Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help
5 Hear my words, O Lord. Think about my crying. 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God. For I pray to you. 3 In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my prayers before You and will look up.
4 You are not a God Who is pleased with what is bad. The sinful cannot be with You. 5 The proud cannot stand before You. You hate all who do wrong. 6 You destroy those who tell lies. The Lord hates liars and men who kill other people.
7 But as for me, by Your great loving-kindness, I will come into Your house. At Your holy house I will put my face to the ground before You in love and fear. 8 O Lord, lead me in what is right and good, because of the ones who hate me. Make Your way straight in front of me.
9 For in their talk there is no truth. Their hearts destroy. Their mouths are like an open grave. With their tongues, they say sweet-sounding words that are not true. 10 Hold them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own plans. Throw them out because of their many sins. For they have fought against You. 11 But let all who put their trust in You be glad. Let them sing with joy forever. You make a covering for them, that all who love Your name may be glad in You. 12 For You will make those happy who do what is right, O Lord. You will cover them all around with Your favor.
Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble
6 O Lord, do not speak sharp words to me in Your anger, or punish me when You are angry. 2 Be kind to me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me for my bones are shaken. 3 My soul is in great suffering. But You, O Lord, how long? 4 Return, O Lord. Set my soul free. Save me because of Your loving-kindness. 5 No one remembers You when he is dead. Who gives You praise from the grave? 6 I am tired of crying inside myself. All night long my pillow is wet with tears. I flood my bed with them. 7 My eye has grown weak with sorrow. It has grown old because of all who hate me. 8 Go away from me, all you who sin. For the Lord has heard the sound of my crying. 9 The Lord has heard my cry for help. The Lord receives my prayer. 10 All those who hate me will be ashamed and worried. They will turn away. They will be put to shame right away.
Prayer for God to Destroy the Sinful
10 Why do You stand far away, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? 2 The sinful, in their pride, try to catch the weak. Let them be caught in the plans they have made. 3 The sinful man is proud of the desires of his heart. He praises those who want everything but he speaks against the Lord. 4 The sinful man in his pride does not look for God. All his thoughts are that there is no God. 5 His ways always go well for him. Your laws are too high for him to see. He laughs at those who hate him. 6 He says to himself, “I will not be moved. For all time, I will never have trouble.” 7 With his mouth he swears and lies. He makes it hard for other people. Trouble and sin are under his tongue. 8 He lies hidden in the towns, waiting to kill those who are not guilty. His eyes are always watching for the weak. 9 He lies in wait like a hidden lion. He lies in wait to catch the weak, and they become caught in his net. 10 The weak are hurt and they fall. They cannot stand under his strength. 11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten. He has hidden His face and will never see it.”
12 Rise up, O Lord! Lift up Your hand, O God. Do not forget the weak. 13 Why does the sinful man turn away from God? He has said to himself, “You will not ask it of me.” 14 But You have seen it. You look upon trouble and suffering, to take it into Your hands. The suffering man gives himself to You. You are the Helper of the one who has no father. 15 Break the arm of the bad and sinful man. Find out all his sins until You find no more. 16 The Lord is King forever and ever. Those who worship false gods will be taken from the land.
17 O Lord, You have heard the prayers of those who have no pride. You will give strength to their heart, and You will listen to them. 18 In this way, You will do the right thing for those without a father and those who suffer, so that man who is of the earth will no longer make them afraid.
The Lord—a Safe Place
11 In the Lord I am safe. How can you say to me, “Fly away as a bird to your mountain? 2 For look, the sinful raise their bow. They make their arrow ready on the string to shoot in the dark against the pure in heart. 3 If the base of the building is destroyed, what can those who are right with God do?”
4 The Lord is in His holy house. The Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes see as He tests the sons of men. 5 The Lord tests and proves those who are right and good and those who are sinful. And His soul hates the one who loves to hurt others. 6 He will send down fire upon the sinful. Fire and sulphur and burning wind will be the cup they will drink. 7 For the Lord is right and good. He loves what is right and good. And those who are right with Him will see His face.
Jonah Does Not Obey the Lord
1 The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Get up and go to the large city of Nineveh, and preach against it. For their sin has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord going toward Tarshish. He went down to Joppa and found a ship which was going to Tarshish. Jonah paid money, and got on the ship to go with them, to get away from the Lord.
4 Then the Lord sent a powerful wind upon the sea, and there was such a big storm that the ship was about to break up. 5 The sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the things that were in the ship into the sea so that it would not be so heavy. But Jonah had gone below in the ship and had lain down and fallen asleep. 6 So the captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god. It may be that your god will care about us, and we will not die.” 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us draw names so we can find out who is to blame for this trouble.” So they drew names, and Jonah’s name was drawn. 8 Then they said to him, “Now tell us! Who is to blame for this? What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord God of heaven Who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were filled with fear and said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was running away from the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea quiet down for us?” For the storm was getting worse. 12 Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know that this bad storm has come upon you because of me.” 13 The men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the wind was blowing even worse against them. 14 Then they called on the Lord and said, “We beg You, O Lord, do not let us die for what this man has done. And do not let us become guilty for killing someone who is not to blame. For You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the storm stopped. 16 Then the men feared the Lord very much. They gave a gift in worship to the Lord and made promises to Him.
17 The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, and he was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.
24 As Paul was speaking for himself, Festus cried out in a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! All your learning keeps you from thinking right!” 25 Paul said, “Most respected Festus, I am not crazy. I am speaking the truth! 26 The king knows about all this. I am free to speak to him in plain words. Nothing I have said is new to him. These things happened where everyone saw them. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the writings of the early preachers? I know that you believe them.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In this short time you have almost proven to me that I should become a Christian!” 29 Paul said, “My prayer to God is that you and all who hear me today would be a Christian as I am, only not have these chains!” 30 King Agrippa and Festus and Bernice and those who sat with them got up. 31 As they left the courtroom, they said to each other, “This man has done nothing for which he should be kept in prison or be put to death.” 32 Agrippa told Festus, “This man could go free if he had not asked to be sent to Caesar.”
Paul Is Sent to Rome
27 It was decided that we should go to the country of Italy by ship. Then they put Paul and some other men in chains. Julius, a captain of Caesar’s army, was to watch them. 2 We went on a ship that was from the city of Adramyttian. It was going to stop at the towns along the sea-shore of Asia. Aristarchus was with us. He was a man from the city of Thessalonica in the country of Macedonia. 3 The next day we stopped in the city of Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul. He let him visit friends who cared for him.
4 After leaving Sidon we were blown by the wind along the south side of the island of Cyprus. The wind was against us. 5 We crossed the sea along the countries of Cilicia and Pamphylia and got to the city of Myra in the country of Lycia. 6 The captain found a ship from the city of Alexandria that was going to the country of Italy. He put us on it. 7 For many days the ship did not move fast. It was hard to get to the city of Cnidus. The wind would not let us go on. So we went along the south shore of the island of Crete and passed the end of the island called Salome. 8 The wind was against us, and we did not sail very fast. Then we came to a place called Fair Havens. It was near the city of Lasea.
Two Were Healed through Faith (A)
40 Many people were glad to see Jesus when He got back. They were waiting for Him. 41 A man named Jairus was a leader of the Jewish place of worship. As he came to Jesus, he got down at His feet. He asked Jesus if He would come to his house. 42 He had only one daughter and she was dying. This girl was about twelve years old. As Jesus went, the people pushed Him from every side.
43 A woman had been sick for twelve years with a flow of blood. (*She had spent all the money she had on doctors.) But she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came behind Jesus and touched the bottom of His coat. At once the flow of blood stopped. 45 Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” Everyone said that they had not touched Him. Peter said, “Teacher, so many people are pushing You from every side and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 46 Then Jesus said, “Someone touched Me because I know power has gone from Me.” 47 When the woman saw she could not hide it, she came shaking. She got down before Jesus. Then she told Jesus in front of all the people why she had touched Him. She told how she was healed at once. 48 Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
49 While Jesus was yet talking, a man came from the house of the leader of the place of worship. This man said to Jairus, “Your daughter is dead. Do not make the Teacher use anymore of His time.” 50 Jesus heard it and said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid, only believe. She will be made well.”
51 Jesus went into the house. He let only Peter and James and John and the father and mother of the girl go in with Him. 52 Everyone was crying and full of sorrow because of her. Jesus said, “Do not cry. She is not dead, but is sleeping.” 53 Then they laughed at Jesus because they knew she was dead. 54 Jesus sent them all out. He took the girl by the hand and said, “Child, get up!” 55 Her spirit came back and she got up at once. Jesus told them to bring her food. 56 Her parents were surprised and wondered about it. Then Jesus told them they should tell no one what had happened.
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