Book of Common Prayer
To the director: A song of David.
40 I called[a] to the Lord, and he heard me.
He heard my cries.
2 He lifted me out of the grave.[b]
He lifted me from that muddy place.[c]
He picked me up, put me on solid ground,
and kept my feet from slipping.
3 He put a new song[d] in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see what he did and worship him.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
4 Great blessings belong to those who trust in the Lord,
for those who do not turn to demons and false gods[e] for help.
5 Lord my God, you have done many amazing things!
You have made great plans for us—too many to list.
I could talk on and on about them,
because there are too many to count.
6 Lord, you made me understand this:[f]
You don’t really want sacrifices and grain offerings.
You don’t want burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 So I said, “Here I am,
ready to do what was written about me in the book.
8 My God, I am happy to do whatever you want.
I never stop thinking about your teachings.”
9 I told the good news of victory[g] to the people in the great assembly.
And, Lord, you know that I will never stop telling that good news.
10 I told about the good things you did.
I did not hide these things in my heart.
I spoke of how you can be trusted to save us.
I did not hide your love and loyalty from those in the great assembly.
11 Lord, do not hide your mercy from me.
Let your love and loyalty always protect me.
12 Troubles have surrounded me.
They are too many to count!
My sins have caught me,
and I cannot escape them.
They are more than the hairs on my head.
I have lost my courage.
13 Please, Lord, rescue me!
Lord, hurry and help me!
14 People are trying to kill me.
Please disappoint them.
Humiliate them completely!
They wanted to hurt me.
Make them run away in shame!
15 May those who make fun of me
be too embarrassed to speak!
16 But may those who come to you be happy and rejoice.
May those who love being saved by you always be able to say, “Praise the Lord!”[h]
17 My Lord, I am only a poor, helpless man,
but please pay attention to me.
You are my helper, the one who can save me.
My God, don’t be too late.
To the director: With instruments. A maskil of David written when the Ziphites went to Saul and told him, “We think David is hiding among our people.”
54 God, use your power and save me.
Use your great power to set me free.[a]
2 God, listen to my prayer.
Listen to what I say.
3 Strangers who don’t even think about God have turned against me.
Those powerful men are trying to kill me. Selah
4 Look, my God will help me.
My Lord will support me.
5 He will punish the people who turned against me.
God, be faithful to me and destroy them.
6 Lord, I will give freewill offerings to you.
I will praise your good name.
7 You saved me from all my troubles.
I saw my enemies defeated.
To the director: A song of David written when Nathan the prophet came to him after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because of your faithful love.
Because of your great compassion,
erase all the wrongs I have done.
2 Scrub away my guilt.
Wash me clean from my sin.
3 I know I have done wrong.
I remember that sin all the time.
4 I did what you said is wrong.
You are the one I have sinned against.
I say this so that people will know
that I am wrong and you are right.
What you decided is fair.
5 I was born to do wrong,
a sinner before I left my mother’s womb.
6 You want me to be completely loyal,
so put true wisdom deep inside of me.
7 Remove my sin and make me pure.[a]
Wash me until I am whiter than snow!
8 Let me hear sounds of joy and happiness again.
Let the bones you crushed be happy again.
9 Don’t look at my sins.
Erase them all.
10 God, create a pure heart in me,
and make my spirit strong again.
11 Don’t push me away
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Your help made me so happy.
Give me that joy again.
Make my spirit strong and ready to obey you.
13 I will teach the guilty how you want them to live,
and the sinners will come back to you.
14 God, spare me from the punishment of death.[b]
My God, you are the one who saves me!
Let me sing about all the good things you do for me!
15 My Lord, I will open my mouth and sing your praises!
16 You don’t really want sacrifices,
or I would give them to you.
17 The sacrifice that God wants is a humble spirit.
God, you will not turn away someone who comes with a humble heart and is willing to obey you.[c]
18 God, please be good to Zion.
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you can enjoy the kind of sacrifices you want.[d]
You will receive whole burnt offerings,
and people will again offer bulls on your altar.
Be Careful About Making Promises
5 Be very careful when you go to worship God. It is better to listen to God than to give sacrifices like fools. Fools often do bad things, and they don’t even know it. 2 Be careful when you make promises to God. Be careful about what you say to him. Don’t let your feelings cause you to speak too soon. God is in heaven, and you are on the earth. So you need to say only a few things to him. This saying is true:
3 Bad dreams come from too many worries,
and too many words come from the mouth of a fool.
4 If you make a promise to God, keep your promise. Don’t be slow to do what you promised. God is not happy with fools. Give God what you promised to give him. 5 It is better to promise nothing than to promise something and not be able to do it. 6 So don’t let your words cause you to sin. Don’t say to the priest,[a] “I didn’t mean what I said.” If you do this, God might become angry with your words and destroy everything you have worked for. 7 You should not let your useless dreams and bragging bring you trouble. You should respect God.
The Law and the Promise
15 Brothers and sisters, let me give you an example from everyday life: Think about an agreement that one person makes with another. After that agreement is made official, no one can stop it or add anything to it, and no one can ignore it. 16 God made promises to Abraham and his Descendant.[a] The Scripture does not say, “and to your descendants.” That would mean many people. But it says, “and to your Descendant.” That means only one, and that one is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: The agreement that God gave to Abraham was made official long before the law came. The law came 430 years later. So the law could not take away the agreement and change God’s promise.
18 Can following the law give us the blessing God promised? If we could receive it by following the law, then it would not be God’s promise that brings it to us. But God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise God made.
19 So what was the law for? The law was given to show the wrong things people do. The law would continue until the special Descendant of Abraham came. This is the Descendant mentioned in the promise, which came directly from God. But the law was given through angels, and the angels used Moses as a mediator to give the law to the people. 20 But when God gave the promise, there was no mediator, because a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is one.[b]
The Purpose of the Law of Moses
21 Does this mean that the law works against God’s promises? Of course not. The law was never God’s way of giving new life to people. If it were, then we could be made right with God by following the law. 22 But this is not possible. The Scriptures put the whole world in prison under the control of sin, so that the only way for people to get what God promised would be through faith in[c] Jesus Christ. It is given to those who believe in him.
Jesus Walks on Water(A)
22 Then Jesus made the followers get into the boat. He told them to go to the other side of the lake. He said he would come later. He stayed there to tell everyone they could go home. 23 After Jesus said goodbye to the people, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. It was late, and he was there alone. 24 By this time the boat was already a long way from shore. Since the wind was blowing against it, the boat was having trouble because of the waves.
25 Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus’ followers were still in the boat. Jesus came to them. He was walking on the water. 26 When they saw him walking on the water, it scared them. “It’s a ghost!” they said, screaming in fear.
27 But Jesus quickly spoke to them. He said, “Don’t worry! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.”
28 Peter said, “Lord, if that is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 Jesus said, “Come, Peter.”
Then Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. 30 But while Peter was walking on the water, he saw the wind and the waves. He was afraid and began sinking into the water. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”
31 Then Jesus caught Peter with his hand. He said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”
32 After Peter and Jesus were in the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the followers in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “You really are the Son of God.”
Jesus Heals Many Sick People(B)
34 After they crossed the lake, they came to the shore at Gennesaret. 35 Some men there saw Jesus and knew who he was. So they sent word to the other people throughout that area that Jesus had come. The people brought all their sick people to him. 36 They begged Jesus to let them only touch the edge of his coat to be healed. And all the sick people who touched his coat were healed.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International