Book of Common Prayer
God Will Reward Fairly
Of David.
37 Don’t be upset because of evil people.
Don’t be jealous of those who do wrong.
2 Like the grass, they will soon dry up.
Like green plants, they will soon die away.
3 Trust the Lord and do good.
Live in the land and enjoy its safety.
4 Enjoy serving the Lord.
And he will give you what you want.
5 Depend on the Lord.
Trust him, and he will take care of you.
6 Then your goodness will shine like the sun.
Your fairness will shine like the noonday sun.
7 Wait and trust the Lord.
Don’t be upset when others get rich
or when someone else’s plans succeed.
8 Don’t get angry.
Don’t be upset; it only leads to trouble.
9 Evil people will be sent away.
But people who trust the Lord will inherit the land.
10 In a little while there will be no more wicked people.
You may look for them, but they will be gone.
11 People who are not proud will inherit the land.
They will enjoy complete peace.
12 The wicked make evil plans against good people.
They grind their teeth at them in anger.
13 But the Lord laughs at the wicked.
He sees that their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords.
They bend their bows.
They try to kill the poor and helpless.
They want to kill those who are honest.
15 But their swords will stab their own hearts.
Their bows will break.
16 It’s better to have little and be right
than to have much and be wrong.
17 The power of the wicked will be broken.
But the Lord supports those who do right.
18 The Lord watches over the lives of the innocent.
Their reward will last forever.
19 They will not be ashamed when trouble comes.
They will be full in times of hunger.
20 But the wicked will die.
The Lord’s enemies will be like the flowers of the fields.
They will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked people borrow but don’t pay back.
But those who do right give freely to others.
22 Those people the Lord blesses will inherit the land.
But those he curses will be sent away.
23 When a man’s steps follow the Lord,
God is pleased with his ways.
24 If he stumbles, he will not fall,
because the Lord holds his hand.
25 I was young, and now I am old.
But I have never seen the Lord leave good people helpless.
I have never seen their children begging for food.
26 Good people always lend freely to others.
And their children are a blessing.
27 Stop doing evil and do good.
Then you will live forever.
28 The Lord loves justice.
He will not leave those who worship him.
He will always protect them.
But the children of the wicked will die.
29 Good people will inherit the land.
They will live in it forever.
30 A good person speaks with wisdom.
He says what is fair.
31 The teachings of his God are in his heart.
He does not fail to keep them.
32 The wicked watch for good people.
They want to kill them.
33 The Lord will not take away his protection.
He will not judge good people guilty.
34 Wait for the Lord’s help
and follow him.
He will honor you and give you the land.
And you will see the wicked people sent away.
35 I saw a wicked and cruel man.
He looked strong like a healthy tree in good soil.
36 But he died and was gone.
I looked for him, but he couldn’t be found.
37 Think of the innocent person.
Watch the honest one.
The man who has peace
will have children to live after him.
38 But sinners will be destroyed.
In the end the wicked will die.
39 The Lord saves good people.
He is their strong city in times of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and saves them.
He saves them from the wicked
because they trust in him for protection.
Trouble with Aram
7 Now Ahaz was the son of Jotham, who was the son of Uzziah. When Ahaz was king of Judah, Rezin and Pekah went up to Jerusalem to fight against it. Rezin was king of Aram. And Pekah son of Remaliah was king of Israel. But they were not able to defeat the city.
2 A message was told to Ahaz king of Judah. It said, “The armies of Aram and Israel[a] have joined together.”
When Ahaz heard this, he and the people became very frightened. They shook with fear like trees of the forest blown by the wind.
3 Then the Lord told Isaiah, “You and your son Shear-Jashub should go out and talk to Ahaz. Go to the place where the water flows into the upper pool. This is on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 4 Tell Ahaz, ‘Be careful. Be calm, and don’t be afraid. Don’t let those two men, Rezin and Remaliah’s son Pekah, scare you. Don’t be afraid of their anger and Aram’s anger. Those two men are as weak as two barely burning sticks that are ready to go out. 5 They have made plans against you. They said, 6 “Let’s fight against Judah and tear it apart. We will divide Judah for ourselves. We will make the son of Tabeel the new king of Judah.” 7 But I, the Lord God, say,
Their plan will not succeed.
It will not happen.
8 That is because Aram is led by the city of Damascus.
And Damascus is led by its weak king, Rezin.
Within 65 years Israel will no longer be a nation.
9 Israel is led by the city of Samaria,
and Samaria is led by its weak king, the son of Remaliah.
If your faith is not strong,
then you will not have strength to last.’”
Evil Things Will Happen
2 Brothers, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to talk to you about that time when we will meet together with him. 2 Do not become easily upset in your thinking or afraid if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Someone may have said this in a prophecy or in a message. Or you may read it in a letter that someone tells you came from us. 3 Do not let any person fool you in any way. That day of the Lord will not come until the turning away from God happens. And that day will not come until the Man of Evil[a] appears. He belongs to hell. 4 He is against any so-called god or anything that people worship. And the Man of Evil puts himself above anything called God or anything that people worship. And that Man of Evil even goes into God’s Temple and sits there. Then he says that he is God.
5 I told you when I was with you that all this would happen. Do you not remember? 6 And you know what is stopping that Man of Evil now. He is being stopped now so that he will appear at the right time. 7 The secret power of evil is already working in the world now. But there is one who is stopping that power. And he will continue to stop it until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that Man of Evil will appear. And the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath that comes from his mouth and will destroy him with the glory of his coming. 9 The Man of Evil will come by the power of Satan. He will have great power, and he will do many different false miracles, signs, and wonders. 10 He will use every kind of evil to trick those who are lost. They are lost because they refused to love the truth. (If they loved the truth, they would be saved.) 11 But they refused to love the truth; so God sends them something powerful that leads them away from the truth. He sends them that power so they will believe something that is not true. 12 So all those who do not believe the truth will be judged guilty. They did not believe the truth, and they enjoyed doing evil.
Plans to Kill Jesus
22 It was almost time for the Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover Feast. 2 The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a way to kill Jesus. But they were afraid of the people.
3 One of Jesus’ 12 apostles was named Judas Iscariot. Satan entered Judas, and he went to 4 the leading priests and some of the soldiers who guarded the Temple. He talked to them about a way to give Jesus to them. 5 They were pleased and promised to give Judas money. 6 Judas agreed. Then he waited for the best time to turn Jesus over to them without the crowd knowing it.
Preparation of the Passover Meal
7 The Day of Unleavened Bread came. This was the day the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
9 They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
Jesus said to them, 10 “Listen! After you go into the city, you will see a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house that he enters. 11 Tell the person who owns that house, ‘The Teacher asks that you please show us the room where he and his followers may eat the Passover meal.’ 12 Then he will show you a large room upstairs. This room is ready for you. Prepare the Passover meal there.”
13 So Peter and John left. Everything happened as Jesus had said. So they prepared the Passover meal.
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