Book of Common Prayer

The Law of the Lord

119 Happy are those whose way is without blame, who walk in the Law of the Lord. ² Happy are those who keep His Law and look for Him with all their heart. ³ They also do not sin, but walk in His ways. ⁴ You have set down Laws that we should always obey. ⁵ O, that my ways may be always in keeping with Your Law! ⁶ Then I will not be put to shame when I respect Your Word. ⁷ I will praise You with a heart that is right when I learn how right You judge. ⁸ I will obey Your Law. Do not leave me all alone.

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living by Your Word. ¹⁰ I have looked for You with all my heart. Do not let me turn from Your Law. ¹¹ Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against You. ¹² Great and honored are You, O Lord. Teach me Your Law. ¹³ I have told with my lips of all the Laws of Your mouth. ¹⁴ I have found as much joy in following Your Law as one finds in much riches. ¹⁵ I will think about Your Law and have respect for Your ways. ¹⁶ I will be glad in Your Law. I will not forget Your Word.

¹⁷ Do good to Your servant so I may live and obey Your Word. ¹⁸ Open my eyes so that I may see great things from Your Law. ¹⁹ I am a stranger on the earth. Do not hide Your Word from me. ²⁰ My soul is crushed with a desire for Your Law at all times. ²¹ You speak sharp words to the proud, the hated ones, because they turn from Your Word. ²² Take away shame and bad feelings from me, for I have kept Your Law. ²³ Even if rulers sit together and speak against me, Your servant thinks about Your Law. ²⁴ Your Law is my joy and it tells me what to do.

God—Our Helper

12 Help, Lord! For God-like men are here no more. The faithful can no longer be seen among the sons of men. ² They lie to each other. Their lips speak with sweet-sounding words that are not true. ³ May the Lord cut off all lips of false respect, and the tongue that speaks of great things. ⁴ They say, “We can win with our tongues. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”

⁵ “Because of the suffering of the weak, and because of the cries of the poor, I will now rise up,” says the Lord. “I will keep him safe as he has wanted to be.”

⁶ The words of the Lord are pure words. They are like silver that has been made pure seven times in a stove of earth. ⁷ O Lord, You will keep us. You will keep us safe forever from the people of this day. ⁸ The sinful walk on every side when bad actions are held in honor among the sons of men.

Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? ² How long must I plan what to do in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will those who hate me rise above me?

³ Look on me and answer, O Lord, my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death. ⁴ Or the one who hates me will say, “I have power over him.” And those who hate me will be happy when I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in Your loving-kindness. My heart will be full of joy because You will save me. ⁶ I will sing to the Lord, because He has been good to me.

Sinful Men

14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are sinful and their actions are sinful. There is no one who does good. ² The Lord has looked down from heaven on the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand and look for God. ³ They have all turned aside. Together they have become bad. There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴ Will those who sin never learn? They eat up my people like they eat bread. They do not call on the Lord. ⁵ There they are in much fear. For God is with the people of this day who do what is right and good. ⁶ You would put to shame the planning of the poor. But the Lord keeps him safe.

⁷ O, that it would come out of Zion that Israel would be saved! When the Lord returns His people to their land, Jacob will be full of joy and Israel will be glad.

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.

Jonah’s Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God while in the stomach of the fish, ² saying, “I called out to the Lord because of my trouble, and He answered me. I cried for help from the place of the dead, and You heard my voice. ³ You threw me into the deep waters, to the very bottom of the sea. A flood was all around me and all Your waves passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been sent away from Your eyes. But I will look again toward Your holy house.’ ⁵ Waters closed in over me. The sea was all around me. Weeds were around my head. ⁶ I went down to the roots of the mountains. The walls of the earth were around me forever. But You have brought me up from the grave, O Lord my God. ⁷ While I was losing all my strength, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to You, into Your holy house. ⁸ Those who worship false gods have given up their faith in You. ⁹ But I will give gifts in worship to You with a thankful voice. I will give You what I have promised. The Lord is the One Who saves.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out onto the dry land.

⁹ Much time had been lost. To keep going that late in the year would mean danger. Paul spoke with strong words, ¹⁰ “Sirs, it looks to me as if this ship and its freight will be lost. We are in danger of being lost also.”

¹¹ The captain of the soldiers listened to what the captain of the ship said and not to what Paul said. ¹² It was not a good place to spend the winter. Most of those on the ship wanted to go on and try to get to Phoenix. Crete was a good place to tie up the ship. They wanted to spend the winter there. ¹³ When a south wind started to blow, they thought their plan was right. They pulled up the anchor and went close to the shore of Crete.

¹⁴ Later a bad wind storm came down from the land. It was called a northeaster. ¹⁵ The ship was stopped by the wind. After awhile we gave up and let it go with the wind. ¹⁶ We went behind a small island called Claudia. It was hard work but we were able to make the ship’s boat safe. ¹⁷ They pulled it up and tied ropes around it and the ship. They were afraid of going on the Syrtis sands. So they took the sail down and let the ship go with the wind.

¹⁸ The storm was so bad the high waves were beating against the ship. The next day the men threw some of the freight over into the sea. ¹⁹ On the third day, with their own hands, they threw part of the sails and ropes into the sea. ²⁰ We did not see the sun or stars for many days. A very bad storm kept beating against us. We lost all hope of being saved.

Paul Shows His Faith

²¹ No one had eaten for a long time. Then Paul stood up and said to them, “Men, you should have listened to me and not left Crete. You would not have had this trouble and loss. ²² But now I want you to take hope. No one will lose his life. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ I belong to God and I work for Him. Last night an angel of God stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand in front of Caesar. God has given you the lives of all the men on this ship.’ ²⁵ So take hope, men. I believe my God will do what He has told me. ²⁶ But the ship will be lost on some island.”

Jesus Sends His Twelve Followers Out ^(A)

9 Jesus called His twelve followers to Him. He gave them the right and the power over all demons and to heal diseases. ² He sent them to preach about the holy nation of God and to heal the sick. ³ Then He said to them, “Take nothing along for the trip. Do not take a walking stick or a bag or bread or money. Do not take two coats. ⁴ Whatever house you go into, stay there until you are ready to go on. ⁵ If anyone will not take you in, as you leave that city, shake its dust off your feet. That will speak against them.”

⁶ They went out, going from town to town. They preached the Good News and healed the sick everywhere.

John the Baptist Is Killed ^(B)

⁷ Now Herod the leader heard of all that had been done by Jesus. He was troubled because some people said that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. ⁸ Some people said that Elijah had come back. Others thought one of the early preachers had been raised from the dead. ⁹ Then Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off. But who is this Man that I hear these things about?” He wanted to see Jesus.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand ^(C)

¹⁰ The twelve followers came back. They told Jesus what they had done. Jesus took them to a desert near the town of Bethsaida. There they could be alone. ¹¹ When the people knew where Jesus was, they followed Him. Jesus was happy to see them and talked to them about the holy nation of God. He healed all who were sick.

¹² When the day was about over, the twelve followers came to Jesus. They said, “Send these many people away so they can go to the towns and country near here. There they can find a place to sleep and get food. We are here in a desert.” ¹³ But Jesus said to them, “Give them something to eat.” They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Are we to go and buy food for all these people?” ¹⁴ There were about five thousand men. Jesus said to His followers, “Have them sit down in groups of fifty people.” ¹⁵ They did as He told them. They made all of the people sit down. ¹⁶ As Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish, He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke them in pieces and gave them to His followers to give to the people. ¹⁷ They all ate and were filled. They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish after the people finished eating.