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 because 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 feed on truth.
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,
and your fairness 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 those who trust the Lord will inherit the land.
10 In a little while the wicked will be no more.
You may look for them, but they will be gone.
11 People who are not proud will inherit the land
and 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,
because he sees that their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords
and bend their bows
to kill the poor and helpless,
to kill those who are honest.
15 But their swords will stab their own hearts,
and their bows will break.
16 It is 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,
and 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 borrow and don’t pay back,
but those who do right give freely to others.
22 Those whom the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be sent away.
23 When people’s steps follow the Lord,
God is pleased with their ways.
24 If they stumble, they will not fall,
because the Lord holds their hand.
25 I was young, and now I am old,
but I have never seen good people left helpless
or 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,
so you will live forever.
28 The Lord loves justice
and 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
and will live in it forever.
30 Good people speak with wisdom,
and they say what is fair.
31 The teachings of their God are in their heart,
so they do not fail to keep them.
32 The wicked watch for good people
so that they may kill them.
33 But the Lord will not take away his protection
or let good people be judged 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 sent away.
35 I saw a wicked and cruel man
who 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,
and 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 strength 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.
Solomon’s Many Wives
11 King Solomon loved many women who were not from Israel. He loved the daughter of the king of Egypt, as well as women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 The Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not marry people of other nations. If you do, they will cause you to follow their gods.” But Solomon fell in love with these women. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were from royal families and three hundred slave women who gave birth to his children. His wives caused him to turn away from God. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives caused him to follow other gods. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon, and Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what the Lord said was wrong and did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built two places for worship. One was a place to worship Chemosh, the hated god of the Moabites, and the other was a place to worship Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon did the same thing for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord had appeared to Solomon twice, but the king turned away from following the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord was angry with Solomon, 10 because he had commanded Solomon not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have chosen to break your agreement with me and have not obeyed my commands, I will tear your kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officers. 12 But I will not take it away while you are alive because of my love for your father David. I will tear it away from your son when he becomes king. 13 I will not tear away all the kingdom from him, but I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this because of David, my servant, and because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”
True Wisdom
13 Are there those among you who are truly wise and understanding? Then they should show it by living right and doing good things with a gentleness that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are selfish and have bitter jealousy in your hearts, do not brag. Your bragging is a lie that hides the truth. 15 That kind of “wisdom” does not come from God but from the world. It is not spiritual; it is from the devil. 16 Where jealousy and selfishness are, there will be confusion and every kind of evil. 17 But the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are troubled and to do good for others. It is always fair and honest. 18 People who work for peace in a peaceful way plant a good crop of right-living.
Give Yourselves to God
4 Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. 2 You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. 3 Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.
4 So, you are not loyal to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy. 5 Do you think the Scripture means nothing that says, “The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone”?[a] 6 But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says,
“God is against the proud,
but he gives grace to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34
7 So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you. 8 Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure. 9 Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. 10 Humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you.
You Are Not the Judge
11 Brothers and sisters, do not tell evil lies about each other. If you speak against your fellow believers or judge them, you are judging and speaking against the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are no longer a follower of the law. You have become a judge. 12 God is the only Lawmaker and Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor.
12 Then Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13 They shouted, “Crucify him!”
14 Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he freed Barabbas for them. After having Jesus beaten with whips, he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium) and called all the other soldiers together. 17 They put a purple robe on Jesus and used thorny branches to make a crown for his head. 18 They began to call out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They spit on him and made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. 20 After they finished, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be crucified.
Jesus Is Crucified
21 A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.