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.

1 This is the Word of the Lord spoken to Israel through Malachi.

Unclean Gifts Given on the Altar

⁶ “A son honors his father. A servant honors his owner. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? If I am a boss, where is My respect? says the Lord of All to you, O religious leaders who hate My name. But you say, ‘How have we hated Your name?’ ⁷ You are bringing unclean food to My altar. But you say, ‘How have we made Your altar unclean?’ “Because you say the Lord’s table is to be hated. ⁸ When you bring a blind animal to the altar as My gift, is it not sinful? When you bring one that cannot walk, or one that is sick, is it not sinful? Why not bring it to your ruler? Would he be pleased with you? Would he receive it?” says the Lord of All. ⁹ “Now pray for God’s favor, that He may be kind to us. With such gifts from your hands, will He receive any of you in kindness?” says the Lord of All. ¹⁰ “If only there were one among you who would shut the gates and stop you from burning a fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of All. “And I will not receive a gift in worship from you. ¹¹ From sunrise to sunset My name will be great among the nations. Special perfume will be given to My name everywhere, and a grain gift that is pure. For My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of All. ¹² “But you are making it unclean when you say that the table of the Lord is unclean, and that its food is to be hated. ¹³ You say, ‘How tired it makes us!’ And you turn your nose away from it,” says the Lord of All. “You bring what was stolen, and what cannot walk, and what is sick. You bring this as your gift! Should I receive that from your hands?” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “A curse will come upon the sinful man who promises to give a male from his flock, but gives an animal that is not perfect to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of All. “And My name is feared among the nations.

Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who among you is wise and understands? Let that one show from a good life by the things he does that he is wise and gentle. ¹⁴ If you have jealousy in your heart and fight to have many things, do not be proud of it. Do not lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the kind of wisdom that comes from God. But this wisdom comes from the world and from that which is not Christian and from the devil. ¹⁶ Wherever you find jealousy and fighting, there will be trouble and every other kind of wrong-doing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. Then it gives peace. It is gentle and willing to obey. It is full of loving-kindness and of doing good. It has no doubts and does not pretend to be something it is not. ¹⁸ Those who plant seeds of peace will gather what is right and good.

4 What starts wars and fights among you? Is it not because you want many things and are fighting to have them? ² You want something you do not have, so you kill. You want something but cannot get it, so you fight for it. You do not get things because you do not ask for them. ³ Or if you do ask, you do not receive because your reasons for asking are wrong. You want these things only to please yourselves.

⁴ You are as wives and husbands who are not faithful in marriage and do sex sins. Do you not know that to love the sinful things of the world and to be a friend to them is to be against God? Yes, I say it again, if you are a friend of the world, you are against God. ⁵ Do you think the Holy Writings mean nothing when they said, “The Holy Spirit Whom God has given to live in us has a strong desire for us to be faithful to Him”?

⁶ But He gives us more loving-favor. For the Holy Writings say, “God works against the proud but gives loving-favor to those who have no pride.” ^{(A) 7} So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil and he will run away from you. ⁸ Come close to God and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Clean up your hearts, you who want to follow the sinful ways of the world and God at the same time. ⁹ Be sorry for your sins and cry because of them. Be sad and do not laugh. Let your joy be turned to sorrow. ¹⁰ Let yourself be brought low before the Lord. Then He will lift you up and help you.

Do Not Talk Against Each Other

¹¹ Christian brothers, do not talk against anyone or speak bad things about each other. If a person says bad things about his brother, he is speaking against him. And he will be speaking against God’s Law. If you say the Law is wrong, and do not obey it, you are saying you are better than the Law. ¹² Only God can say what is right or wrong. He made the Law. He can save or put to death. How can we say if our brother is right or wrong?

Jesus Heals Ten Men with a Bad Skin Disease

¹¹ Jesus went on His way to Jerusalem. He was passing between the countries of Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As He was going into one of the towns, ten men with a bad skin disease came to Him. They stood a little way off. ¹³ They called to Him, “Jesus! Teacher! Take pity on us!” ¹⁴ When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go and show yourselves to the religious leaders.” As they went, they were healed. ¹⁵ One of them turned back when he saw he was healed. He thanked God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He got down on his face at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him. He was from the country of Samaria. ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were there not ten men who were healed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Is this stranger from another country the only one who turned back to give thanks to God?” ¹⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go on your way. Your trust in God has healed you.”