Book of Common Prayer

Prayer of a Good Man

26 O Lord, stand by me for I have lived my life without blame. I have trusted in the Lord without changing. ² Test me and try me, O Lord. Test my mind and my heart. ³ For Your loving-kindness is always in front of my eyes. And I have walked in Your truth. ⁴ I do not sit with men who lie about the truth. I would not be seen with those who pretend to be someone they are not. ⁵ I hate the meeting of sinners, and will not sit with the sinful. ⁶ I will wash my hands of any guilt. And I will go around Your altar, O Lord. ⁷ I will speak with the voice of thanks, and tell of all Your great works.

⁸ O Lord, I love the house where You live, the place where Your shining-greatness lives. ⁹ Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men who kill other people. ¹⁰ Sinful plans are in their hands. And their right hand is full of pay for hurting others. ¹¹ But as for me, I will live a life without blame. Make me free, and show me loving-kindness. ¹² My foot stands on a good place. I will give honor to the Lord, in the meeting of worship.

Prayer for Help—Praise for the Answer

28 O Lord, to You I call. O my Rock, listen to me. If You will not hear me, I will be like those who have gone down to the grave. ² Hear my cry for loving-kindness as I call to You for help, and when I lift up my hands to Your holy place. ³ Do not drag me away with the sinful and with those who do bad things. They speak peace with their neighbors, while sin is in their hearts. ⁴ Pay them for their work and for the sins they do. Pay them for the works of their hands. Give them what they have earned. ⁵ They do not think about the works of the Lord and what His hands have done. So He will pull them down and not build them up again.

⁶ May honor and thanks be given to the Lord, because He has heard my prayer. ⁷ The Lord is my strength and my safe cover. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. So my heart is full of joy. I will thank Him with my song. ⁸ The Lord is the strength of His people. He is a safe place for His chosen one. ⁹ Save Your people and bring good to what is Yours. Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Sinful Men—Loving God

36 Sin speaks to the sinful man within his heart. There is no fear of God in his eyes. ² For he makes much of himself in his own eyes. So his sin is not known and hated. ³ The words of his mouth are sinful and false. He has stopped being wise and doing good. ⁴ He plans wrong-doing upon his bed. He sets himself on a path that is not good. He does not hate what is bad.

⁵ O Lord, Your loving-kindness goes to the heavens. You are as faithful as the sky is high. ⁶ You are as right and good as mountains are big. You are as fair when You judge as a sea is deep. O Lord, You keep safe both man and animal. ⁷ Of what great worth is Your loving-kindness, O God! The children of men come and are safe in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸ They are filled with the riches of Your house. And You give them a drink from Your river of joy. ⁹ All life came from You. In Your light we see light.

¹⁰ Keep on giving Your loving-kindness to those who know You. Keep on being right and good to the pure in heart. ¹¹ Do not let the foot of pride come near me. Do not let the hand of the sinful push me away. ¹² There have the wrong-doers fallen. They have been thrown down, and cannot rise.

Prayer of a Suffering Man

39 I said, “I will watch my ways so I may not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth shut as if it were tied with ropes, while the sinful are near me.” ² I stayed quiet, not even saying anything good. And my sorrow grew worse. ³ My heart was hot within me. As I thought about things, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue, ⁴ “O Lord, let me know my end and how many days I have to live. Let me know that I do not have long to stay here. ⁵ You have made each of my days as long as a hand is wide. My whole life is nothing in Your eyes. Every man at his best is only a breath. ⁶ Every man walks here and there like a shadow. He makes a noise about nothing. He stores up riches, not knowing who will gather them.

⁷ And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. ⁸ Save me from all my sins. Do not let me be put to shame by the foolish. ⁹ I cannot speak. I do not open my mouth because it is You Who has done it. ¹⁰ Do not punish me any more. I am growing weak by the beatings of Your hand. ¹¹ With sharp words You punish a man for sin. You destroy like a moth what is of worth to him. For sure, every man is only a breath.

¹² O Lord, hear my prayer, and listen to my cry. Do not be quiet when You see my tears. For I am a stranger with You, a visitor like all my fathers. ¹³ Look away from me, so I may have joy again before I go and am no more.”

Job Talks

12 Then Job answered,

³ “But I wish to speak to the All-powerful. I want to argue with God. ⁴ But you cover things with lies. You are doctors of no worth. ⁵ If only you would be quiet, and that would show your wisdom! ⁶ Hear what I think. Listen to the arguing of my lips. ⁷ Will you say what is not true for God? Will you lie for Him? ⁸ Will you show favor for Him? Will you argue for God? ⁹ Will it be well when He tests you? Or do you lie to Him as one lies to a man? ¹⁰ For sure He will speak strong words to you if you show favor in secret. ¹¹ Will not His great power make you afraid? Will not the fear of Him come upon you? ¹² Your wise sayings are sayings of ashes. Your strength is the strength of clay.

¹³ “Be quiet so that I may speak. Then let come on me what will. ¹⁴ Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands? ¹⁵ Even though He would kill me, yet I will trust in Him. I will argue my ways to His face. ¹⁶ This will save me, for a sinful man may not come to Him. ¹⁷ Be careful to listen to my words. Let what I say fill your ears.

²¹ Take Your hand from me, and do not let the fear of You make me so afraid. ²² Then call, and I will answer. Or let me speak, and You answer me. ²³ How many are my sins and wrong-doings? Help me to know my wrong-doing and sin. ²⁴ Why do You hide Your face, and think of me as one who hates You? ²⁵ Will You make a wind-blown leaf afraid? Will You go after the dry parts of a grain-field that have no worth? ²⁶ For You write bitter things against me. You punish me for the sins I did when I was young. ²⁷ You put chains on my feet, and watch everything I do. You let me walk only so far.

The King Makes It Hard for the Church

12 At that time King Herod used his power to make it hard for the Christians in the church. ² He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. ³ When he saw that it made the Jews happy, he took hold of Peter also. This was during the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. ⁴ Herod took Peter and put him in prison and had sixteen soldiers watch him. After the special religious gathering was over, he planned to bring Peter out to the people.

Peter Goes Free

⁵ So Peter was held in prison. But the church kept praying to God for him. ⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him out for his trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was tied with two chains. Soldiers stood by the door and watched the prison.

⁷ All at once an angel of the Lord was seen standing beside him. A light shone in the building. The angel hit Peter on the side and said, “Get up!” Then the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said, “Put on your belt and shoes!” He did. The angel said to Peter, “Put on your coat and follow me.” ⁹ Peter followed him out. He was not sure what was happening as the angel helped him. He thought it was a dream.

¹⁰ They passed one soldier, then another one. They came to the big iron door that leads to the city and it opened by itself and they went through. As soon as they had gone up one street, the angel left him.

The Christians Find It Hard to Believe Peter Is Free

¹¹ As Peter began to see what was happening, he said to himself, “Now I am sure the Lord has sent His angel and has taken me out of the hands of Herod. He has taken me also from all the things the Jews wanted to do to me.” ¹² After thinking about all this, he went to Mary’s house. She was the mother of John Mark. Many Christians were gathered there praying.

¹³ When Peter knocked at the gate, a girl named Rhoda went to see who it was. ¹⁴ She knew Peter’s voice, but in her joy she forgot to open the gate. She ran in and told them that Peter was standing outside the gate.

¹⁵ They said to her, “You are crazy.” But she said again that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ Peter kept knocking. When they opened the gate and saw him, they were surprised and wondered about it. ¹⁷ He raised his hand and told them not to talk but to listen to him. He told them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, “Tell all these things to James and to the other Christian brothers.” Then he went to another place.

Jesus Teaches What It Means to Be Free

³³ They said to Jesus, “We are children of Abraham. We have never been servants to anyone. What do you mean when You say, ‘You will be free’?” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “For sure, I tell you, everyone who sins is the servant of sin because sin has a hold on him. ³⁵ And the servant does not belong in the house. The son belongs in the house. ³⁶ So if the Son makes you free, you will be free for sure.

³⁷ “I know that you are the children of Abraham. But you want to kill Me because My Word is not in your hearts. ³⁸ I speak of what I saw when I was with My Father. You do what you have seen your father do.”

³⁹ They said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said, “If you were children of Abraham, you would do what he did. ⁴⁰ I am a Man Who has told you the truth as I heard it from God. Now you are trying to kill Me. Abraham never did anything like that. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your father.” They said to Him, “We were born of parents who were faithful in marriage. We have one Father. He is God.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love Me. I came from God. I did not come on My own, but God sent Me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you do not want to hear My teaching. ⁴⁴ The devil is your father. You are from him. You want to do the sinful things your father, the devil, wants you to do. He has been a killer from the beginning. The devil has nothing to do with the truth. There is no truth in him. It is expected of the devil to lie, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ I tell you the truth and that is why you do not put your trust in Me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you can say I am guilty of sin? If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷ Whoever is born of God listens to God’s Word. You do not hear His Word because you are not born of God.”