Book of Common Prayer

David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.

A morning song^[a]

God rules the world^[a]

This is a song that David wrote.

The love of God^[a]

It is time to build the temple

1 ^1-2 The Lord spoke his message to Haggai, his prophet.^[a] At that time, Darius was king of Persia.^[b] He had been king for 1 year and five months. On the first day of the next month, the Lord told Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, Judah's ruler, and to Joshua, the leader of God's priests. Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel. Joshua was the son of Jehozadak. This was the Almighty Lord's message: ‘Judah's people say that this is not the right time to build a temple for me.’

³ The Lord told his prophet Haggai to say this to the people:

⁴ ‘You people are living in beautiful houses. But my temple is still just a heap of stones! It is time for you to do something about it! ⁵ I, the Almighty Lord, tell you this: Think carefully about what is happening to you. ⁶ You plant seeds but not many plants grow to give you food. You never have enough to eat. You drink, but you are still thirsty. You have clothes to wear, but they do not keep you warm. When you receive money for your work, you soon need to spend it. Then you have no money left.

⁷ The Almighty Lord also says this: Think about how you live your lives. ⁸ Now go up to the hills to get wood to build my temple again. If you do that, I will be happy. You will worship me there as you should do. ⁹ You thought that you would get a lot of food from the crops that grow in your fields. But only a few plants grew. When you brought your food home, it quickly disappeared. I blew it away! Why do you think all this happened? It happened because my temple is still a heap of stones. At the same time, you all work hard to build your own houses. I, the Almighty Lord, am telling you this! ¹⁰ That is why there has been no rain on your fields. That is why your plants do not grow well. ¹¹ I have stopped the rain, so that your fields and the hills have become dry. Your crops will not grow. There will be no grapes to make wine. You will not have olives to make oil. Nothing will grow in the ground. Your animals will not become fat. People and animals will all hurt. For all your work, you will get nothing.’

The people obey the Lord

¹² Zerubbabel and Joshua, the leader of the priests, as well as all the people obeyed the Lord, their God. They were the people that the Lord had brought back to Jerusalem from Babylon. When they heard the message that Haggai spoke to them, they agreed that it was a message from the Lord. As a result, they respected the Lord and they decided to obey him. ¹³ Haggai, the Lord's prophet, then spoke this message from the Lord: ‘The Lord says, “I am with you.” ’

¹⁴ In that way, the Lord gave strength to Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the people who had returned to live in Jerusalem. They decided to work hard to build the temple of their God, the Almighty Lord. ¹⁵ They started to work on the 24th day of that same month, in the second year after Darius had become king.

The temple will be beautiful

2 On the 21st day of the seventh month, the Lord spoke again to Haggai, his prophet. ² The Lord told Haggai that he must speak to Zerubbabel and to Joshua. Shealtiel's son, Zerubbabel, was the ruler of Judah. Jehozadak's son, Joshua was the leader of the priests. The Lord also told Haggai to speak his message to all the people who had returned to live in Jerusalem. The Lord told Haggai to say this to them all:

³ The Lord says, ‘Some of you will remember how beautiful my temple was in past times. Look at it now! It seems nothing like it was before. ⁴ But now, Zerubbabel, be strong and brave! Joshua too, and all you people who belong here in Judah, be strong and brave! Now begin to work, because I am with you to help you. That is what I, the Almighty Lord, say to you. ⁵ Do not be afraid. Remember that I made a promise to your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. I promised them that I would be with them. My Spirit is now with you too.

⁶ I, the Almighty Lord also tell you this: Soon, I will cause the sky and the whole earth to shake. I will also cause the sea and the land to shake. ⁷ I will cause people in all the nations of the world to shake with fear. They will come here to offer their valuable gifts. At that time, I will cause my temple to be full of glory. I, the Almighty Lord, tell you this. ⁸ Yes, all the silver and gold in the world belongs to me. And I promise you this: ⁹ This new temple will be even more beautiful than the old temple in past times. Here in this place I will bless my people.’ That is what the Almighty Lord says.

These are some of the things that Apollos did

²⁴ A certain Jewish man called Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He had been born in Alexandria, and he could teach people very well.^[a] He knew a lot about God's message in the Bible. ²⁵ Someone had taught him the good news about the Lord Jesus. He liked to speak a lot to people about Jesus. The things that he taught were true. But he only knew part of God's message. He only knew the things that John taught about baptism. ²⁶ Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place and he taught the people there. He was not afraid to speak God's message to them. Priscilla and Aquila heard what Apollos was teaching the people. So they said to him, ‘Please come with us to our home.’ Then they explained to Apollos the whole of God's message about Jesus. Then he could understand better.

²⁷ Later, Apollos decided to go to the region called Achaia. The believers in Ephesus agreed that he should do that. They wrote a letter for him to give to the believers in Achaia. They wrote, ‘When Apollos arrives, please accept him.’ God had been very kind to the believers in Achaia, so that they believed in Jesus. When Apollos came to them, he helped them very much. ²⁸ Some of the Jews there spoke against Apollos's message. But he argued strongly against them so that everyone could hear. He explained to them what God had said in the Bible. He showed them clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah.

Paul speaks in Ephesus about Jesus

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the region of Asia. He arrived in Ephesus and he found some believers there. ² Paul asked them, ‘When you believed the message about Jesus, did you receive God's Holy Spirit?’

The believers answered, ‘We did not even know that there is a Holy Spirit.’

³ So Paul asked them, ‘When someone baptized you, what kind of baptism was that?’

‘We received the baptism that John spoke about,’ they answered.

⁴ Then Paul said, ‘John baptized people who knew that they had done wrong things. They wanted to stop doing these things. But John also said to the people, “You must believe in the man who will come soon.” This person is Jesus.’ ⁵ When the believers in Ephesus understood this, Paul baptized them. This showed that they now believed in the Lord Jesus. ⁶ Then Paul put his hands on each believer's head. When he did this, the Holy Spirit came down on them. They spoke in different languages and they spoke messages from God. ⁷ There were about 12 men there.

A story about a good man from Samaria

²⁵ A teacher of God's Law stood up. He wanted to see how Jesus would answer his question. So he asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’

²⁶ ‘What does God's Law say?’ Jesus asked. ‘What do you understand when you read it?’

²⁷ The man replied, ‘It says that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind and with all our strength. We must love him with all that we are and in all that we think. It also says that we must love other people as much as we love ourselves.’^[a]

²⁸ ‘You have told me the right answer,’ Jesus said. ‘If you do this, you will have true life with God.’

²⁹ But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’

³⁰ Jesus answered him with a story: ‘A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho town. On the way, some men attacked him. They took away all his clothes and they hit him with sticks. He was almost dead when they left him. ³¹ But it happened that a priest from the temple was going down that road. He saw the man, who was lying there. But he walked past him on the other side of the road. ³² A Levite was also going down the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. He saw him. But he also walked past on the other side of the road.^[b]

³³ But then a man from Samaria was also travelling along the road. And he came to the place where the man was lying. When he saw him, he felt very sorry for him. ³⁴ He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding.^[c] Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he was kind to him.^[d]

³⁵ The next day, the man from Samaria took out two silver coins from his purse.^[e] He gave the money to the man that was taking care of the hotel. “Be kind to this man for me,” he said. “This money may not be enough. When I return, I will pay you for any more that you have spent on him.” ’

³⁶ Then Jesus asked the teacher of God's Law a question. He said, ‘Three men saw the man that was lying on the road. Which of them showed love to him, like a real friend?’

³⁷ The teacher answered, ‘It was the man who was kind to him.’

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Yes. So you should go and do the same for other people.’