Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 Happy are those who think about the poor.
When trouble comes, the Lord will save them.
2 The Lord will protect them and spare their life
and will bless them in the land.
He will not let their enemies take them.
3 The Lord will give them strength when they are sick,
and he will make them well again.
4 I said, “Lord, have mercy on me.
Heal me, because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying evil things about me.
They say, “When will he die and be forgotten?”
6 Some people come to see me,
but they lie.
They just come to get bad news.
Then they go and gossip.
7 All my enemies whisper about me
and think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He has a terrible disease.
He will never get out of bed again.”
9 My best and truest friend, who ate at my table,
has even turned against me.
10 Lord, have mercy on me.
Give me strength so I can pay them back.
11 Because my enemies do not defeat me,
I know you are pleased with me.
12 Because I am innocent, you support me
and will let me be with you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He has always been,
and he will always be.
Amen and amen.
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
God’s love will continue forever.
2 You think up evil plans.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
making up lies.
3 You love wrong more than right
and lies more than truth. Selah
4 You love words that bite
and tongues that lie.
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and throw you out of your tent;
he will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
6 Those who do right will see this and fear God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the man
who did not depend on God
but depended on his money.
He grew strong by his evil plans.”
8 But I am like an olive tree
growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
forever and ever.
9 God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our ancestors told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land
and placed our ancestors here.
You destroyed those other nations,
but you made our ancestors grow strong.
3 It wasn’t their swords that took the land.
It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.
But it was your great power and strength.
You were with them because you loved them.
4 My God, you are my King.
Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.
5 With your help we pushed back our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who came against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t save me.
7 You saved us from our foes,
and you made our enemies ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you have rejected us and shamed us.
You don’t march with our armies anymore.
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have taken our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing
and made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors;
those around us laugh and make fun of us.
14 You made us a joke to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and I am covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting even
with insults and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or failed to keep our agreement with you.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away from you,
and we haven’t stopped following you.
19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live,
and you covered us with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten our God
or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would have known,
because he knows what is in our hearts.
22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt;
we are flat on the ground.
26 Get up and help us.
Because of your love, save us.
13 If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today and love the Lord your God and serve him with your whole being, 14 then he will send rain on your land at the right time, in the fall and spring, and you will be able to gather your grain, new wine, and oil. 15 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will have plenty to eat.
16 Be careful, or you will be fooled and will turn away to serve and worship other gods. 17 If you do, the Lord will become angry with you and will shut the heavens so it will not rain. Then the land will not grow crops, and you will soon die in the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Remember my words with your whole being. Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign; tie them on your foreheads to remind you. 19 Teach them well to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Becoming Friends with God
11 Since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to help people accept the truth about us. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know, too. 12 We are not trying to prove ourselves to you again, but we are telling you about ourselves so you will be proud of us. Then you will have an answer for those who are proud about things that can be seen rather than what is in the heart. 13 If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we have our right minds, it is for you. 14 The love of Christ controls us, because we know that One died for all, so all have died. 15 Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him.
16 From this time on we do not think of anyone as the world does. In the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks, but we no longer think of him in that way. 17 If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! 18 All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. 19 God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. 20 So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. 21 Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God.
6 We are workers together with God, so we beg you: Do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. 2 God says,
“At the right time I heard your prayers.
On the day of salvation I helped you.” Isaiah 49:8
I tell you that the “right time” is now, and the “day of salvation” is now.
Sin and Forgiveness
17 Jesus said to his followers, “Things that cause people to sin will happen, but how terrible for the person who causes them to happen! 2 It would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large stone around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So be careful!
“If another follower sins, warn him, and if he is sorry and stops sinning, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in one day and says that he is sorry each time, forgive him.”
How Big Is Your Faith?
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!”
6 The Lord said, “If your faith were the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Be Good Servants
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When the servant comes in from working in the field, would you say, ‘Come in and sit down to eat’? 8 No, you would say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Then get yourself ready and serve me. After I finish eating and drinking, you can eat.’ 9 The servant does not get any special thanks for doing what his master commanded. 10 It is the same with you. When you have done everything you are told to do, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done the work we should do.’”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.