Book of Common Prayer
Asaph wrote this psalm.
God is our judge[a]
50 God, the great God, the Lord, is speaking.
He is calling everybody on the earth,
from where the sun rises in the east,
to where it goes down in the west.
2 God is shining out from Zion,
that most beautiful place.
3 Our God is coming,
and he does not come quietly!
A fire burns up everything that is in front of him.
There is a great storm all round him.
4 He calls to the skies above,
and to the earth below.
They must watch while he judges his people.
5 He says, ‘Bring my people to me.
They are the people who offered sacrifices to me,
to agree our covenant.’
6 The skies above show that God is righteous,
and God himself is the judge.
Selah.
7 He says, ‘Listen to me, my people,
and I will speak to you.
I have something to say against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 You offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to me all the time
but that is not why I speak against you.
9 I do not need a bull from your farm,
or goats from your fields.
10 All the wild animals of the forest belong to me!
All the cows on a thousand hills belong to me!
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
as well as all the insects.
12 Even if I did become hungry,
I would not tell you.
All the world belongs to me,
and everything that is in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? No!
Do I drink the blood of goats? No!
14 Say “thank you” to me as your offering.
Do whatever you have promised to do for me,
the Most High God.
15 Pray to me when you are in trouble.
Then I will rescue you,
and you will praise me.’[b]
16 But God says this to the wicked people:
‘It is useless for you to speak about my commands,
or about my covenant.
17 For you hate my teaching,
and you refuse to accept my message.
18 If you see a robber,
you run to help him!
You become friends with adulterers.
19 You speak about evil things,
and you are always telling lies.
20 You say bad things about your own brother,
and you speak against your own family!
21 You did all these things,
and I said nothing.
So you thought that I was as bad as you are.
But now I am warning you!
I will tell you clearly
what you have done wrong.
22 So think carefully about this,
all you people who have turned away from me.
If not, I will tear you into pieces,
and nobody will be able to save you.
23 If anyone wants to praise me,
they should say “thank you” to me as their offering.
If anyone obeys my commands,
I will show them my power to save people.’
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer when King Saul sent men to catch David at his house and murder him.
A prayer[a]
59 My God, please save me from my enemies!
They are attacking me,
so please keep me safe from them.
2 Rescue me from those dangerous men,
who are doing evil things.
3 Look at them! They are waiting to kill me!
Cruel men are ready to attack me.
Lord, I have not done anything against them,
but they still want to kill me.
4 I have done nothing that is wrong,
but they are preparing to attack me.
Do something to help me!
Look at what they are doing!
5 For you are the Lord God Almighty,
the God that Israel serves.
Get up and punish all the foreign nations.
Do not forgive any wicked people
who have turned against us.
Selah.
6 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
7 They shout evil things,
and their words hurt like swords.
They think, ‘Nobody can hear what we say!’
8 But Lord, you laugh at them.
You laugh at all the foreign nations.
9 I will wait for you to help me,
because you are the one who gives me strength.
You, God, are the strong place
where I will be safe.
10 Yes God, you love me with a faithful love,
and you will come to help me.
God will let me see that he has won against my enemies.
11 Do not kill them yet,
or my people will soon forget.
Use your power to send them away without homes.
Then make them fall!
You are our Lord
who keeps us safe like a soldier's shield.
12 They speak bad words that are evil.
Let their own pride catch them in a trap,
because they curse people,
and they tell lies.
13 Because you are angry with them,
destroy them!
Destroy them completely,
so that they are no more.
Then everybody will know that God rules in Israel,
and he rules everywhere in the earth.
Selah.
14 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
15 They go from place to place
and they look for food to eat.
They will not rest until they are full.
16 But I will sing to praise you.
I will sing about your strength!
In the morning,
I will praise you for your faithful love.
Because you are the strong place where I can hide.
When I am in trouble,
you keep me safe.
17 You are the one who gives me strength.
I will sing songs to praise you.
You, God, are my strong, safe place.
You are the God who loves me with a faithful love.
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer to teach people. He wrote it when he fought wars in north Syria. After the battle, Joab's army killed 12,000 of Edom's people in Salt Valley.
God, please help us![b]
60 God, you have turned against us,
and you have broken down our strong walls.[c]
You are angry with us,
but please make us strong again!
2 You made the ground shake
and you tore it open.
Now mend the holes,
or everything will fall down.
3 You have given your people a time of difficult trouble.
You have given us strong wine to drink,
that has made us fall like drunk people.[d]
4 But you have lifted up a flag
for the people who serve you.
They can meet together there,
to be safe in the battle.
Selah.
5 Use your power to rescue us!
Answer our prayers!
Then the people that you love will be safe.
6 God has spoken from his holy place![e]
He has promised:
‘I will show my power!
I will make Shechem into separate pieces.
I will measure Succoth Valley.
7 Gilead belongs to me,
and so does Manasseh.
Ephraim is like my helmet for war.
Judah has the authority of my royal sceptre.[f]
8 But Moab is the place where I wash my hands.
Edom is my servant.
I can throw my shoes at him!
I will shout loudly,
because I have won against the Philistines.’[g]
9 Who will lead me into the strong city?
Who will take me to fight and win against Edom?[h]
10 God, have you really turned against us?
Will you not lead our armies into battle?
11 Help us to fight against our enemies,
because help from men is useless!
12 With God's help, we will win!
He will beat down our enemies for us.
Praise the Lord![a]
33 You righteous people,
sing to praise the Lord,
and be happy!
It is right for good, honest people to do that.
2 Pick up your harp
and praise the Lord!
Make music for him
with a lyre that has ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song!
Make beautiful music,
as you sing aloud to praise him.
4 Yes! The Lord's message is true.
We can always trust him to do what is right.
5 He loves everything that is right and fair.
The world is full of his faithful love.
6 The word of the Lord made the heavens.
When he spoke,
all the stars in the sky appeared.
7 He put the water of the sea together in a heap.
He made the deep seas stay in their right places.
8 Everyone who lives on the earth should respect the Lord.
They should bend down to worship him.
9 The Lord spoke,
and the world began!
He spoke his command,
and everything became fixed in its place.[b]
10 Nations decide what they want to do,
but the Lord causes their plans to be useless.
11 But whatever the Lord decides to do
will always happen.
His thoughts will not change
from one century to the next.
12 The Lord blesses the nation
that has him as their God.
He has chosen them to belong to him,
as his own special people.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees every man, woman and child.
14 From the place where he lives,
he watches everyone that lives on the earth.
15 He made each person and all their thoughts.
He knows everything that they do.
16 A great army will not save their king.
A soldier does not stay alive because he is strong.
17 In war, do not hope that even a strong horse will help you to win.
You can not trust it to save you.
18 Remember, the Lord takes care of people who respect him.
Those people trust him for his faithful love.
19 They trust him to keep them safe from death,
and to keep them alive during a time of famine.
20 Yes! We will trust the Lord to come and help us.
He is our helper who keeps us safe,
like a soldier's shield.
21 We are happy because he loves us.
We trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, help us to know your faithful love,
because we are trusting in you.
Nehemiah prays
1 These are the words of Nehemiah, Hacaliah's son.
It was the month Kislev. This was when King Artaxerxes had ruled for 20 years. I was in the big city of Susa. 2 Hanani, my brother, and some other men arrived from Judah. I asked them for news of the Jews who had returned there from exile in Babylon. I asked them for news about Jerusalem. 3 They told me, ‘The Jews who returned to Judah are in much trouble. The walls of the city still have lots of holes in them. Fire has burned the city's gates down to the ground. So the people are very ashamed.’
4 After they told me this, I sat down and I wept. I was very sad for many days. I did not eat or drink anything and I prayed to God.
5 I prayed, ‘Lord, God of heaven, you are great and powerful.[a] You always continue to love your people, as you have promised to do. You are kind to those people who love you and obey your commands. 6 Please listen to my prayer. I am your servant. I am praying in the day and in the night on behalf of your servants, the Israelites. I agree that we have all done wrong things. That includes me and my family. We have not obeyed you. 7 We have done wicked things against you. We have not obeyed the commands, the laws and the rules that you gave to your servant Moses.[b]
8 Remember what you told your servant, Moses. You told him, “If the Israelites turn away from me, I will make them live among foreign people in many different places. 9 But if they return to me and they obey my commands, I will be kind to them. I will bring them back together again from all the different places where they are living. Even if they live far away, I will find them. I will bring them to the place that I have chosen to give honour to my name.”
10 Lord, these are your people and your servants. You used your great power and strength to rescue them. 11 Please listen to my prayer, my Lord. Hear the prayers of your people who love to respect your name. Please cause the king to be kind to me. May he give me what I ask for.’
I was the king's cupbearer.[c]
11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of many angels. There were thousands and millions of them. They were standing around the throne, with the beings that are alive and the leaders. 12 They all sang with loud voices:
‘The Lamb that people killed is completely good!
He has all authority, and all things belong to him.
He is wise and powerful.
Everyone must agree that he is great!
Everyone must praise him and worship him!’
13 Then I heard everything that is alive singing. That was everything in heaven and everything on the earth, and everything under the earth and everything in the sea. They were singing:
‘We praise the one who sits on the throne.
We praise the one who is the Lamb.
We say that they are great! We worship them!
They have power to rule for ever!’
14 The four beings that are alive agreed. They said, ‘Yes, this is true.’ The leaders fell down and they worshipped God and the Lamb.[a]
The Lamb opens the seals
6 Then I watched while the Lamb opened one of the seven seals on the book. I heard one of the four beings say, ‘Come!’ It spoke very loudly with a voice like thunder. 2 I looked, and I saw a white horse. The person who was riding the horse held a bow. Someone gave him a crown. He had fought against many people and he had won. Now he rode out on his horse to win against many more people.
3 Then the Lamb opened the second seal. I heard another of the beings say, ‘Come!’ 4 Then another horse came out. This horse was bright red, like fire. The person who was riding the horse had authority. He could take peace away from the earth, so that people killed each other. Someone gave him a large sword.
5 Then the Lamb opened the third seal. I heard the next being say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and I saw a black horse. The person who was riding the horse held something in his hand. He used it to weigh things. 6 Then I heard a sound like somebody speaking among the four beings. The voice said, ‘A litre of wheat is worth one day's work. And three litres of barley is also worth one day's work. But do not destroy the olive oil and the wine.’[b]
7 Then the Lamb opened the fourth seal. I heard the last being say, ‘Come!’ 8 I looked, and I saw a grey horse.[c] The name of the person who was riding the horse was Death. The place for dead people, called Hades, was following near to him. They had authority to kill people in a quarter of the earth. They could kill people in different ways. They could kill them in wars. They could cause people to die because there was no food. They could cause people to become very ill so that they died. They could also cause wild animals to kill people.
9 Then the Lamb opened the fifth seal. I saw an altar where people offered gifts to God. I saw the souls of some of God's people under the altar. These people had died because they had believed God's message. They had continued to speak the true message about Jesus Christ. That is why people had killed them. 10 These believers called out loudly, ‘Lord, you have all authority. You are completely good. You always do what is right. When will you decide to judge the people who live on the earth? Do not wait! You should quickly punish the people who killed us!’
11 Then each believer received white clothes. God told them to wait for a short time more. They must wait until other believers on earth also died. These believers are also servants of God. God will wait until people kill those believers too. Then the number of them will be complete.
Jesus explains the story about the farmer who planted his seeds
18 Jesus then said, ‘Listen to me now. I will tell you what this story about the farmer means. 19 Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like. 20 Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. 21 But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. 22 Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. 23 But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’[a]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.