and I love them.
I am always thinking about your laws.
17 It is better to eat a piece of dry bread in a quiet place,
than to eat a big feast in a house full of arguments.
2 A slave who is wise will have authority over a son who does stupid things.
When his master dies, that slave will receive some of his valuable things.
3 You need a hot fire to make silver and gold become pure.
It is the Lord who does that for people,
to show what they are really like.
4 People who do evil things listen to evil advice.
People who tell lies listen to other people's lies.
5 If you laugh at poor people,
you are insulting God, who made them.
If you are happy when trouble happens to other people,
you will receive the punishment that you deserve.
6 Old people should be proud of their grandchildren.
In the same way, children should be proud of their parents.
7 It does not seem right when a fool says clever things.
It is certainly not right when a ruler tells lies.
8 Somebody who offers a bribe thinks that it will work like magic.
It will help him to do whatever he wants to do.
9 If you forgive people when they hurt you,
they will still love you.
But if you continue to talk about what they have done,
they will no longer be your friends.
10 You can warn a wise person once and he will learn what is right.
But a fool never learns, even if you hit him a hundred times.
11 An evil person never obeys authority,
so a cruel messenger will come to punish him.
12 Do not go near a fool who is doing stupid things.
It would be safer to meet a mother bear who has lost her babies.
13 If people are kind to you, do not do evil things in return.
Anyone who does that will always have trouble in his home.
14 It is difficult to stop a quarrel once it has started.
It is like water that pours out of a broken pot. Stop it quickly!
15 If a judge says that a guilty person is not guilty,
the Lord hates it.
If a judge punishes someone who is not guilty,
the Lord hates that too.
16 Money does not help a foolish person,
because he does not want to become wise.
17 A friend will always show that he loves you.
Relatives are there to help you when you are in trouble.
18 Only a stupid person promises to pay someone else's debts,
even if he is a friend or a neighbour.
19 Someone who loves to argue loves sin.
Someone who boasts causes trouble for himself.
20 Anyone who thinks about bad things will not do well in life.
Anyone who deceives people with lies will have a lot of trouble.
Leaders of the church
3 These words are true: ‘If you want to become a leader of God's people, it is an important work that you want to do.’ 2 For that reason, a leader of the church must live a life that everyone knows is good. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously about how he lives and he must control himself well. He must be someone that people respect. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher. 3 He should not drink too much wine. He must not get angry quickly or quarrel with people. Instead he should be kind to people. He must not want lots of money. 4 He must take care of his own family. His children must obey him and respect him. 5 A man must know how to take care of his own family. If he cannot do that, he will not be able to take care of God's people in the church.
6 A leader of the church must not be someone who has believed in Christ for only a short time. Someone like that might boast that he is great and important. Then he would receive punishment, as the Devil did. 7 Also, people outside the church should agree that the leader is a good person. Then nobody can say anything bad against him. And so, he will not come under the Devil's power.[a]
Helpers in the church
8 In the same way, deacons must live good lives, so that people respect them. They must not be hypocrites. They must not drink too much wine. They must not want to get a lot of money for themselves. 9 They must completely believe the true message that God has shown us about Christ. They must be sure in their minds about it. 10 Before anyone becomes a deacon, you must first test their character. If they are good enough, then let them serve God as deacons.
11 Deacons' wives must live good lives, so that people respect them.[b] They must not say bad things against people. They must think carefully about how they live. People should know that they are honest in everything they do.
12 A deacon must be the husband of one wife. He must take care of his children and everyone who lives in his house. 13 If a deacon serves God's people well, then people will respect him as a good person. He will become strong to tell people about his faith in Christ Jesus.
14 I hope to come to visit you soon. But anyway, I want to write these things to you now. 15 Then, even if I cannot come to you soon, you will know how people in God's family should live. That family is the church of God, who lives for ever. God's family, the church, teaches God's true message and keeps it safe.
16 Yes, the message that God has shown us about Jesus Christ is very great. We all agree to this:
God showed him to us as a man.
God's Spirit showed that he always did what was right.
Angels saw him.
People taught his message in many countries of the world.
People in the world believed in him.
God took him up to be with himself in heaven.[c]
43 Jesus then said, ‘When a bad spirit leaves a person, it travels through dry places. It looks for a new place to live. But maybe it does not find anywhere. 44 So it says to itself, “I will return to the place where I lived before.” Then it goes back to that person. It finds that the place is empty. Everything there is now good and clean. 45 So the bad spirit goes out and it brings back seven other spirits. They are even worse than itself. They all go into the person and they live there. Now the person's life is even worse than it was before. The same thing will happen to you bad people who are alive today.’[a]
Jesus speaks about his family
46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowd of people, his mother and his brothers arrived. They stood outside the house. They wanted to speak to Jesus. 47 Someone told him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to speak to you.’
48 Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and my brothers really are.’ 49 Then he pointed to his disciples. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 My brothers and sisters and my mother are those people who do what my Father in heaven wants.’[b]
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