Book of Common Prayer
49 Remember your promise to me, your servant.
It gives me hope.
50 When I suffer, this comforts me:
Your promise gives me life.
51 Proud people make fun of me all the time.
But I do not reject your teachings.
52 I remember your laws from long ago.
They comfort me, Lord.
53 I become angry with wicked people.
They have not kept your teachings.
54 I sing about your demands
wherever I live.
55 Lord, I remember you at night.
I will obey your teachings.
56 This is what I do:
I follow your orders.
57 Lord, you are my share in life.
I have promised to obey your words.
58 I prayed to you with all my heart.
Be kind to me as you have promised.
59 I thought about my life,
and I decided to obey your rules.
60 I hurried and did not wait
to obey your commands.
61 Wicked people have surrounded me.
But I have not forgotten your teachings.
62 In the middle of the night, I get up to thank you
because your laws are right.
63 I am a friend to everyone who fears you.
I am a friend to anyone who follows your orders.
64 Lord, your love fills the earth.
Teach me your demands.
65 You have done good things for me, your servant,
as you have promised, Lord.
66 Teach me wisdom and knowledge
because I trust your commands.
67 Before I suffered, I did wrong.
But now I obey your word.
68 You are good, and you do what is good.
Teach me your demands.
69 Proud people have made up lies about me.
But I will follow your orders with all my heart.
70 Those people have no feelings,
but I love your teachings.
71 It was good for me to suffer
so I would learn your demands.
72 Your teachings are worth more to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
Trusting Money Is Foolish
For the director of music. A song of the sons of Korah.
49 Listen to this, all you nations.
Listen, all you who live on earth.
2 Listen, both great and small,
rich and poor together.
3 What I say is wise.
My heart speaks with understanding.
4 I will pay attention to a wise saying.
I will explain my riddle on the harp.
5 Why should I be afraid of bad days?
Why should I fear when evil men surround me?
6 They trust in their money.
They brag about their riches.
7 No one can buy back the life of another person.
No one can pay God for his own life.
8 The price of a life is high.
No payment is ever enough.
9 Do people live forever?
Don’t they all face death?
10 See, even wise men die.
Fools and stupid people also die.
They leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves will always be their homes.
They will live there from now on,
even though they named places after themselves.
12 Even rich people do not live forever.
Like the animals, people die.
13 This is what will happen to people who trust in themselves.
And this will happen to their followers who believe them. Selah
14 Like sheep, they must die.
And death will be their shepherd.
Honest people will rule over them in the morning.
Their bodies will rot in a grave far from home.
15 But God will save my life.
He will take me from the grave. Selah
16 Don’t be afraid of a rich man
because his house is more beautiful.
17 He won’t take anything to the grave.
His wealth won’t die with him.
18 He was praised when he was alive.
(And people may praise you when you succeed.)
19 But he will go to where his ancestors are.
He will never see light again.
20 Rich people with no understanding
are just like animals that die.
The Unbelieving Fool
For the director of music. By mahalath. A maskil of David.
53 A wicked fool says to himself,
“There is no God.”
Fools are evil. They do terrible things.
None of them does anything good.
2 God looked down from heaven at all the people.
He looked to see if anyone was wise,
if anyone was looking to God for help.
3 But everyone has turned away.
Together, everyone has become evil.
None of them does anything good.
4 Don’t the wicked understand?
They destroy my people as if they were eating bread.
They have not asked God for help.
5 The wicked became filled with terror
where there had been nothing to be terrified of.
God will scatter the bones of your enemies.
You will defeat them,
because God has rejected them.
6 I pray that victory will come to Israel from Mount Zion!
May God give them back their riches.
Then the people of Jacob will rejoice.
And the people of Israel will be glad.
There Is a Time for Everything
3 There is a right time for everything.
Everything on earth has its special season.
2 There is a time to be born
and a time to die.
There is a time to plant
and a time to pull up plants.
3 There is a time to kill
and a time to heal.
There is a time to destroy
and a time to build.
4 There is a time to cry
and a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad
and a time to dance.
5 There is a time to throw away stones
and a time to gather them.
There is a time to hug
and a time not to hug.
6 There is a time to look for something
and a time to stop looking for it.
There is a time to keep things
and a time to throw things away.
7 There is a time to tear apart
and a time to sew together.
There is a time to be silent
and a time to speak.
8 There is a time to love
and a time to hate.
There is a time for war
and a time for peace.
God Controls His World
9 Does a person really gain anything from his work? 10 I saw the hard work God has given us to do. 11 God has also given us a desire to know the future. God certainly does everything at just the right time. But we can never completely understand what he is doing. 12 So I realize that the best thing for people is to be happy. They should enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 God wants everyone to eat and drink and be happy in his work. These are gifts from God. 14 I know anything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done. And they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to cause people to honor him.
15 What happens now has also happened in the past.
Things that will happen in the future have also happened before.
God makes the same things happen again and again.
Paul Shows That Peter Was Wrong
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I was against him because he was wrong. 12 This is what happened: When Peter first came to Antioch, he ate with the non-Jewish people. But then some Jewish men were sent from James. When they arrived, Peter stopped eating with the non-Jewish people and separated himself from them. He was afraid of the Jews who believe that all non-Jewish people must be circumcised. 13 So Peter was a hypocrite. The other Jewish believers joined with him and were hypocrites, too. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did. 14 I saw what they did. They were not following the truth of the Good News. So I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said: “Peter, you are a Jew, but you are not living like a Jew. You are living like the non-Jewish people. So why do you now try to force the non-Jewish people to live like Jews?”
15 We were not born as non-Jewish “sinners,” but we were born as Jews. 16 Yet we know that a person is not made right with God by following the law. No! It is trusting in Jesus Christ that makes a person right with God. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God. And we are right with God because we trusted in Christ—not because we followed the law. For no one can be made right with God by following the law.
17 We Jews came to Christ to be made right with God. So it is clear that we were sinners too. Does this mean that Christ makes us sinners? No! 18 But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things of the Law of Moses that I gave up. 19 I stopped living for the law. It was the law that put me to death. I died to the law so that I can now live for God. I was put to death on the cross with Christ. 20 I do not live anymore—it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself to save me. 21 This gift is from God, and it is very important to me. If the law could make us right with God, then Christ did not have to die.
How John the Baptist Was Killed
14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. 2 So Herod said to his servants, “Jesus is really John the Baptist. He has risen from death. That is why he is able to do these miracles.”
3 Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. 4 Herod arrested John because he told Herod: “It is not right for you to have Herodias.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people. They believed that John was a prophet.
6 On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. Herod was very pleased with her, 7 so he promised he would give her anything she wanted. 8 Herodias told her daughter what to ask for. So she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 King Herod was very sad. But he had promised to give her anything she wanted, and the people eating with him had heard his promise. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. 10 He sent men to the prison to cut off John’s head. 11 And the men brought John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl. She took it to her mother, Herodias. 12 John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what happened.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.