Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Praise
101 I will sing of loving-kindness and of what is right and fair. I will sing praises to You, O Lord. 2 I will be careful to live a life without blame. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a right and good heart. 3 I will set no sinful thing in front of my eyes. I hate the work of those who are not faithful. It will not get hold of me. 4 A sinful heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with sin. 5 I will stop whoever talks against his neighbor in secret. I will not listen to anyone who has a proud look and a proud heart.
6 My eyes will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so they may serve me. He who walks without blame will help me. 7 He whose ways are false will not live in my house. He who tells lies will not stand in front of me. 8 I will destroy all the sinful in the land every morning. I will cut off all those who do wrong from the city of the Lord.
A Man in Trouble
109 I give praise to You, O God. Do not be quiet. 2 For sinners and liars have opened their mouths against me. They have spoken against me with lying tongues. 3 They have gathered around me with words of hate. They fought against me for no reason. 4 I give them my love but they speak against me in return. But I am in prayer. 5 They pay me what is bad for what is good. They give me hate for my love.
6 Let a sinful man have power over him. Let one who speaks against him stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty. And may his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few. Let another person take over his work. 9 Let his children be without a father. And let his wife be without a husband. 10 May his children go around begging. And may they look for food far from their destroyed homes. 11 Let the one to whom he owes money take all that he has. May strangers take away all he has worked for. 12 May no one show him kindness. Let no one pity his children who have no father. 13 Let his children be cut off. Do not let their family name be remembered by the people-to-come.
14 Let the sins of his fathers be remembered by the Lord, and do not let the sins of his mother be forgotten. 15 May these sins always be before the Lord. So He may not let them be remembered on the earth. 16 Because he did not remember to show loving-kindness. Instead he made it hard for the poor and those in need and those with a broken heart. He even put them to death. 17 He loved to curse others, so may it come to him. He did not like to have good come to others, so good was far from him. 18 He dressed himself with cursing as with a coat. They came into his body like water and into his bones like oil. 19 May they be like clothing that covers him and like a belt that he always wears. 20 Let this be what the Lord pays to those who speak against me and wish bad things would happen to me.
21 But You, O God, the Lord, be kind to me because of Your name. Take me out of trouble because Your loving-kindness is good. 22 For I am in trouble and in need. And my heart is hurt within me. 23 I am passing like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees are weak from going without food. And my body has lost all its fat. 25 Others laugh at me. They look at me and shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God! Save me by Your loving-kindness. 27 Let them know that this is Your hand and that You, O Lord, have done it. 28 Let them hope that bad things will happen. But You make good things happen. Let them be ashamed when they rise up against me. But let Your servant be full of joy. 29 Let those who speak against me be dressed with shame. Let them cover themselves with shame as with a coat. 30 I will give thanks to the Lord in a loud voice. I will praise Him among many people.
121 I have done what is fair and right. Do not leave me to those who would make it hard for me. 122 Promise that You will bring good to Your servant. Do not let the proud make it hard for me. 123 My eyes become weak with desire for Your saving power and for Your Word that is right and good. 124 Act in Your loving-kindness toward Your servant, and teach me Your Laws. 125 I am Your servant. Give me understanding so I may know Your Law. 126 It is time for You to work, Lord, for they have broken Your Law. 127 I love Your Word more than gold, more than pure gold. 128 And so I look upon all of Your Law as right. I hate every false way.
129 Your Laws are wonderful, and so I obey them. 130 The opening up of Your Word gives light. It gives understanding to the child-like. 131 I opened my mouth wide, breathing with desire for Your Law. 132 Turn to me and show me loving-favor, as You always do to those who love Your name. 133 Set my steps in Your Word. Do not let sin rule over me. 134 Set me free from the power of man, and I will obey Your Law. 135 Make Your face shine upon Your servant and teach me Your Law. 136 Tears flow from my eyes because of those who do not keep Your Law.
137 You are right and good, O Lord, and Your Law is right. 138 The Law You have made is right and good and very faithful. 139 I feel weak because those who hate me have forgotten Your Word. 140 Your Word is very pure and Your servant loves it. 141 I am not important and I am hated but I do not forget Your Law. 142 You are right forever, and Your Law is truth. 143 Trouble and suffering have come upon me, yet Your Word is my joy. 144 Your Law is right forever. Give me understanding and I will live.
The Worship of False Gods
11 “Their sinful ways and both old and new wine take away My people’s understanding. 12 They ask things of a wooden god and are answered by a stick of wood. A false spirit has led them the wrong way. They have not been faithful, and they have left their God. 13 They give gifts in worship on the tops of the mountains and burn special perfume on the hills. They do this under oak, poplar and terebinth trees, because their shadow is pleasing. So your daughters are like women who sell the use of their bodies, and your brides do sex sins. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they are like women who sell the use of their bodies, or your brides when they do sex sins. For the men themselves go with the sinful women to give gifts in worship to false gods. And people without understanding will be destroyed.
15 “Even if you, Israel, are like women who sell the use of their bodies, do not let Judah become guilty. Do not go to Gilgal or up to Beth-aven. And do not swear, ‘As the Lord lives!’ 16 The people of Israel are strong-willed like a young cow. How then can the Lord feed them like a lamb in a large field? 17 Ephraim is joined to false gods. Let him alone. 18 Their strong drink is gone. They are like women who sell the use of their bodies all the time. Their rulers love shame. 19 The wind will carry them away, and they will be ashamed because they gave gifts to false gods.
Paul Is in Jerusalem
15 After this, we got ready and started up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the followers in Caesarea went with us. They took us to Mnason’s house. He was one of the first followers from Cyprus. We stayed with him.
17 When we got to Jerusalem, the Christians were glad to see us. 18 The next day we went with Paul to see James. All the church leaders came also. 19 After saying hello to them, Paul told of what God had done through his work for the people who were not Jews.
20 When they heard this, they thanked the Lord. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Christians there are among the Jews. They all obey the Law of Moses. 21 They have heard about you. They have heard you teach the Jews who live among people who are not Jews. They have heard you teach them to break away from the Law of Moses. They say you are telling them not to do the religious act of becoming a Jew and not to follow old religious ways of worship. 22 What should we do about it? They will hear that you have come. 23 You must do what we tell you. We have four men with us who have made a promise to God. 24 Take these four men and go through the religious worship of washing with them. You pay to have their hair cut off. Then everybody will know what they have heard about you is not true. They will know you are careful to obey the Law of Moses. 25 As for the people who are not Jews, we wrote to them. We said that they must keep away from everything that has been given to gods. They must not eat blood or meat from animals that have been killed in ways against the Law. They must keep away from sex sins.”
26 The next day Paul took the men. He went through the religious worship of washing with them. They went into the house of God to tell when their religious worship of washing would be finished. Then the gift for each one of them would be given as an act of worship.
Jesus Calls Matthew (A)
27 After this Jesus went out and saw a man who gathered taxes. His name was Levi (Matthew). Levi was sitting at his work. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 Levi got up, left everything and followed Jesus. 29 Levi made a big supper for Jesus in his house. Many men who gathered taxes and other people sat down with them. 30 The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers talked against the followers of Jesus. They said, “Why do You eat and drink with men who gather taxes and with sinners?” 31 Jesus said to them, “People who are well do not need a doctor. Only those who are sick need a doctor. 32 I have not come to call good people. I have come to call sinners to be sorry for their sins and to turn from them.”
Jesus Teaches about Going without Food So You Can Pray Better (B)
33 They asked Jesus, “Why do the followers of John and of the proud religious law-keepers go without food so they can pray better, but Your followers keep on eating and drinking?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Can the friends at a wedding be sorry when the man just married is with them? 35 The days will come when the man just married will be taken from them. Then they will not eat food so they can pray better in those days.”
The Picture-Story of the Cloth and the Bags
36 Then Jesus told them a picture-story. He said, “No one sews a piece of cloth from a new coat on an old coat. If he does, the new coat will have a hole. The new piece and the old coat will not be the same. 37 No man puts new wine into old skin bags. If they did, the skins would break and the wine would run out. The bags would be no good. 38 New wine must be put into new bags and both are kept safe. 39 No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. He says, ‘The old wine is better.’”
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