Book of Common Prayer
This psalm is a song that Asaph wrote.
Israel's enemies
83 God, do not continue to be silent!
Do not remain quiet.
Please do something!
2 Look! Your enemies are causing trouble.
The people who hate you are ready to attack.
3 They decide carefully how they will attack your people.
They want to hurt the people that you love.
4 They say, ‘Come now! We will destroy them.
They will no longer be a nation.
Nobody will remember the name of Israel any more.’
5 They agree together what they will do.
They join one another to fight against you.
6 Those enemies are Edomites and Ishmaelites,
Moabites and Hagrites.
7 They also come from Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia and Tyre.
8 Even the Assyrian army has joined with them.
They have given strength to Lot's descendants,
the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Selah.
9 God, punish them as you punished Midian.
Do what you did to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon.[a]
10 You destroyed them at Endor.
Their bodies remained on the ground, like dirt.
11 Do to their leaders
what you did to Oreb and Zeeb.
Let their rulers die,
like Zebah and Zalmunna.[b]
12 Those people said,
‘Let us take God's valuable country for ourselves!’
13 God, blow them away like dust,
like chaff that blows away in the wind!
14 Go after them,
like a fire that burns both forest and mountains.
15 Chase them away with your storms.
Frighten them with your strong winds.
16 Cause them to be very ashamed, Lord,
so that they might turn to you.
17 May they always be ashamed and frightened.
Let them die with shame![c]
18 Then they will understand that you are the Lord.
They will know that you are the Most High God
who rules over all the earth.
This is a song that David wrote.
God takes care of his people[a]
23 The Lord takes care of me,
like a shepherd with his sheep.
I have everything that I need.
2 He takes me to green fields where I can rest.
He leads me to streams of water where I can drink.
3 He gives me new strength in my life.
He is my guide to the right paths.
He does this to give honour to his name.
4 I may walk through a valley that is as dark as death.
But I will not be afraid of any danger.
This is because you are with me, Lord.
Your stick and your shepherd's pole protect me from danger.
5 You prepare a big meal for me while my enemies watch.
You put olive oil on my head.
You bless me so much that my cup is completely full.
6 I am sure that you will always be good to me.
You will love me all the days of my life.
That will never change.
I will live in the Lord's house for as long as I live.
This is a song that David wrote.
I trust God to keep me safe
27 The Lord gives me light in my life
and he makes me safe.
So I am not afraid of anyone!
The Lord takes care of my life.
Nobody can make me afraid!
2 Evil men are ready to attack me.
They want to destroy my body.
But when my enemies attack me,
they trip and fall to the ground!
3 Even if a whole army comes to fight against me,
I will not be afraid.
Even if they attack me in war,
I will continue to trust God.
4 There is one thing that I have asked the Lord to do for me.
This is the one thing that I really want:
I want to live in the Lord's house
all the days of my life.
Then I will clearly see the Lord's beauty.
I will pray to him in his temple.
5 When danger is near,
the Lord will keep me safe.
He will take care of me in his home.
He will put me in a safe place,
on the top of a high rock.
6 My enemies may be all round me,
but I will win against them.
They will see how strong I am!
I will offer sacrifices to the Lord in his temple.
I will be so happy that I will shout aloud!
Yes, I will sing to praise the Lord.
7 Lord, hear me when I call to you for help.[a]
Be kind to me and answer me.
8 I have heard you say to me, ‘Come near to me.’
So I will come and pray to you, Lord.
9 Please do not turn away from me.
I am your servant,
so do not be angry with me.
You have always helped me in the past,
so do not push me away now.
You are the one who saves me, God,
so do not turn away from me.
10 Even if my father and my mother leave me,
the Lord will still take care of me.
11 Lord, please teach me to follow your way.
Lead me along a good, safe path,
because my enemies are waiting to attack me.
12 Do not give me to my enemies.
They say false things against me,
so that they can destroy me.
13 But I surely believe
that I will see how good the Lord is!
I will know his love while I still live in this world.
14 Wait for the Lord to help you!
Be strong and brave.
Yes, wait for the Lord to help you!
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
A prayer for peace[a]
85 Lord, you have blessed your land.
You have made Jacob's descendants strong again.[b]
2 You forgave your people's sins.
You took away their guilt.
Selah
3 You stopped being so angry with them.
You did not punish them any more.
4 But now turn back to us,
and make us strong again, God.
You are the one who rescues us.
Please stop being angry with us.
5 Will you continue to be angry with us for ever?
Will you be angry with our children too?
6 Please turn back to us
and give us new life!
Then your people will be happy
and they will praise you.
7 Lord, show us again your faithful love!
Please rescue us!
8 Now I will listen to what the Lord God says.
He will give peace to his people,
to those who serve him.
But they must not turn back
to do foolish things again.
9 Yes, God will soon rescue his people who serve him.
Then we will see his glory again in our land.
10 God will be faithful to us
and he will love us with his faithful love.
His justice and his peace will join together,
like dear friends.
11 Faithful truth will grow like a plant in the ground.
Justice will look down from the sky above.[c]
12 Yes! The Lord will bless us with many good things.
Plenty of food will grow in our land.
13 Justice will go before our God,
and it will make a way for him to walk on.
David's prayer.
A prayer for help
86 Lord, please listen to me,
and answer me!
I am weak and I need help.
2 I am your faithful servant,
so keep my life safe!
Please save me, my God,
for I trust in you.
3 My Lord, be kind to me.
All through the day,
I am calling to you for help.
4 Please make me happy deep inside,
for you are the one that I pray to, my Lord.
5 Yes, my Lord, you are very kind,
and you are ready to forgive people.
When anyone calls to you for help,
you love them with your faithful love.
6 Lord, hear my prayer!
Please listen when I call to you for help.
7 Whenever trouble comes to me,
I will pray to you.
I know that you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you, my Lord,
among all the gods.
Nobody can do the great things that you do.
9 You have made all the nations of the world,
and they will all come to worship you, my Lord.
They will agree that your name is great.
10 For you are great and you do great things.
You alone are God.
11 Lord, teach me how I should live.
Then I will obey your truth.
Teach me to serve you with all that I am,
so that I respect you with fear.
12 My Lord and my God,
I will thank you with all my strength.
I will praise your name for ever!
13 I know that you love me very much
with your faithful love.
You will continue to keep my life safe,
so that I do not go down into the deep hole of death.
14 God, proud people are attacking me.
Cruel men have joined together to kill me.
They do not respect you at all.
15 But you, my Lord, are a kind God
who forgives people.
You do not quickly become angry,
and your faithful love is very great.
We can always trust you
to do what you have promised.
16 Turn to me and be kind to me.
I am your servant, so make me strong.
Please rescue your slave!
17 Help me, so that I know you are pleased with me.
Then my enemies will see it,
and they will be ashamed.
They will know that you, Lord,
have helped me and comforted me.
The people in heaven praise God
19 After these things, I heard a sound like the voices of a great crowd of people in heaven. They were shouting,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
He has saved us!
He is very powerful!
We say that he is great!
2 Everything that he decides is right and fair.
He has punished that great prostitute.
She led people on the earth to do wicked things.
She murdered God's servants with her own hands.
But now God has punished her as she deserves.’[a]
3 Then the crowd of people in heaven shouted again,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
The smoke from the fire that burns that city will go up for ever.’
4 The 24 leaders and the four beings that are alive then threw themselves down on the ground. They worshipped God, who was sitting on the throne. They said, ‘It is true! Praise the Lord God!’
5 Then a voice spoke from the throne. It said,
‘All of you who are God's servants,
praise our God!
All of you who respect God's power, worship him!
Important people and ordinary people should worship him!’
6 Then I heard a sound like the noise of a very big crowd that was shouting. The sound was like the noise of water that pours quickly along a river. It was like the noise of loud thunder. The crowd of people shouted,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
He rules with all power and authority!
7 We must shout with joy because we are so happy!
We will say that God is great!
The time has come for the Lamb's wedding party.
His bride has prepared herself.
8 God has given her linen clothes to wear that are bright and clean.’
These special linen clothes show the good things that God's holy people have done.[b]
9 Then the angel said to me, ‘Write down this message: “There will be a special meal at the Lamb's wedding party. God has truly blessed those people that he has asked to come to that meal.” ’ The angel also said to me, ‘This is a true message from God.’
10 Then I bent down low at the angel's feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I am a servant, like all believers who show clearly that they trust in Jesus. God is the one that you should worship! When God gave a message to his prophets, it was Jesus that they spoke about.’
The Pharisees ask again to see a miracle
16 Some Pharisees and Sadducees went to see Jesus. They wanted to test him to see what he would do. They asked him, ‘Do something powerful for us to see. Then we will believe that God has sent you.’
2 Jesus answered them, ‘Sometimes the sky is red in the evening. Then you say, “Tomorrow the weather will be good.” 3 Sometimes in the morning the sky is red and there are dark clouds. Then you say, “Today there will be a storm.” So you look at the sky and you know what the weather will be. But special things are happening now. And you do not understand what they mean. 4 The people who are alive today are very bad. They do not obey God. They want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for Jonah.’
Then Jesus went away and left them.
Jesus talks about the Pharisees and the Sadducees
5 Jesus and his disciples sailed over to the other side of the lake. His disciples forgot to take any bread with them. 6 Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’
7 The disciples began to talk to each other about this. ‘Jesus is saying this because we did not bring any bread with us,’ they said.
8 Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing with each other about the bread. You should trust me more than you do. 9 You still do not understand. You should remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. Think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food after the meal. 10 Also remember that I used seven loaves of bread to give food to 4,000 men. And think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food then. 11 I spoke to you about the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I said that you must not accept it. You should understand now that I was not speaking about bread.’
12 Then the disciples understood what Jesus was talking about. They did not need to be careful about the yeast that they used in their bread. Instead, they must be careful about what the Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching. They must not accept it.[a]
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