Book of Common Prayer
97 The Lord rules, and the earth is happy.
All the faraway lands are happy.
2 Thick, dark clouds surround him.
Goodness and justice make his kingdom strong.
3 Fire goes before him
and destroys his enemies.
4 His lightning flashes in the sky.
The earth sees it and trembles with fear.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The skies tell about his goodness,
and the nations see his glory.
7 People worship their idols.
They brag about their “gods.”
But they will be embarrassed.
And all their “gods” will bow down before the Lord.
8 Zion, listen and be happy!
Cities of Judah, be glad!
Rejoice because the Lord’s decisions are fair.
9 Lord Most High, you really are the ruler of the earth.
You are much better than the “gods.”
10 Hate evil, you who love the Lord.
He protects his followers and saves them from evil people.
11 Light and happiness shine on those
who want to do right.
12 Good people, be happy in the Lord!
Praise his holy name!
99 The Lord is King,
so let the nations shake with fear.
He sits as King above the Cherub angels,
so let the whole earth shake.
2 The Lord in Zion is great!
He is the great leader over all people.
3 Let all the nations praise your name.
Your name is great and awesome.
Your name is holy.
4 You are the powerful King who loves justice.
You have made things right.
You have brought goodness and fairness to Jacob.
5 Praise the Lord our God,
and bow down before his footstool,[a] for he is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were some of his priests,
and Samuel was one of the men who called on his name.
They prayed to the Lord,
and he answered them.
7 God spoke from the tall cloud,
and they obeyed his commands
and the law he gave them.
8 Lord our God, you answered their prayers.
You showed them that you are a forgiving God
and that you punish people for the evil they do.
9 Praise the Lord our God.
Bow down toward his holy mountain and worship him.
The Lord our God is holy!
A song of thanks.
100 Earth, sing to the Lord!
2 Be happy as you serve the Lord!
Come before him with happy songs!
3 Know that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we belong to him.
We are his people, the sheep he takes care of.
4 Come through the gates to his Temple giving thanks to him.
Enter his courtyards with songs of praise.
Honor him and bless his name.
5 The Lord is good!
There is no end to his faithful love.
We can trust him forever and ever!
94 The Lord is a God who punishes people.
God, come punish them.
2 You are the judge of the whole earth.
Give proud people the punishment they deserve.
3 Lord, how long will the wicked have their fun?
How much longer?
4 How much longer will those criminals
brag about the evil they did?
5 Lord, they hurt your people
and make them suffer.
6 They kill widows and foreigners living in our country.
They murder orphans.
7 And they say the Lord does not see them doing these evil things!
They say the God of Jacob does not know what is happening.
8 You evil people are foolish.
When will you learn your lesson?
You are so stupid!
You must try to understand.
9 God made our ears,
so surely he can hear what is happening!
He made our eyes,
so surely he can see you!
10 The one who disciplines nations will surely correct you.
He is the one who teaches us everything.
11 The Lord knows what people are thinking.
He knows that their thoughts are like a puff of wind.
12 Lord, great blessings belong to those you discipline,
to those you teach from your law.
13 You help them stay calm when trouble comes.
You will help them until the wicked are put in their graves.
14 The Lord will not leave his people.
He will not leave them without help.
15 Justice will return and bring fairness.
And those who want to do right will be there to see it.
16 No one helped me fight against the wicked.
No one stood with me against those who do evil.
17 And if the Lord had not helped me,
I would have been silenced by death.
18 I know I was ready to fall,
but, Lord, your faithful love supported me.
19 I was very worried and upset,
but you comforted me and made me happy!
20 You don’t help crooked judges.
They use the law to make life hard for the people.
21 They attack those who do right.
They say innocent people are guilty and put them to death.
22 But the Lord is my place of safety, high on the mountain.
God, my Rock, is my safe place!
23 He will punish those evil judges for the bad things they did.
He will destroy them because they sinned.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
95 Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
2 Come and worship him with songs of thanks.[a]
Let us sing happy songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
the great King ruling over all the other “gods.”
4 The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him.
5 The ocean is his—he created it.
He made the dry land with his own hands.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship him!
Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 He is our God,
and we are the people he cares for,
his sheep that walk by his side.
Listen to his voice today:
8 “Don’t be stubborn, as you were at Meribah,
as you were at Massah[b] in the desert.
9 Your ancestors doubted and tested me,
even after they saw what I could do!
10 I was angry with them for 40 years.
I said, ‘They are not faithful to me.
They refuse to do what I say.’
11 So in my anger I made this vow:
‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”
God’s Holy Box Is Sent Back Home
6 The Philistines kept the Lord’s Holy Box in their land for seven months. 2 The Philistines called their priests and magicians and said, “What must we do with the Lord’s Box? Tell us how to send it back home.”
3 The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Holy Box of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty. You must offer gifts to the God of Israel. Then you will be healed. You must do this so that God will stop punishing you.”[a]
4 The Philistines asked, “What kind of gifts should we send for Israel’s God to forgive us?”
The priests and magicians answered, “There are five Philistine leaders, one leader for each city. All of you and your leaders had the same problems. So you must make five gold models to look like five tumors. And you must make five gold models to look like five mice. 5 So make models of the tumors and models of the mice that are ruining the country. Give these gold models to the God of Israel as payment. Then maybe the God of Israel will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land. 6 Don’t be stubborn like Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God punished the Egyptians. That is why the Egyptians let the Israelites leave Egypt.
7 “You must build a new wagon and get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never worked in the fields. Tie the cows to the wagon so that they can pull it. Then take the calves back home and put them in their pen. Don’t let them follow their mothers.[b] 8 Put the Lord’s Holy Box on the wagon. You must put the golden models in the bag beside the Box. They are your gifts for God to forgive your sins. Send the wagon straight on its way. 9 Watch the wagon. If the wagon goes toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land, then it is their God who has given us this great sickness. But if the cows don’t go straight to Beth Shemesh, we will know it was not their God who brought this sickness to us. It was just one of those things that sometimes happen.”
10 The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They found two cows that had just had calves and tied them to the wagon. But they kept the calves at home in a pen. 11 Then the Philistines put the Lord’s Holy Box on the wagon along with the bag with the golden models of the tumors and mice. 12 The cows went straight to Beth Shemesh. The cows stayed on the road, mooing all the way. They did not turn right or left. The Philistine rulers followed the cows as far as the city limits of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. They looked up and saw the Holy Box. They were very happy to see it again. They ran to get it. 14-15 The wagon came to the field that belonged to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there near a large rock.
Some Levites took down the Lord’s Holy Box and the bag that had the golden models. The Levites put the Lord’s Box and the bag that was with it on the large rock.
The people of Beth Shemesh cut up the wagon and killed the cows. That day, they sacrificed the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord.
16 The five Philistine rulers watched the people of Beth Shemesh do this and then went back to Ekron that same day.
27 The soldiers brought the apostles in and made them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them. 28 He said, “We told you never again to teach using that name.[a] But look at what you have done! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. And you are trying to blame us for his death.”
29 Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God, not you! 30 You killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross. But God, the same God our fathers had, raised Jesus up from death. 31 Jesus is the one God honored by giving him a place at his right side. He made him our Leader and Savior. God did this to give all the people of Israel the opportunity to change and turn to God to have their sins forgiven. 32 We saw all these things happen, and we can say that they are true. The Holy Spirit also shows that these things are true. God has given this Spirit to all those who obey him.”
33 When the council members heard this, they became very angry. They began to plan a way to kill the apostles. 34 But one member of the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, stood up. He was a teacher of the law, and all the people respected him. He told the men to make the apostles leave the meeting for a few minutes. 35 Then he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful of what you are planning to do to these men. 36 Remember when Theudas appeared? He said he was an important man, and about 400 men joined him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were scattered and ran away. They were not able to do anything. 37 Later, during the time of the census, a man named Judas came from Galilee. Many people joined his group, but he was also killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 And so now I tell you, stay away from these men. Leave them alone. If their plan is something they thought up, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be fighting against God himself!”
The Jewish leaders agreed with what Gamaliel said. 40 They called the apostles in again. They beat them and told them not to speak anymore using the name of Jesus. Then they let them go free. 41 The apostles left the council meeting. They were happy because they were given the honor of suffering dishonor for Jesus. 42 The apostles did not stop teaching the people. They continued to tell the Good News—that Jesus is the Messiah. They did this every day in the Temple area and in people’s homes.
37 During the day Jesus taught the people in the Temple area. At night he went out of the city and stayed all night on the Mount of Olives. 38 Every morning all the people got up early to go listen to Jesus at the Temple.
The Jewish Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus(A)
22 It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover. 2 The leading priests and teachers of the law wanted to kill Jesus. But they were trying to find a quiet way to do it, because they were afraid of what the people would do.
Judas Agrees to Help Jesus’ Enemies(B)
3 One of Jesus’ twelve apostles was named Judas Iscariot. Satan entered him, 4 and he went and talked with the leading priests and some of the soldiers who guarded the Temple. He talked to them about a way to hand Jesus over to them. 5 The priests were very happy about this. They promised to give Judas money for doing this. 6 He agreed. Then he waited for the best time to hand him over to them. He wanted to do it when no one was around to see it.
The Passover Meal(C)
7 The Day of Unleavened Bread[a] came. This was the day when the Jews always killed the lambs for the Passover. 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
9 They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare the meal?”
He said to them, 10 “When you go into the city, you will see a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him. He will go into a house. 11 Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks that you please show us the room where he and his followers can eat the Passover meal.’ 12 Then the owner will show you a large room upstairs that is ready for us. Prepare the meal there.”
13 So Peter and John left. Everything happened the way Jesus said. So they prepared the Passover meal.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International