Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN
49 Remember the word that you have spoken to me, your servant.
You have made me put my hope in it.
50 When I have trouble,
your promise gives me peace in my mind.
It makes my life strong again.
51 Proud people laugh at me all the time.
But I do not turn away from your Law.
52 Lord, I remember the rules that you made long ago.
When I do that, I feel happy.
53 When wicked people turn against your Law,
I become very angry.
54 Wherever I live, I sing songs about your rules.
55 In the night, Lord, I think about who you are.
I will continue to obey your Law.
56 This is what I do every day:
I obey your teaching.
HETH
57 Lord, you are everything that I need.
I promise to obey your rules.
58 I ask you, ‘Please, please take care of me.
Be kind and forgive me,
as you have promised to do.’
59 I have thought about the way that I live.
I have decided to return to your teaching.
60 I will be quick to obey your commands.
I will not be slow to do that.
61 Wicked people try to catch me in their traps,
but I will not forget your Law.
62 I get up in the middle of the night to praise you.
I thank you for your fair rules.
63 I am a friend of everyone who respects you,
and who obeys your teaching.
64 Lord, your faithful love is everywhere!
Please teach me your commands.
TETH
65 Lord, you have blessed me, your servant,
as you have promised to do.
66 Teach me to understand what is right,
because I trust your commands.
67 Before you showed me what was right, I made mistakes,
but now I obey your teaching.
68 You are good and you do good things.
So please teach me your laws.
69 Proud people have told many lies against me,
but I love to obey your rules.
70 Those people do not understand anything,
but your Law makes me very happy.
71 When I suffered, it was good for me.
It helped me to learn your commands.
72 The rules that you have taught me are very valuable.
They are more valuable to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
Riches cannot save you
49 Listen to this, people from every nation.
Yes, listen carefully,
everyone who lives in this world!
2 All people must listen, whoever you are,
whether you are rich people or poor people.
3 I will speak wise words to you.
When you know my thoughts,
you will understand things better.
4 I have studied proverbs.
I explain what they mean
as I make music on my harp.
5 When trouble comes,
why am I afraid?
When cruel people are all round me,
and they want to hurt me,
why am I afraid?
6 Those people think that their money will keep them safe.
They are proud about their riches.
7 Nobody can pay the price to save another person.
Nobody can pay God the price for their life.
8 A human life costs too much to buy it back.
Nobody could ever pay enough.
9 So nobody can live for ever.
Everyone goes to their grave one day.
10 Surely you see that even wise people die,
in the way that fools and stupid people also die.
Then their money will belong to someone else.
11 Their graves will be their homes for ever.
They had their own land,
which was called by their name,
12 but people do not live for ever,
even if they are very rich.
They will die, just like the animals.
13 The same thing will happen to fools,
and to those who copy their way of life.
Selah.
14 They will follow one another like sheep.
Death will be their shepherd
that leads them into their graves.
But when the day arrives,
righteous people will rule over them.
They will no longer live in their great houses,
but death will destroy their bodies in their graves.
15 But God will save my life from the power of death.
He will take me to a safe place with him.
Selah.
16 If somebody becomes rich
and he has more and more things,
do not be afraid![a]
17 He cannot take anything with him when he dies.
His riches cannot go with him into death.
18 While he lived, he was happy with his life.
He thought, ‘People will praise me,
because I am rich.’
19 But he will join his ancestors in death.
He will never see the light of day again.
20 Rich people do not always understand the truth.
They will die, just like the animals.
David wrote this special song for the music leader. Use the music called Mahalath.
People are wicked[a]
53 A fool thinks that there is no God.
People like that are bad.
They do evil things.
None of them does anything that is good.
2 God looks down from heaven
at the people on earth.
He wants to see if there is anyone who is really wise
and who wants to know God.
3 But they have all turned away.
They have all become evil.
Nobody does anything that is good,
not even one person.
4 People who do wicked things understand nothing.
They destroy my people
as easily as they eat bread.
They never pray to God.
5 But now they are very afraid
when there is nothing to be afraid of!
God has completely won against his enemies,
the people that attack you, his people.
God has turned against them,
so you are able to make them ashamed!
6 God, you are the one who saves your people, Israel!
Leave your home in Zion
and make your people strong again!
When God blesses his people,
Jacob's descendants will sing!
Yes, Israel's people will be very happy![b]
A right time for everything
3 There is a right time for everything.
Everything that we do on the earth has a proper time.
2 There is a time to be born,
and there is a time to die.
There is a time to plant seeds.
There is a time to pull the plants out of the ground.
3 There is a time to kill people.
There is a time to make people well.
There is a time to destroy things.
There is a time to build things.
4 There is a time to weep.
There is a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad.
There is a time to dance.
5 There is a time to throw stones away.
There is a time to pick them up and use them.
There is a time to hug people.
There is a time to turn away from people.
6 There is a time to look for things that you have lost.
There is a time to accept that you have lost them.
There is a time to keep things.
There is a time to throw things away.
7 There is a time to tear our clothes.
There is a time to mend them.
There is a time to say nothing.
There is a time to speak.
8 There is a time to love.
There is a time to hate.
There is a time for war.
There is a time for peace.
9 People work very hard, but what do they receive in return? 10 I have seen the difficult work that God has given people to do. He has caused them to be very busy. 11 God has chosen a good time for all things to happen. He has caused people to think about things that will continue for ever. But nobody can completely understand everything that God has done, from the beginning of their lives to the end.
12 So I realized that people should be happy. They should enjoy good things as long as they live. There is nothing better for people to do than that. 13 People should be happy to eat and to drink. They should enjoy the work that they do. All these things are gifts from God.
14 I know that everything that God does continues for ever. Nobody can add anything to it. Nobody can take anything away from it. God does these things so that people will respect his authority.
15 Whatever is happening now has happened before.
Everything that will happen in the future has already happened.
God causes the same things to happen again and again.[a]
Paul argues with Peter
11 But later, when Peter came to Antioch, I spoke against him. I told him clearly that he had done something wrong. 12 When he first arrived in Antioch, Peter had been eating meals with the Gentile believers there. Then James sent some Jewish believers from Jerusalem to Antioch. After those men had arrived, Peter started to keep himself separate from the Gentiles. He stopped eating meals with them. He was afraid of those Jews who wanted to circumcise the Gentile believers. 13 The other Jewish believers in Antioch also did what Peter did. They became hypocrites like him. Even Barnabas agreed and he copied their example.
14 But I could see that they were wrong to do this. They were not living in a way that agrees with God's true message. So I spoke to Peter in front of all of them. I said to him, ‘You were born as a Jew, but you have been living like a Gentile. As a believer, you no longer obey all the Jewish rules. So you should not try to make Gentile believers obey those Jewish rules.’
15 We were born as Jewish people. We are not Gentiles who have never obeyed God's rules. 16 But we know that we do not become right with God because we obey his Law. A person only becomes right with God when they believe in Jesus Christ. And we, as Jewish believers, have believed in Christ Jesus. We have become right with God because we trust in what Christ has done. It is not because we obey God's Law that he accepts us. Nobody becomes right with God only because they obey the rules in God's Law.
17 So then, we Jews become right with God when we believe in Christ. That means that we no longer obey all the Jewish rules. But that does not mean that Christ causes us to do wrong things. Certainly, it does not mean that! 18 Instead, I would really be doing something wrong if I tried to obey all those rules again. I would be building again something that I had destroyed. That would really be against God's Law. 19 But God's Law showed me that I could never obey all its rules. So I became like a dead person, free from the authority of those rules. That means that I can now live to please God.[a]
20 Christ died on the cross on my behalf. It is like I died there with him. So I do not live my own life any more. Instead, Christ lives in me. The life that I live now in my body, I live because I trust what he has done for me. He has loved me so much that he died on my behalf. 21 So I do not refuse to accept the kind gift of God. If the rules of God's Law could make me right with him, then Christ would have died for no reason!
Herod's soldiers kill John the Baptist
14 At that time, people told Herod about the things that Jesus was doing.[a] 2 Herod said to his servants, ‘That man Jesus is really John the Baptist. John died but he has become alive again. That is the reason why this man can do these very powerful things.’
3 Before that, Herod had commanded his soldiers, ‘Take hold of John. Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done this because of his wife Herodias. Before Herod married her, she was the wife of Herod's brother Philip. 4 John had said to Herod, ‘Herodias was your brother's wife. So it is not right for you to have her as your wife.’[b]
5 Herod wanted to tell his soldiers that they must kill John. But the people thought that John was a prophet from God. So Herod was afraid to kill him.
6 One day, when it was Herod's birthday, he asked people to come to a special meal. The daughter of Herodias danced in front of him and his visitors. Her dance caused Herod to become very happy. 7 He said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I make a strong promise that I will give it to you.’ 8 Herodias suggested to her daughter, ‘Ask Herod to give you John's head.’ So the girl said to Herod, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist on a plate.’ 9 Then Herod felt sad. But he had made a special promise to the girl, and his visitors had heard him. So he sent his men to do what she had asked for. 10 He said to a soldier, ‘Go to the prison and cut off John's head.’ 11 The soldier did this. Then he brought the head on a plate and he gave it to the girl. The girl took it and gave it to her mother.
12 After this, John's disciples went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it. Then they went and they told Jesus what had happened.
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