Book of Common Prayer
This psalm is for Solomon.
A prayer for the king[a]
72 God, please help the king
to judge people in a right way.
Help the king's son to be honest and fair,
as you are.[b]
2 Then he will rule your people in a good way,
so that even poor people receive justice.
3 The mountains and the hills will bring peace,
so that the people can live honest lives.
4 Please help the king to judge poor people fairly.
May he save the children of weak people,
and destroy those cruel people who hurt them.
5 May people always respect your authority, God,
through all time,
as long as the sun and the moon remain in the sky.[c]
6 May the king be a blessing to his people,
like rain that falls on grass that lies in the fields.
May he be like rain
that brings water to the soil.
7 While he rules as king,
those people who serve God will do well.
There will be peace in all the land,
for as long as the moon remains in the sky.
8 May the king rule everywhere,
from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth.[d]
9 Then people who live in the desert
will bend down to respect him.
His enemies will fall down
with their faces in the dust.
10 Kings from Spain and from other far places
will pay taxes to him.
Kings from Sheba and from Seba
will bring gifts to him.
11 All kings will bend down in front of him.
People from all nations will serve him.
12 He will rescue the poor person
who calls out to him for help.
He will save weak people
who have nobody to help them.
13 He will be kind to people who are poor and weak.
He will save them from death.
14 He will rescue them from cruel people who hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
May people come from Sheba to give gold to him.
May people always pray for him.
May people praise him all the time.
16 May there always be plenty of grain
that grows in the land.
May the crops grow well
on the tops of the mountains.
May the fruit trees give a lot of fruit,
as they do in Lebanon.
May all the crops grow well,
like grass that grows in a field.
17 May the king be famous for ever!
May people remember him
for as long as the sun continues to shine.
May people from all nations use his name
when they bless one another.
May they all say that God has blessed the king!
18 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves.
Only he does such wonderful things.
19 Praise his great name for ever!
May his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen! May that all happen!
20 This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.[e]
YOD
73 You made me with your hands. You made me what I am.
Help me to understand things well,
so that I learn your commands.
74 People who respect you will be happy when they see me.
That is because I trust your word.
75 Lord, I know that your rules are good and fair.
When you sent trouble to me,
it was because you truly loved me.
76 Now, please use your faithful love
to comfort me.
That is what you promised to do for me, your servant.
77 Be kind to me so that I will live!
Your Law makes me really happy.
78 Proud men should be ashamed!
They have spoken lies against me.
79 Let the people who respect you come back to me.
Then they will learn to obey your rules.
80 Let me obey your commands completely.
Then I will not be ashamed.
KAPH
81 As I wait for you to save me,
I feel tired and weak.
I trust in your word.
82 As I wait for you to do what you have promised,
my eyes are too tired to stay open.
I ask, ‘When will you come to help me?’
83 I am like an old wineskin that has become useless.
But I have not forgotten your rules.
84 As your servant, help me to be patient.
Please punish the people who want to hurt me.
Please do it soon.
85 Proud people want to catch me in their traps.
That is against your Law!
86 I know that I can trust all your commands,
but people still give me trouble with their lies.
Quickly, help me!
87 People here on earth have almost destroyed me,
but I continue to obey your teaching.
88 Please use your faithful love to keep me alive.
Then I can continue to obey the rules that you have taught me.
LAMED
89 Lord, your teaching will always be there.
You keep it safe in heaven.
90 You continue to show that people can trust you,
from one century to the next.
You have fixed the earth in its place,
and it will remain.
91 It is by your command that all things continue.
You have put them there to serve you.
92 If your Law had not made me happy,
I would have been sad until I died.
93 I will never forget your rules,
because you have used them to give me life.
94 I belong to you. Please save me!
I have respected your rules.
95 Wicked people are ready to kill me,
but I think carefully about your teaching.
96 I have learned that all things will come to an end,
but your commands have no end.
11 I have seen another thing that happens here on the earth.
The runner who runs fastest does not always win the race.
The strongest soldiers do not always win the battle.
Very wise people do not always have food to eat.
Very clever people do not always become rich.
People who have learned many things are not always successful.
Yes, anything may happen to anyone at any time.
12 Nobody knows the time when trouble may come to them.
A fish does not know when somebody will catch it in a net.
A bird does not know when somebody will catch it in a trap.
In the same way, terrible trouble suddenly happens to people when they do not expect it.
Better to be wise than to be a fool
13 I saw something else that happens on the earth. It is a good example of what wisdom is like. 14 There was a small city and only a few people lived in it. A powerful king came to attack that city. His army made their camp around the city. They built heaps of earth all around it. 15 There was a man who lived in the city. He was poor but he was also wise. Because he was wise, he knew how to save the city. But after he saved it, nobody remembered that poor man.
16 So I realized that wisdom is better than power. But if you are poor, nobody accepts that you are also wise. People soon forget what you said.
17 A wise person speaks quietly.
But it is good to listen carefully to him.
His words have more value than a king
who is shouting to a crowd of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons that are used to fight a war.
But one bad person can destroy many good things.
We should live as free people
5 Christ has made us free so that we can be really free! So be strong and do not turn back. Do not let yourselves become slaves to the Jewish rules again.
2 Listen carefully! I, Paul, tell you this. If you agree that someone should circumcise you, then Christ will be worth nothing to you. 3 I will say it very clearly. Every man who lets someone circumcise him must then obey all the Jewish rules. 4 I say this to you people who try to obey the rules of God's Law. If you think that God will accept you as right because you do that, you have turned away from Christ. You no longer agree to accept God's kind gift. 5 But if we trust what Christ has done for us, God's Spirit helps us to wait. We are sure that God will accept us as right with him. 6 We belong to Christ Jesus. So it does not matter whether anyone has circumcised us or not. The only thing that matters is that we believe in Christ. As a result we will love others in the way that we live.
7 Like good runners, you were doing very well! You should not have let anyone turn you away from God's true message. 8 It is not God who has caused you to change what you believe. No! God is the one who has chosen you to serve him. 9 People say this: ‘Only a small amount of yeast in the flour will cause a loaf of bread to grow big.’[a] 10 But I feel sure about you, because we belong to the Lord. I know that you will agree with what I say about this. But as for the man who is confusing you, God will punish him. It does not matter who he is, God will punish him.
11 My Christian friends, do you think that I still teach that someone must circumcise believers? If I really taught that, then I would not still receive trouble from people. What I teach about Christ's death on the cross would not cause anyone to become angry. 12 Those people who are causing trouble and want to circumcise you should cut their own bodies! Yes, that is what they should do!
Live by God's Spirit
13 My Christian friends, God has chosen you to serve him as free people. But you are still weak and human. So you are not free to do anything that you might want to do. Instead, you must serve one another, because you love each other. 14 One rule brings together all the rules in God's Law. That one rule says: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’[b] 15 So you must not live like wild animals. Wild animals fight and they eat each other. If you live like that, be very careful! You may destroy one another completely.
The Pharisees ask again to see a miracle
16 Some Pharisees and Sadducees went to see Jesus. They wanted to test him to see what he would do. They asked him, ‘Do something powerful for us to see. Then we will believe that God has sent you.’
2 Jesus answered them, ‘Sometimes the sky is red in the evening. Then you say, “Tomorrow the weather will be good.” 3 Sometimes in the morning the sky is red and there are dark clouds. Then you say, “Today there will be a storm.” So you look at the sky and you know what the weather will be. But special things are happening now. And you do not understand what they mean. 4 The people who are alive today are very bad. They do not obey God. They want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for Jonah.’
Then Jesus went away and left them.
Jesus talks about the Pharisees and the Sadducees
5 Jesus and his disciples sailed over to the other side of the lake. His disciples forgot to take any bread with them. 6 Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’
7 The disciples began to talk to each other about this. ‘Jesus is saying this because we did not bring any bread with us,’ they said.
8 Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing with each other about the bread. You should trust me more than you do. 9 You still do not understand. You should remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. Think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food after the meal. 10 Also remember that I used seven loaves of bread to give food to 4,000 men. And think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food then. 11 I spoke to you about the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I said that you must not accept it. You should understand now that I was not speaking about bread.’
12 Then the disciples understood what Jesus was talking about. They did not need to be careful about the yeast that they used in their bread. Instead, they must be careful about what the Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching. They must not accept it.[a]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.