Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song. He asks God to bless the Temple.
Thank you, Lord[a]
30 Lord, I will praise you,
because you have saved me from death.
You have not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I called to you for help,
and you have made me well again.
3 Lord, you pulled me up
out of the deep hole of death.
You saved me
from among those who are going into the grave.
4 Sing to the Lord,
you people who trust him.
Praise his holy name.
5 His anger continues only for a moment,
but he is kind to us for our whole life.
You may be sad all through the night,
but in the morning, you will be happy again.[b]
6 When I was feeling safe and strong,
I thought, ‘Nothing can ever destroy me.’
7 But Lord, it was you who made my kingdom strong,
because you are so kind.
But then you turned away from me,
and I became very afraid.[c]
8 I called to you for help, Lord.
I asked you to be kind to me, my Lord.
9 If I go down into the deep hole of death,
that will not help you!
My dead body cannot praise you there!
It cannot tell people to trust you!
10 Lord, please listen to me!
Please be kind to me!
Lord, please be my helper!
11 Now you have caused me to stop crying,
so that I dance instead!
I do not need to wear sackcloth,
because I am no longer sad.
Instead, you have made me very happy.[d]
12 So I am truly happy and I will sing to praise you.
I cannot stay quiet!
Lord, my God,
I will continue to thank you for ever.
This is a special song that David wrote.
Tell God about your sins[a]
32 When God has forgiven someone's sins,
they are truly happy!
They may have turned against God,
but when God forgives them, they are happy.
2 They may have done something bad,
but when the Lord says, ‘Not guilty!’,
he has truly blessed them.
They are happy because they no longer try to hide their sins.
3 When I said nothing to God about my sin,
my whole body became weak.
I cried all the time because of the pain.
4 In the day and in the night,
you punished me very much.
It seemed as if the hot sun was taking away my strength.
Selah.
5 Then I told you about my sins.
I did not try to hide the bad things that I had done.
I said, ‘I will tell the Lord
about the things that I have done against him.’
When I did that, you forgave my sins.
Selah.
6 Because of this, all your own people should pray to you.
They should pray while they still have the chance.[b]
Then, when danger comes to them like a river of deep water,
they will still be safe.
7 Yes, Lord, you are a place where I can hide.
You will keep me safe from trouble.
I will hear happy songs all around me,
because you save your people from danger.
Selah.
8 I will teach you the right way to live.
I will be your guide
and I will take care of you.[c]
9 Do not be like a silly horse, or a mule.
You have to use a rope to show them which way to go.
Without that, they will not obey you.
10 Wicked people will receive a lot of trouble and pain.
But if anyone trusts in the Lord,
they will know that God always loves them.
11 So all you people who belong to the Lord,
praise him and be happy!
All of you who are good, honest people,
shout aloud because you are so happy!
This is a special song for the music leader. The sons of Korah wrote it.
A prayer when you are away from home[a]
42 God, I need you so much!
I look for you,
as a thirsty deer looks for streams of water.
2 Deep down inside me,
I am very thirsty!
You are the God who lives for ever,
and I need life from you!
When will I be able to come near to you
and see you face to face?[b]
3 All day and all night I weep.
My tears are my only food!
My enemies say to me all the time,
‘Where is your God?’
4 When I remember how my life was before,
I am very upset and I weep.
Once I walked with a big crowd of people
to worship God in his temple.
I led the people there as we sang happy songs,
and we praised God with loud voices.[c]
5 Now I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.[d]
6 Deep inside me I am very sad.
So I will turn to you, my God, from where I am.
I will pray to you from Hermon mountain
where the Jordan River begins,
and from Mizar mountain.
7 I hear your waterfalls make a noise like thunder.
It seems like all that water is pouring over me
and it knocks me down to the ground.[e]
8 Each day, the Lord shows me that he loves me
with his faithful love.
Each night he gives me a song to sing,
as I pray to the God who lives for ever.[f]
9 I say to God, who is my high rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I be so sad?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?’
10 My enemies laugh at me all the time.
It is like they are breaking all my bones.
They are always saying,
‘Where is your God?’
11 I ask myself again,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
A prayer when you are in trouble[g]
43 My God, show that I am not guilty.
Make the people who do not respect you
know that I am right.
Rescue me from the evil people
who tell lies about me.
2 God, you are the safe place where I can hide.
Why have you pushed me away?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?
3 Send to me your light and your truth.
Let them be my guide.
They will take me back to your holy mountain
and to the house where you live.[h]
4 Then I will go to your altar,
to worship you, the God who makes me happy.
You are my God and I will praise you there.
I will sing to thank you, God, with my harp.
5 I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
Eliphaz speaks to Job a third time[a]
22 Then Eliphaz, the man from Teman, replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘Nothing that a man can do will help God.
Even a wise man cannot help God.
3 If you are a righteous person,
it does nothing to help Almighty God.
If you live a completely good life,
it still does not help him.
4 It is not because you respect and obey God
that he punishes you.
It is not because you are a good person
that he accuses you.
21 So, Job, agree to accept God's ways.
Have peace in your mind about him.
Then you will again have good success.
22 Listen to his teaching.
Remember carefully what he tells you.
23 Turn back to the Almighty God,
so that you become strong again.
Stop all the evil things that happen in your house.
24 Throw away your gold things.
Throw your pure gold among the rocks in the streams.
25 Then the Almighty God will be like gold for you.
He will be like your valuable silver.[a]
26 You will be happy that Almighty God is your friend.
You will look up to him to help you.
27 You will pray to him, and he will answer you.
You will do the things that you have promised to him.
28 You will be able to do everything that you decide to do.
Light from God will show you the right way to go.
29 You will pray for God to help people who are in trouble.
God will save those people who are humble.
30 God will rescue even people who are guilty.
Because you do what is right,
God will save those people.’
Job replies to Eliphaz[b]
23 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘I continue to complain against God
because I am still angry today.
God continues to punish me
even when I cry in pain.
3 I would like to know where to find him.
Then I could go to the place where he lives.
4 I would tell him why I am not guilty.
I would say many things to explain this to him.
5 Then I would know how he would answer me.
I would understand what he would say to me.
6 Would God use his great power to argue against me?
No! He would listen carefully to me.
7 Honest people can explain things to him.
So he would judge me in a fair way.
He would let me go free.
26 Paul then said, ‘I speak to all you people here. Some of you, like us, have Abraham as your ancestor. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. God has sent this message to all of us. It tells us how he will save us. 27 The people who were living in Jerusalem, and their leaders, did not understand about Jesus. They did not know that he was God's special man. Every Jewish day of rest, someone reads aloud the messages of God's prophets. But the people in Jerusalem did not understand. Instead, they said that Jesus had done bad things. They said that he should die. In that way, they caused the message of the prophets to become true. 28 The Jewish leaders could not find any reason to kill Jesus for what he had done. But they continued to say to Pilate, “Your soldiers must kill him.” 29 When the soldiers did that, it happened just like the prophets had written about him long ago. After that, some of Jesus' disciples took him down from the cross where he had died. They took his body and they buried it. 30 But after Jesus died, God caused him to become alive again. 31 For many days after this, Jesus appeared to his disciples. The people who had earlier travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now telling the people of Israel all about it.[a]
32 So we have come here to tell you this good news. God promised our ancestors that he would do these great things for his people. 33 Now he has done these things for us who are alive today. He has raised up Jesus to live again. We can read about this in the second Psalm. God says,
“You are my Son.
Today, I have become your Father.”[b]
34 God caused Jesus to live again so that nothing would destroy his body. He will not die again. This is what God said to our ancestors:
“I will surely help you with good things,
just like I promised to King David.”[c]
35 God also says this in another Psalm:
“Your servant who loves you will not remain dead.
You will not let anything destroy the body of your Holy One.”[d]
36 While David was alive, he served God as God wanted him to do. Then he died and men buried him next to his ancestors. So worms destroyed David's body. 37 But as for Jesus, God caused him to become alive again. He did not die again and nothing destroyed his body.
38 My friends, I want all of you to know this. God forgives us for the bad things that we have done. He does this because of what Jesus did. That is my message to you. 39 God can cause anyone to become right with him. If you believe in Jesus, God will make you free from your sins. God's Law that he gave to Moses cannot do this for you. That Law cannot make you free, even if you obey all of it. 40 Be careful then! Remember what God's prophets spoke about long ago. Do not let that happen to you. This is what one of them wrote:[e]
41 “Listen to me, you people who laugh at God!
You will be surprised at the great things that I do.
And then you will die.
I am working now, while you are still alive.
But still you will not believe what is true.
Even if someone explains everything to you,
you will never believe.” ’
42 After Paul spoke this message, he and Barnabas were leaving the meeting place. The people there said to them, ‘Please return on our next day of rest. Then you can tell us more about what you have already told us.’ 43 When the meeting finished, many people followed Paul and Barnabas. Some of them were Jews. Others were Gentiles who now worshipped God. Paul and Barnabas said to them, ‘God has been very kind to you. You should continue to trust him.’
The story about the shepherd
10 Jesus then said, ‘I tell you this: A shepherd keeps his sheep in a safe place with a wall round it. There is a gate into that safe place. Anyone who gets into that place by another way, not through the gate, is not the shepherd. That person is a robber. He comes to take away the sheep for himself. 2 But the shepherd goes in through the gate. 3 The person who watches the gate opens it for the shepherd. The sheep recognize the shepherd's voice. He calls each of his own sheep by their name and he leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own sheep, he goes in front of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger. They will run away from a stranger because they do not recognize his voice.’
6 Jesus told this story like a picture to teach the people. But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Jesus is like the good shepherd
7 So Jesus spoke again. He said, ‘I tell you this: I am like the gate for the sheep. 8 All other men who came before me were like robbers.[a] But the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am like the gate. Everyone who comes in through me will be safe. They will be free to come in and to go out. And they will find plenty of food. 10 The robber only wants to take away my sheep. He wants to kill them. He comes only to destroy them. But I have come so that they can have true life. And so that they can have everything that they need.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd would die so that he can save his sheep. 12 Another man may take care of sheep so that he gets money. But the sheep do not belong to him. A man like that is not the shepherd. If a wolf comes, a man like that runs away when he sees it. He leaves the sheep in danger. Then the wolf attacks the sheep. It causes them to run away in all directions. 13 That man runs away because the sheep do not belong to him. He does not think that the sheep are important.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and they know me. 15 I know them in the same way that my Father knows me. And they know me in the same way that I know the Father. I will die so that I can save my sheep. 16 I also have other sheep, and I must bring them too. They do not belong to this group of sheep. But they also will listen to my voice. So all the sheep will become one group, and they will have one shepherd. 17 The Father loves me because I choose to die for my sheep. But after I give my life like that, I will become alive again. 18 Nobody can take my life away from me. Instead, I myself can choose to die. I have authority to do that. I also have authority to become alive again. My Father has said that I must do that.’
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.