Book of Common Prayer
The two paths[a]
1 If someone does not do what wicked people tell him to do,
if he does not join with sinners,
if he does not meet with those who laugh at God,
God has blessed that person!
2 He is happy when he obeys the Law of the Lord.[b]
He thinks about God's Law during the day and at night.
3 He will become like a tree that grows beside streams of water.
It gives its fruit at the right season.
Its leaves do not fall off.
Everything that person does will have a good result.
4 But wicked people are as empty as chaff.
The wind blows them away.[c]
5 So they will not go free when God judges them.
Sinners cannot join with God's people,
the people who are right with God.[d]
6 The Lord takes care of people who respect him.
But wicked people are living in a way that will take them to a bad end.
The Lord's king rules[e]
2 Why are nations making plans to turn against the Lord?
All their plans will fail!
2 Kings and rulers decide to work together,
to fight against the Lord
and the king that he has chosen.
3 They say, ‘We will not accept their authority over us!
We will get free from their power!’[f]
4 The Lord who sits on his throne in heaven laughs at them.
He says that their plans are useless.
5 Then he becomes very angry and he frightens them.
He warns them with strong words and he says,
6 ‘I have put my king on his throne in Zion.[g]
I have put him on my holy mountain.’
7 I will tell you what the Lord has promised to me, his king.
He said to me, ‘You are my son.
Yes, today I have become your father![h]
8 Ask me and see what I will do!
I will give you all the nations on the earth.
They will all belong to you.
9 You will break them with an iron sceptre,
as if they are clay pots.’
10 So, you kings, think carefully!
You who rule the nations of the world, learn this lesson:
11 Respect the Lord and serve him.
Enjoy his rule with fear!
12 Bend down low in front of his son!
If not, the Lord will be angry.
He will quickly become very angry.
You will suddenly die!
But as for those who serve the Lord as their king,
he blesses them and he takes care of them all.
This is a song that David wrote when he ran away from his son, Absalom.[i]
A morning song
3 Lord, every day I have more enemies.
Many people fight against me.
2 They say about me,
‘God will not save him.’
Selah.
3 But Lord, you are like a shield for me.[j]
You are the one who gives me honour.
You lift my head up high.
4 I called aloud to the Lord.
He answered me from his holy mountain.
Selah.
5 I lie down and I sleep.
Then I wake up, because the Lord takes care of me.
6 Even if 10,000 enemies are all around me to attack me,
I will not be afraid of them.
7 Lord, stand up! My God, save me from my enemies!
Hit all my enemies in the face.
Break the teeth of those bad people.
8 Lord, it is you that saves us.
You bless your people.
Selah.
This is a song that David wrote.
Tell the music leader to use stringed instruments.
An evening song
4 God, please answer me when I call aloud for help.
You are the one who shows that I am right.
Help me in my trouble.
Show me that you are kind.
Listen to me when I pray.
2 Tell me this, you people:
How long will you refuse to respect me?
How long will you love stupid ideas?
How long will you agree with lies?
Selah.
3 The Lord is very kind to those who serve him.
He has chosen them to belong to himself.
So he listens when I pray to him.
4 Shake with fear and stop doing wrong things!
Lie on your bed and think quietly about your life.
Selah.
5 Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord.
Continue to trust in him.
6 Many people say, ‘Will anyone do a good thing for us?’
Lord, let your face smile on us.
7 You have made me very happy.
I am happier than anyone who has lots of food and wine.
8 I will lie down and I will sleep in peace.
You, Lord, are the one who takes care of me,
and you keep me safe.
A song with music that David wrote.
He sang this song to the Lord about Benjamin's descendant, Cush.
God always does what is right[a]
7 Lord, my God, I come to you to keep me safe.
Please save me from all those people who want to catch me.
2 If you do not keep me safe,
my enemies will tear me into pieces.
They will attack me like lions do,
and nobody will be able to save me.
3-5 Lord, my God, if I have done a wrong thing,
then let my enemies chase me and catch me.
If I have done a bad thing against a friend,
let my enemies catch me.
If I have helped a friend's enemy to attack him,
let my enemies catch me!
If I am guilty of any of these things,
let my enemies knock me down to the ground.
They should leave me there,
so that I lie as a dead person in the dirt.
Selah.
6 But Lord, now do something!
Wake up and help me!
Show how angry you are against my enemies.
Punish them in the way that you know is right!
7 Bring together the people of all nations,
to stand in front of you.
Rule over them from high above.
8 You, Lord, judge the people of all nations.
Lord, Most High God, say that I am not guilty.
Truly, I am righteous and honest.
9 Stop wicked people from doing evil things.
Keep your own people safe.
You always do what is right,
and you know how we think and feel.
10 The Most High God is like a shield to keep me safe.
He takes care of good, honest people.
11 God is a judge who is fair.
Every day he is angry against wicked people.
12 If they do not change the way that they live,
God will prepare to punish them.
He will make his sword sharp,
and he will put an arrow in his bow.
13 He will prepare his dangerous weapons.
He is ready to shoot his arrows that burn with fire.
14 Look! Wicked people prepare to do evil things!
They want to cause trouble.
Like a pregnant woman,
what starts inside them comes out into the open!
They give birth to lies that deceive people.
15 Wicked people want to hurt people.
They are digging a deep hole for people to fall into.
But they fall into the hole themselves!
16 The ideas that they have to hurt other people
bring trouble on themselves!
They want to be cruel to other people,
but they themselves receive the pain!
17 So I will thank the Lord
because he does what is right.
The Lord is the Most High God,
so I will sing to praise his name!
A message to the people in Israel
6 The Lord says, ‘The people in Israel have done more and more wrong things. So I will certainly punish them.
They sold people that did not do wrong things. They sold them for silver. And they sold poor people for only the price of shoes. 7 They are not kind to poor people and they do not help them. A father and his son have sex with the same woman. They do not respect the holy way that I want them to live. 8 When they lend money to poor people, they take the poor people's clothes.[a] They do not return the clothes each night, as they should do. Instead they sleep on the clothes themselves. They do that at the places where they worship their gods. The rich people take money from poor people. They use that money to buy wine for themselves. Then they drink the wine in the temples of their gods.
9 Remember the Amorites. They were big and strong. They were like the tallest cedar trees and the strongest oak trees. But I destroyed all of them. 10 I brought you out of Egypt. After that, I led you through the wilderness for 40 years. Then I took you to the land where the Amorites lived, so that it would belong to you. 11 I chose some men among you to be prophets, and some to be Nazirites.[b] You Israelites know that it is true.’ That is what the Lord says. 12 ‘But you told the Nazirites to drink wine, like everyone else. And you said to the prophets, “Do not speak messages from God.”
13 So I will punish you. A cart that has a heavy load pushes down on the ground. That is how I will push down on you. 14 You might try to run away. But nobody will get free. Even the fastest runner will not get free. The strong people will not be strong enough to stop me. The soldiers will not be able to save their lives. 15 Soldiers who shoot arrows will have to turn back. Fast runners will not save their lives. Soldiers who ride on horses will also die. 16 At that time, strong, brave soldiers will run away without their clothes.’ That is what the Lord says.
God has given to us everything that we need to be his people
1 This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ's servant and his apostle.
I am writing to you people who believe in Jesus Christ, as we do. That is a valuable gift that God has given to us all. He has done this because Jesus is completely good and right. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the God that we serve.
2 I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more. You will grow as believers because you know God and you know Jesus, our Lord.
3 God is very powerful because he is God. He has used that power to help us. He has given us everything that we need to live in a good way. We can do things that make God happy. This is possible because now we know him. God has chosen us to be his people because he is very great and very good. 4 Because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things for us. As a result, you can do what is right, like God does. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. Those bad things make them become worse and worse. But God gives you the power to be free from all that.
5 God has done all this to help you. So now that you believe in Christ, you must grow as believers. Try very much to do always what is good. Then you should grow to know God more and more. 6 Then you should learn to control yourselves properly. That is not all. You should also learn to be patient and brave. And you should live in a way that pleases God. 7 You should not only please God, but you should be kind to other believers. You should not only love other believers, but you must also love all people.
8 You should continue to grow as believers in all these ways. Then it will show that you really know our Lord Jesus Christ. People will see that your life has good results. 9 But some people do not live in these good ways. They do not think that these things are important. They are like blind people. They cannot really see anything properly. They have forgotten that God has made them clean from all the sins that they did in past times.
10 So, my friends, try very much to live in a way that pleases God. God has chosen you to be his own people. Show that you really do belong to him! If you do these things, you will never turn away from God. 11 Then God will bring you safely into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that continues for ever. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and God will be happy to welcome you into his kingdom.
Jesus goes into Jerusalem
21 Jesus and his 12 disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They came to the village called Bethphage.[a] They were on the Mount of Olives.[b] Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further.
2 He said to them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will immediately see a donkey tied there with her young donkey. Undo the ropes and bring both the donkeys here to me. 3 Someone may ask you, “What are you doing?” Then say, “The Master needs them. He will send them back to you soon.” ’
4 A prophet had spoken a message from God about this long ago. Now it became true.
5 ‘Say to the people in Jerusalem,
“Look, your king is coming to you.
He does not come like someone who thinks that he is important.
He is riding on a donkey.
Yes, he is riding on a young donkey.” ’[c]
6 So the two disciples went to the village. They did everything that Jesus had told them to do. 7 They brought the donkey and the young donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on the backs of the donkeys. Then Jesus got up and sat on one of them. 8 Many people in the crowd put their coats down on the road. Other people cut branches down from trees. They put these branches down on the road.[d]
9 Many crowds of people went in front of Jesus and other people followed him. All of them were shouting,
‘We praise the Son of David!
May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority!
We praise God in heaven above!’[e]
10 When Jesus went into Jerusalem, everybody in the city had trouble in their minds. They were asking each other, ‘Who is this man?’
11 The people in the crowd replied, ‘This is God's prophet, Jesus. He comes from Nazareth in Galilee.’
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