Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 37[a]
Of David.
37 Don’t get upset over evildoers;
don’t be jealous of those who do wrong,
2 because they will fade fast, like grass;
they will wither like green vegetables.
3 Trust the Lord and do good;
live in the land, and farm faithfulness.
4 Enjoy the Lord,
and he will give what your heart asks.
5 Commit your way to the Lord!
Trust him! He will act
6 and will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
your justice like high noon.
7 Be still before the Lord,
and wait[b] for him.
Don’t get upset when someone gets ahead—
someone who invents evil schemes.
8 Let go of anger and leave rage behind!
Don’t get upset—it will only lead to evil.
9 Because evildoers will be eliminated,
but those who hope in the Lord—
they will possess the land.
10 In just a little while the wicked won’t exist!
If you go looking around their place,
they won’t be there.
11 But the weak will inherit the land;
they will enjoy a surplus of peace.
12 The wicked plot against the righteous,
grinding their teeth at them.
13 But my Lord just laughs at them
because he knows that their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows
to bring down the weak and the needy,
to slaughter those whose way is right.
15 But the sword of the wicked will enter their own hearts!
Their bows will be broken!
16 Better is the little that the righteous have
than the overabundant wealth of the wicked.[c]
17 The arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord supports the righteous.
18 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the lives of the blameless;
their heritage will last forever.
19 They won’t be ashamed in troubling times,
and in a period of famine they will eat their fill.
20 But the wicked will die,
the Lord’s enemies will disappear—
disappear like the beauty of a meadow—in smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and don’t pay it back, but the righteous are generous and giving.
22 Those blessed by God will possess the land,
but those cursed by God will be cut off.
23 A person’s steps are made secure by the Lord
when they delight in his way.
24 Though they trip up, they won’t be thrown down,
because the Lord holds their hand.
25 I was young and now I’m old,
but I have never seen the righteous left all alone,
have never seen their children begging for bread.
26 They are always gracious and generous.
Their children are a blessing.
27 Turn away from evil! Do good!
Then you will live in the land forever.
28 The Lord loves justice.
He will never leave his faithful all alone.
They are guarded forever,
but the children of the wicked are eliminated.
29 The righteous will possess the land;
they will live on it forever.
30 The mouths of the righteous recite wisdom;
their tongues discuss justice.
31 The Instruction of their God is in their hearts;
they don’t miss a step.
32 The wicked, on the other hand, target the righteous,
seeking to kill them.
33 But the Lord won’t leave the righteous
to the power of the wicked,
and won’t let the righteous
be found guilty when they are judged.
34 Hope in the Lord and keep his way!
He will lift you up so you can possess the land.
When the wicked are eliminated,
you will see it for yourself!
35 I myself have seen wicked powerful people,
exalting themselves like a stately cedar.[d]
36 But when I[e] came back, they were gone!
I looked all over for them,
but they couldn’t be found!
37 Observe those who have integrity
and watch those whose heart is right
because the future belongs to persons of peace.
38 But wrongdoers will be destroyed all together;
the future of the wicked will be cut short.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their refuge in times of trouble.
40 The Lord will help them and rescue them—
rescue them from the wicked—and he will save them
because they have taken refuge in him.
16 My face is red from crying,
and dark gloom hangs on my eyelids.
17 But there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
Lingering hope
18 Earth, don’t cover my blood;
let my outcry never cease.
19 Surely now my witness stands in heaven;
my advocate is on high;
20 my go-between, my friend.[a]
While my eyes drip tears to God,
21 let him plead with God for a human being,
like a person pleads for a friend.
22 A number of years will surely pass,
and then I’ll walk a path that I won’t return.
Another lament
17 My spirit is broken,
my days extinguished,
the grave,[b] mine.
Barnabas and Saul sent to minister
13 The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (nicknamed Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (a childhood friend of Herod the ruler), and Saul. 2 As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake.” 3 After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on these two and sent them off.
Serving in Cyprus
4 After the Holy Spirit sent them on their way, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 In Salamis they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their assistant. 6 They traveled throughout the island until they arrived at Paphos. There they found a certain man named Bar-Jesus, a Jew who was a false prophet and practiced sorcery. 7 He kept company with the governor of that province, an intelligent man named Sergius Paulus. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul since he wanted to hear God’s word. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer[a] (for that’s what people understood his name meant) opposed them, trying to steer the governor away from the faith. 9 Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Saul, also known as Paul, glared at Bar-Jesus and 10 said, “You are a deceiver and trickster! You devil! You attack anything that is right! Will you never stop twisting the straight ways of the Lord into crooked paths? 11 Listen! The Lord’s power is set against you. You will be blind for a while, unable even to see the daylight.” At once, Bar-Jesus’ eyes were darkened, and he began to grope about for someone to lead him around by the hand. 12 When the governor saw what had taken place, he came to believe, for he was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.
Jesus heals a blind man
9 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. 4 While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.
Disagreement about the healing
8 The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”
But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”
10 So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”
11 He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 They asked, “Where is this man?”
He replied, “I don’t know.”
13 Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. 15 So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. 17 Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?”
He replied, “He’s a prophet.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible