Book of Common Prayer

God Decides Right from Wrong

50 The Powerful One, God, the Lord, has spoken. And He calls the earth from where the sun rises to where the sun goes down. ² God shines from Zion, perfect in beauty. ³ May our God come and not keep quiet. A fire burns before Him, and around Him is a powerful storm. ⁴ He calls the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people: ⁵ “Gather My holy ones to Me, those who have made an agreement with Me by their gifts given on an altar.” ⁶ And the heavens will tell how right and good He is, for God Himself is judge.

⁷ “Listen, O My people, and I will speak. O Israel, I will speak against you. I am God, your God. ⁸ I do not speak sharp words to you for your gifts given on an altar. And your burnt gifts are always before Me. ⁹ I will not take a young bull out of your house, or male goats out of your fields. ¹⁰ For every animal among the trees is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know every bird of the mountains. And all things that move in the field are Mine. ¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world is Mine, and all that is in it. ¹³ Should I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of male goats? ¹⁴ Give a gift of thanks on the altar to God. And pay your promises to the Most High. ¹⁵ Call on Me in the day of trouble. I will take you out of trouble, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁶ But to the sinful, God says: “What right do you have to tell of My Laws, and take My agreement in your mouth? ¹⁷ For you hate to be told what to do, and you throw My words behind you. ¹⁸ When you see a robber, you are pleased with him. And you join those who do sex sins. ¹⁹ You say bad things with your mouth, and you lie with your tongue. ²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother. You talk against your own mother’s son. ²¹ You have done these things, and I have kept quiet. You thought that I was just like you. But I will speak sharp words to you, and tell you who is guilty to your face.

²² “Now think about this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces and there will be no one to save you. ²³ He who gives a gift of thanks honors Me. And to him who makes his way right, I will show him the saving power of God.”

Prayer for a Safe Place

59 O my God, take me away from those who hate me. Put me up high above those who rise up against me. ² Take me away from those who do wrong. And save me from those who kill. ³ For, look, they lie in wait for my life. Strong men are gathering together to fight me, but not because of my wrong-doing or my sin, O Lord. ⁴ I have done no wrong, but they get ready to fight against me. Rise up to help me. ⁵ You, O Lord God of All, God of Israel, rise up to punish all the nations. Show no loving-kindness to those people who cannot be trusted and plan sins. ⁶ They return at evening. They sound like dogs and go around the city. ⁷ See, they spit with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. And they say, “Who can hear us?” ⁸ But You laugh at them, O Lord. You laugh at all the nations.

⁹ O my Strength, I will watch for You. For God is my strong place. ¹⁰ My God in His loving-kindness will meet me. God will let me look at those who come against me and know that I will win the fight. ¹¹ Do not kill them, or my people may forget. Divide them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord, our safe-covering. ¹² Let them be caught in their pride for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips. For the lies and bad things they say, ¹³ destroy them in anger. Destroy them so that they will be no more. Let it be known that God rules in Jacob and to the ends of the earth.

¹⁴ They return at evening. They make sounds like dogs and go around the city. ¹⁵ They go around looking for food and they show their teeth if they are not filled.

¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing of Your strength. Yes, I will sing with joy of Your loving-kindness in the morning. For You have been a strong and safe place for me in times of trouble. ¹⁷ O my Strength, I will sing praises to You. For God is my strong place and the God Who shows me loving-kindness.

Prayer for Help

60 O God, You have turned away from us. You have broken us. You have been angry. O heal us and turn to us again. ² You have made the land shake. You have torn it open. Heal it where it is broken, for it shakes. ³ You have made Your people suffer hard things. You have given us wine to drink that makes us not able to walk straight. ⁴ You have given a flag to those who fear You, so it may be seen because of the truth. ⁵ Save us with Your right hand, and answer us, so Your loved ones may be set free.

⁶ God has said in His holy place: “I will be full of joy. I will divide Shechem and the valley of Succoth. ⁷ Gilead is Mine. And Manasseh is Mine. Ephraim is the covering for My head. Judah is My Law giver. ⁸ Moab is where I wash My hands. I will throw My shoe over Edom. Call out, Philistia, because of me.”

⁹ Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? ¹⁰ Have You not turned away from us, O God? And will You not go out with our armies, O God? ¹¹ O give us help against those who hate us. For the help of man is worth nothing. ¹² With God’s help we will do well. And He will break under His feet those who fight against us.

Song of Praise

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him. ² Give thanks to the Lord with harps. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. ³ Sing to Him a new song. Play well with loud sounds of joy. ⁴ For the Word of the Lord is right. He is faithful in all He does. ⁵ He loves what is right and good and what is fair. The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.

⁶ The heavens were made by the Word of the Lord. All the stars were made by the breath of His mouth. ⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a bag. He places the waters in store-houses. ⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world honor Him. ⁹ For He spoke, and it was done. He spoke with strong words, and it stood strong. ¹⁰ The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. ¹¹ The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people. ¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴ From where He sits He looks upon all who live on the earth. ¹⁵ He made the hearts of them all. And He understands whatever they do. ¹⁶ No king is saved by the power of his strong army. A soldier is not saved by great strength. ¹⁷ A horse cannot be trusted to win a battle. Its great strength cannot save anyone.

¹⁸ See, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, and on those who hope for His loving-kindness, ¹⁹ to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive when there is nothing to eat. ²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our safe cover. ²¹ For our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name. ²² O Lord, let Your loving-kindness be upon us as we put our hope in You.

War in Heaven

⁷ Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against this dragon. This animal and his angels fought back. ⁸ But the dragon was not strong enough to win. There was no more room in heaven for them. ⁹ The dragon was thrown down to earth from heaven. This animal is the old snake. He is also called the Devil or Satan. He is the one who has fooled the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now God has saved from the punishment of sin! God’s power as King has come! God’s holy nation has come! God’s Christ is here with power! The one who spoke against our Christian brothers has been thrown down to earth. He stood before God speaking against them day and night. ¹¹ They had power over him and won because of the blood of the Lamb and by telling what He had done for them. They did not love their lives but were willing to die. ¹² For this reason, O heavens and you who are there, be full of joy. It is bad for you, O earth and sea. For the devil has come down to you. He is very angry because he knows he has only a short time.”

War on Earth

¹³ When the dragon which is the devil saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he began to hunt for the woman who had given birth to the boy baby. ¹⁴ The woman was given two wings like the wings of a very large bird so she could fly to her place in the desert. She was to be cared for there and kept safe from the snake, which is the devil, for three-and one-half years. ¹⁵ Then the snake spit water from his mouth so the woman might be carried away with a flood. ¹⁶ The earth helped the woman by opening its mouth. It drank in the flood of water that this dragon spit from his mouth. ¹⁷ This dragon was very angry with the woman. He went off to fight with the rest of her children. They are the ones who obey the Laws of God and are faithful to the teachings of Jesus.

⁵³ As Jesus went away from there, the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers were very angry and tried to make Him say many things. ⁵⁴ They planned against Jesus and tried to trap Him with something He might say.

Jesus Teaches His Followers and Thousands of Other People

12 At that time thousands of people gathered together. There were so many that they walked on each other. Jesus spoke to His twelve followers first, saying, “Look out! Have nothing to do with the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers which is pretending to be something it is not. ² For there is nothing covered up that will not be seen. There is nothing hidden that will not be known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light. What you have said in a low voice in a closed room will be spoken with a loud voice from the top of houses.

⁴ “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and then can do no more. ⁵ I will tell you the one to be afraid of. Be afraid of Him Who has power to put you into hell after He has killed you. Yes, I say to you, be afraid of Him!

⁶ “Are not five small birds sold for two small pieces of money? God does not forget even one of the birds. ⁷ God knows how many hairs you have on your head. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many small birds.

⁸ “Also, I tell you, everyone who makes Me known to men, the Son of Man will make him known to the angels of God. ⁹ But whoever acts as if he does not know Me and does not make Me known to men, he will not be spoken of to the angels of God.

The Sin That Cannot Be Forgiven

¹⁰ “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹ When they take you to the places of worship and to the courts and to the leaders of the country, do not be worried about what you should say or how to say it. ¹² The Holy Spirit will tell you what you should say at that time.”