Book of Common Prayer
Book One
Book One (Psalms 1–41) is attributed almost entirely to David; all but four of the psalms (1–2; 10; 33) are ascribed to him. In Hebrew Psalm 10 is a continuation of Psalm 9 because it was composed as an acrostic poem. Likewise, many Hebrew manuscripts combine Psalm 33 with 32. Only later are these divided into separate psalms. Psalm 1 sets the stage for the entire collection by explaining that the study of the Word of God is the foundation of a meaningful, prosperous life.
Psalm 1
1 God’s blessings follow you and await you at every turn:
when you don’t follow the advice of those who delight in wicked schemes,
When you avoid sin’s highway,
when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse.
2 For you, the Eternal’s Word is your happiness.
It is your focus—from dusk to dawn.
3 You are like a tree,
planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry.
Your fruit ripens in its time;
your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun.
No matter what you do, you prosper.
4 For those who focus on sin, the story is different.
They are like the fallen husk of wheat, tossed by an open wind, left deserted and alone.
5 In the end, the wicked will fall in judgment;
the guilty will be separated from the innocent.
6 Their road suddenly will end in death,
yet the journey of the righteous has been charted by the Eternal.
Psalm 2
1 You are wondering: What has provoked the nations to embrace anger and chaos?[a]
Why are the people making plans to pursue their own vacant and empty greatness?
2 Leaders of nations stand united;
rulers put their heads together,
plotting against the Eternal One and His Anointed King, trying to figure out
3 How they can throw off the gentle reign of God’s love,
step out from under the restrictions of His claims to advance their own schemes.
4 At first, the Power of heaven laughs at their silliness.
The Eternal mocks their ignorant selfishness.
5 But His laughter turns to rage, and He rebukes them.
As God displays His righteous anger, they begin to know the meaning of fear. He says,
6 “I am the One who appointed My king who reigns from Zion, My mount of holiness.
He is the one in charge.”
7 I am telling all of you the truth. I have heard the Eternal’s decree.
He said clearly to me, “You are My son.
Today I have become your Father.
8 The nations shall be yours for the asking,
and the entire earth will belong to you.
9 They are yours to crush with an iron scepter,
yours to shatter like fragile, clay pots.”
10 So leaders, kings, and judges,
be wise, and be warned.
11 There is only one God, the Eternal;
worship Him with respect and awe;
take delight in Him and tremble.
12 Bow down before God’s son.
If you don’t, you will face His anger and retribution,
And you won’t stand a chance.
For it doesn’t take long to kindle royal wrath,
But blessings await all who trust in Him.
They will find God a gentle refuge.
Psalm 3
A song of David composed while fleeing from his son Absalom.
This Davidic psalm recalls the time when David fled from Jerusalem after Absalom, his son, rebelled and claimed the throne (2 Samuel 15–17).
1 Eternal One, my adversaries are many, too many to count.
Now they have taken a stand against me!
2 Right to my face they say,
“God will not save you!”
[pause][b]
3 But You, Eternal One, wrap around me like an impenetrable shield.
You give me glory and lift my eyes up to the heavens.
4 I lift my voice to You, Eternal One,
and You answer me from Your sacred heights.
[pause]
5 I lie down at night and fall asleep.
I awake in the morning—healthy, strong, vibrant—because the Eternal supports me.
6 No longer will I fear my tens of thousands of enemies
who have surrounded me!
7 Rise up, O Eternal One!
Rescue me, O God!
For You have dealt my enemies a strong blow to the jaw!
You have shattered their teeth! Do so again.
8 Liberation truly comes from the Eternal.
Let Your blessings shower down upon Your people.
[pause]
Psalm 4
For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by strings.
1 Answer my prayers, O True God, the righteous, who makes me right.
I was hopelessly surrounded, and You rescued me.
Once again hear me; hide me in Your favor;
bring victory in defeat and hope in hopelessness.
2 How long will you sons of Adam steal my dignity, reduce my glory to shame?
Why pine for the fruitless and dream a delusion?
[pause][c]
3 Understand this: The Eternal One treats as special those like Him.
The Eternal will answer my prayers and save me.
4 Think long; think hard. When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin.
When night comes, in calm be silent.
[pause]
5 From this day forward, offer to God the right sacrifice from a heart made right by God.
Entrust yourself to the Eternal.
6 Crowds of disheartened people ask, “Who can show us what is good?”
Let Your brilliant face shine upon us, O Eternal One, that we may know the undeniable answer.
7 You have filled me with joy, and happiness has risen in my heart, great delight and unrivaled joy,
even more than when bread abounds and wine flows freely.
8 Tonight I will sleep securely on a bed of peace
because I trust You, You alone, O Eternal One, will keep me safe.
Psalm 7
A song[a] of David to the Eternal regarding Cush, the Benjaminite.
1 O Eternal my God, in You I seek refuge.
Save me from those who are chasing me. Rescue me,
2 Or else they will tear me to pieces as a lion devours his prey;
they will carry me off with no one to snatch me from their jaws.
3 O Eternal my God, if I have done anything wrong to deserve this,
if there is blood on my hands,
4 If I have mistreated a friend,
or if I have stolen from an adversary without just cause,
5 Then let my enemy come after me and catch me,
stomping me into the ground, ending my life,
and grinding my honor into the dirt.
[pause][b]
6 Arise, O Eternal One, inflamed by Your anger.
Come and counter the rage of my adversaries;
open Your eyes, my God; hear my plea for justice once and for all.
7 Let the people gather around You.
Return to Your rightful place above them in the high court.
8 The Eternal will judge the nations.
Judge me now, Eternal One, according to my virtue and integrity.
9 Please, bring the evil actions of these wicked, wicked people to an end!
But secure the righteous,
For You, righteous God,
examine our hearts and minds.
10 God is my defender;
He rescues those who have a pure heart.
11 God is a just judge;
He passes judgment daily against the person who does evil.
12 If the wicked do not turn from their evil deeds, God will sharpen His sword;
He will bend His bow, stringing it in readiness.
13 Yes, He has prepared His deadly weapons
with His arrows flaming hot.
14 See, my enemies are fertile with evil.
They conceive trouble
and give birth to deception.
15 They prepare a trap, digging a deep pit,
and fall into the snare they have made.
16 The trouble they plan will return to punish them,
and their violent acts will come back to haunt them.
17 As a result, I will thank the Eternal for His justice
and sing praises in honor of the Eternal, Most High.
1 Now it happened during the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah, the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against him and laid siege to Jerusalem, Judah’s capital. 2 The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory and allowed him to take King Jehoiakim of Judah as his prisoner. At the same time, He permitted the Babylonian king to rob God’s temple of some of its sacred vessels and carry them away to Babylonia (called Shinar), which was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to fill the treasury of his own gods, Marduk and Nebo.
3 After the king returned home, he commanded Ashpenaz, chief of the royal eunuchs, to bring some of the Israelites who had been taken captive to the palace. These included members of Judah’s royal family and the nobility. 4 He was looking for potential candidates from the exiles to serve in his court, fit young men with no physical or moral infirmities, handsome, skilled in all wisdom, knowledgeable, discerning, and understanding. Those selected would be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans, the people who lived in Babylonia. 5 As part of their assimilation into Babylonian court life, the king offered them a daily portion of food and wine from his own table. They were to be educated for three years before serving in the king’s court. 6 From among Judah’s exiles, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were selected. 7 Ashpenaz, chief of the royal eunuchs, gave them Babylonian names to signify their new identities in a foreign place: Daniel he renamed Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abed-nego.
Nebuchadnezzar seizes the wisest, strongest, and most powerful people in each land he conquers and deports them to Babylonia. This serves three purposes: it gives the government an unending supply of capable people; it further cripples the conquered nation, rendering them helpless; and it ensures the conquered nation will not want to retaliate because their own loved ones live in the conquering land.
Daniel and his friends are among these deportees. When they arrive in Babylonia, they are expected to assimilate to the Babylonian way of life; this includes changing their names. Nebuchadnezzar renames the deportees to complete their conversion to the Babylonian society and to demonstrate his status as their master.
8 Although the king ate only the finest Babylonian fare, Daniel was determined not to violate God’s law and defile himself by eating the food and drinking the wine that came from the king’s table; so he asked the chief of the royal eunuchs for permission not to eat the food.
Daniel’s concern is the food has been offered up to Marduk and does not meet Israelite dietary laws.
9 Now God had given Daniel special favor and fondness in the eyes of the king’s chief eunuch. 10 Still the eunuch was concerned.
Ashpenaz (to Daniel): Belteshazzar, your request puts me in a difficult position. I am afraid of what my lord the king might do. He has ordered that you are to eat the food and drink the wine prepared for his table. What will happen if he sees you and your friends over time in poorer health than the other young men your own age? I am certain he will have my head.
11 When Ashpenaz refused, Daniel reasoned with the guard whom the chief of the royal eunuchs assigned to watch over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Daniel (to the guard): 12 Please, do us a favor. Put us, your servants, to the test for the next 10 days. Give us a vegetarian diet and water. 13 When the time is up, you can see for yourself our condition and compare it to the condition of the other young men who are eating from the king’s table. Then, after you have seen what has happened, do whatever you think is best with us, your servants.
Daniel and his companions ask for a diet consistent with God’s instructions to His covenant people: vegetables and grains, without the rich cuts of meat that are normally a staple of those who eat at the king’s table. They also want to exclude any wines or mead because they intend to avoid any unnecessary entanglements with Babylonian culture. Most of those meats and wines have been offered to the Babylonian gods, and Daniel wants no part of that. Daniel and his exiled friends may have to live in Babylon, but they don’t have to be absorbed into the culture. Every bite of every meal reminds them that they are different.
14 So the guard agreed to do as Daniel requested. He tested them on a diet of only vegetables, grains, and water for 10 days. 15 When the 10 days were up, he looked them over and noticed that Daniel and his friends were better off than all the young men eating from the king’s best foods. They looked healthy and well nourished, 16 so the guard continued to hold back their royal rations and replaced them with a strictly vegetarian diet. 17 Through all of this, God conferred upon these 4 young men superior abilities in literature, language, and wisdom. God had given Daniel an additional gift, too: the ability to interpret visions and dreams. 18 When the 3-year period of training and conditioning, as set by the king, was over, the king sent for the candidates; the chief of the royal eunuchs himself escorted them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king interviewed all of them and found that none of the candidates were any better than Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they were each assigned an important place in the king’s court. 20 When the king inquired further into their grasp of wisdom and understanding, he discovered that they were better prepared than all the magicians and enchanters in his empire, even 10 times better. 21 This is how Daniel came to serve the royal court, a position he safely held until the first year of King Cyrus when his Persian army conquered Babylonia.
1 We want to tell you about the One who was from the beginning. We have seen Him with our own eyes, heard Him with our own ears, and touched Him with our own hands. This One is the manifestation of the life-giving Voice, 2 and He showed us real life, eternal life. We have seen it all, and we can’t keep what we witnessed quiet—we have to share it with you. We are inviting you to experience eternal life through the One who was with the Father and came down to us. 3 What we saw and heard we pass on to you so that you, too, will be connected with us intimately and become family. Our family is united by our connection with the Father and His Son Jesus, the Anointed One; 4 and we write all this because retelling this story fulfills our[a] joy.
5 What we are telling you now is the very message we heard from Him: God is pure light, undimmed by darkness of any kind. 6 If we say we have an intimate connection with the Father but we continue stumbling around in darkness, then we are lying because we do not live according to truth. 7 If we walk step by step in the light, where the Father is, then we are ultimately connected to each other through the sacrifice of Jesus His Son. His blood purifies us from all our sins. 8 If we go around bragging, “We have no sin,” then we are fooling ourselves and are strangers to the truth. 9 But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” then we depict God as a liar and show that we have not let His word find its way into our hearts.
17 Jesus (lifting His face to the heavens): Father, My time has come. Glorify Your Son, and I will bring You great glory 2-3 because You have given Me total authority over humanity. I have come bearing the plentiful gifts of God; and all who receive Me will experience everlasting life, a new intimate relationship with You (the one True God) and Jesus the Anointed (the One You have sent). 4 I have glorified You on earth and fulfilled the mission You set before Me.
5 In this moment, Father, fuse Our collective glory and bring Us together as We were before creation existed. 6 You have entrusted Me with these men who have come out of this corrupt world order. I have told them about Your nature and declared Your name to them, and they have held on to Your words and understood that these words, 7 like everything else You have given Me, come from You. 8 It is true that these men You gave Me have received the words that come from You and not only understood them but also believed that You sent Me. 9 I am now making an appeal to You on their behalf. This request is not for the entire world; it is for those whom You have given to Me because they are Yours. 10 Yours and Mine, Mine and Yours, for all that are Mine are Yours. Through them I have been glorified.
11 I will no longer be physically present in this world, but they will remain in this world. As I return to be with You, holy Father, remain with them through Your name, the name You have given Me. May they be one even as We are one.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.