Book of Common Prayer
Wishing to Be Near God
A song of David when he was in the desert of Judah.
63 God, you are my God.
I want to follow you.
My whole being
thirsts for you,
like a man in a dry, empty land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the Temple.
I have seen your strength and glory.
3 Your love is better than life.
I will praise you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live.
I will lift up my hands in prayer to your name.
5 I will be content as if I had eaten the best foods.
My lips will sing. My mouth will praise you.
6 I remember you while I’m lying in bed.
I think about you through the night.
7 You are my help.
Because of your protection, I sing.
8 I stay close to you.
You support me with your right hand.
9 Some people are trying to kill me.
But they will go down to the grave.
10 They will be killed with swords.
They will be eaten by wild dogs.
11 But the king will rejoice in his God.
All who make promises in his name will praise him.
But the mouths of liars will be shut.
The God of Power and Justice
A song.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song
because he has done miracles.
By his right hand and holy arm
he has won the victory.
2 The Lord has told about his power to save.
He has shown the other nations his victory for his people.
3 He has remembered his love
and his loyalty to the people of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
God’s power to save.
4 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Burst into songs and praise.
5 Make music to the Lord with harps,
with harps and the sound of singing.
6 Blow the trumpets and the sheep’s horns.
Shout for joy to the Lord the King.
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout.
Let the world and everyone on it sing.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands.
Let the mountains sing together for joy.
9 Let them sing before the Lord
because he is coming to judge the world.
He will judge the world fairly.
He will judge the nations with fairness.
Praise to the God of Love
Of David.
103 All that I am, praise the Lord.
Everything in me, praise his holy name.
2 My whole being, praise the Lord.
Do not forget all his kindnesses.
3 The Lord forgives me for all my sins.
He heals all my diseases.
4 He saves my life from the grave.
He loads me with love and mercy.
5 He satisfies me with good things.
He makes me young again, like the eagle.
6 The Lord does what is right and fair
for all who are wronged by others.
7 He showed his ways to Moses
and his miracles to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord shows mercy and is kind.
He does not become angry quickly, and he has great love.
9 He will not always scold us.
He will not be angry forever.
10 He has not punished us as our sins should be punished.
He has not repaid us for the evil we have done.
11 As high as the sky is above the earth,
so great is his love for those who respect him.
12 He has taken our sins away from us
as far as the east is from west.
13 The Lord has mercy on those who fear him,
as a father has mercy on his children.
14 He knows how we were made.
He remembers that we are dust.
15 Human life is like grass.
We grow like a flower in the field.
16 After the wind blows, the flower is gone.
There is no sign of where it was.
17 But the Lord’s love for those who fear him
continues forever and ever.
And his goodness continues to their grandchildren
18 and to those who keep his agreement
and who remember to obey his orders.
19 The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
And his kingdom rules over everything.
20 You who are his angels, praise the Lord.
You are the mighty warriors who do what he says.
Listen to what he says.
21 You, his armies, praise the Lord.
You are his servants who do what he wants.
22 Everything the Lord has made
should praise him in all the places he rules.
My whole being, praise the Lord.
God Will Destroy Babylon
47 The Lord says, “City of Babylon,
go down and sit in the dirt.
People of Babylon, sit on the ground.
You are no longer the ruler.
You will no longer be called
tender or beautiful.
2 You must use large stones to grind grain into flour.
Remove your veil and your nice skirts.
Uncover your legs and cross the rivers.
3 Men will see your nakedness.
They will see your shame.
I will punish you.
I will punish every one of you.”
4 Our Savior is named the Lord of heaven’s armies.
He is the Holy One of Israel.
5 “Babylon, sit in darkness and say nothing.
You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people.
So I rejected those people who belonged to me.
I gave them to you,
but you showed them no mercy.
You even made the old people
work very hard.
7 You said, ‘I will live forever.
I will always be the queen.’
You did not think about these things.
You did not think about what would happen.
8 “Now, listen, you lover of pleasure.
You think you are safe.
You tell yourself,
‘I am the only important person.
I will never be a widow.
I will never lose my children.’
9 Two things will happen to you
suddenly in a single day.
You will lose your children and your husband.
These things will truly happen to you.
All your magic and powerful tricks
will not save you.
10 You do evil things, but you feel safe.
You say, ‘No one sees what I do.’
Your wisdom and knowledge
have fooled you.
You say to yourself,
‘I am God. No one is equal to me.’
11 But troubles will come to you.
You will not know how to stop them.
Disaster will fall on you.
And you will not be able to keep it away.
You will be destroyed quickly.
You will not even see it coming.
12 “Keep on using your tricks.
Continue doing all your magic.
You have done these things since you were young.
Maybe they will help you.
Maybe you will be able to scare someone.
13 You are tired of the advice you have received.
So let those who study the sky come.
They tell the future by looking at the stars.
So let them save you from what is about to happen to you.
14 But they are like straw.
Fire will quickly burn them up.
They cannot save themselves
from the power of the fire.
They are not like coals that give warmth.
They are not like a fire you may sit beside.
15 You have worked with these people.
They have been with you since you were young.
But they will not be able to help you.
Everyone will go his own way.
And there will be no one left to save you.”
Continue to Trust God
19 So, brothers, we are completely free to enter the Most Holy Place. We can do this without fear because of the blood of Jesus’ death. 20 We can enter through a new way that Jesus opened for us. It is a living way. It leads through the curtain—Christ’s body. 21 And we have a great priest over God’s house. 22 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith. We have been cleansed and made free from feelings of guilt. And our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold firmly to the hope that we have confessed. We can trust God to do what he promised.
24 Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds. 25 You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing. But you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the Day[a] coming.
26 If we decide to go on sinning after we have learned the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. 27 There is nothing but fear in waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy all those who live against God. 28 Any person who refused to obey the law of Moses was found guilty from the proof given by two or three witnesses. He was put to death without mercy. 29 So what do you think should be done to a person who does not respect the Son of God? He looks at the blood of the agreement, the blood that made him holy, as no different from other men’s blood. He insults the Spirit of God’s grace. Surely he should have a much worse punishment. 30 We know that God said, “I will punish those who do wrong. I will repay them.”[b] And he also said, “The Lord will judge his people.”[c] 31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
2 In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language[a] it is called Bethzatha.[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. 3 Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. 4 Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].[c] 5 There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. 6 Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”
7 The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”
8 Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.
The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”
11 But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”
13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.
14 Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”
15 Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
16 Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. 17 But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”
18 This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.