Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader.
A prayer[a]
41 If someone is kind to poor people,
God blesses him.
When he is in trouble,
the Lord rescues him.
2 The Lord keeps him safe.
The Lord saves his life!
God causes him to be happy
here in the land where he lives.
The Lord will not put him under the power of his enemies.
3 The Lord takes care of him
when he is ill in bed.
Whenever he is ill,
you will make him completely well again.
4 I said, ‘Lord be kind to me
and forgive me.
I have done wrong things against you,
but please make me well again.’
5 My enemies say cruel things about me.
They say, ‘Surely he must die soon!
Then everyone will forget about him.’
6 When they come to see me,
they say that they are my friends.
But they think of ways to make me ashamed.
When they leave,
they tell everyone bad things about me.
7 All the people who hate me
insult me to other people.
My enemies make plans to hurt me.
8 They say, ‘He has a dangerous disease.
He will never get up from his bed.’
9 Even my special friend has turned against me.
He was someone that I trusted.
I often ate food with him in my home.[b]
10 But you, Lord, please be kind to me.
Raise me up to be well again.
Then I can punish my enemies as they have punished me.[c]
11 They have not won against me,
so I know that you are pleased with me!
12 You continue to help me because I do what is right.
You will let me stay near to you for ever.
13 Let us all praise the Lord,
who is Israel's great God!
Yes, praise him now and for ever!
Amen! Amen!
This is a special song that David wrote for the music leader.
It was when Doeg, the man from Edom, went to Saul and told him, ‘David went to the house of Ahimelech, the priest.’
Cruel words[a]
52 Strong man, why are you so proud
about the evil things that you like to do?
Remember that God's faithful love keeps me safe.
2 Your tongue is like a sharp knife!
You talk about how to hurt other people,
You speak nothing but lies.
3 You love to do evil things,
not good things.
You love to tell lies
more than the truth.
Selah.
4 You love to say cruel words.
You speak to deceive others.
5 But God will knock you down,
and he will break you into pieces.
He will take you away from your home.
He will remove you from this world where people live.
Selah.
6 Righteous people will see what has happened,
and they will be afraid.[b]
Then they will laugh at the wicked person,
and they will say,
7 ‘Look! This man did not trust God to keep him safe.
Instead, he trusted in his riches.
He thought that he could be cruel,
and that would keep him safe.’
8 But I am like a strong olive tree
that grows in the house of God.
I will always trust in God's faithful love for his people.
9 I will always praise you, God,
for what you have done.
I will trust you to help me,
together with all those who serve you.
This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader.
God, please help us![a]
44 God, we have heard it for ourselves.
Our ancestors told us
what you did for them a long time ago.
2 You used your power to chase away the other nations,
so that our ancestors could live in their land.
You punished those nations,
and you helped our ancestors to be free.
3 Our ancestors did not get the land
by the power of their own swords.
Their own strength did not win the fight.
It was your own power and strength that did it!
You were kind to them because you were their friend.
4 God, you are my king!
You command that Jacob's descendants
must win against their enemies.
5 Because of your power,
we can knock down our enemies.
Because of your strength,
we can beat them down.
6 I do not trust in my bow and arrows.
It is not my sword
that has helped me to win the fight.
7 It is you who rescues us from our enemies.
You bring shame on the people that hate us.
8 Every day, we praise you, God.
We will always thank you, all the time,
because you are great!
Selah.
9 But now you have turned against us.
You have made us ashamed.
When our armies go out to fight a battle,
you no longer go with us.
10 You make us run away from our enemies.
The people who hate us take from us whatever they like!
11 You have put us under their power,
so that they kill us like sheep for them to eat.
You have sent us away
to live in foreign countries.
12 You have sold your own people,
for almost nothing!
They had no value to you.
13 The people who live in countries near us
do not respect us.
They laugh at us
and they insult us.
14 The other nations tell jokes about us.
They think that we are nothing.
15 I feel ashamed all the time.
I do not know where to look.
16 This is because my cruel enemies are always insulting me.
All they want is to hurt me.
17 We have not turned away from you,
but all this has happened to us.
We have not turned against the covenant that you made with us.
18 We have continued to serve you
and obey your commands.
19 But you have broken us in pieces.
You have left us for wild dogs to eat.
You have covered us with the darkness of death.
20 We might have turned against you, our God,
and worshipped a strange god.
21 But if we had done that,
you would have discovered it.
You know even our most secret thoughts.
22 But, because we are your people, God,
people try to kill us all the time.
They think that we are like sheep
and we are ready to be killed.
23 Lord, do something!
Why are you sleeping? Wake up!
Do not turn away from us for ever!
24 Why do you turn away from us?
Why do you forget our troubles
and the way that people hurt us?
25 We have fallen down in the dirt.
Our bodies are lying on the ground.
26 Wake up and help us!
Save us, because of your faithful love.
The man on the red horse
7 On the 24th day of Shebat, the 11th month of the year, the Lord spoke to Zechariah the prophet. This was when Darius had been king for two years.
8 During the night I, Zechariah, had a dream from the Lord. I saw a man on a red horse. The horse was standing among some trees called myrtle trees, in the valley. And behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9 I asked him, ‘My lord, what are these horses?’ The angel who talked with me said, ‘I will show you what they are.’
10 The man who was standing among the trees answered, ‘The Lord has sent these horses to go to all the places on the earth.’
11 And the horses spoke to the angel of the Lord who stood among the trees. They said, ‘We have gone all over the earth. All the earth is without trouble.’
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you be angry with Jerusalem? How long will you be angry with the cities of Judah? You have already been angry for 70 years.’ 13 And the Lord answered the angel with kind words.
14 The angel said to me, ‘Tell this to the people. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I love Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mine. 15 I am very angry with the countries that are safe and without danger. Those countries were too cruel to my people, when I was only a little angry with Jerusalem.” 16 So this is what the Lord says: “I will return to Jerusalem to be kind to the people there. I will build my house again”, says the Lord Almighty, “and I will build the city again.” ’
17 The angel told me that I must say this: ‘The Lord Almighty says, “My towns will be rich again. I will again speak kind words to Jerusalem. I will choose Jerusalem again as my own city.” ’
Jesus' message to the believers at Philadelphia
7 ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Philadelphia:
“This is my message to you. I am the one who is completely good, the true God. I have King David's key in my hand.[a] When I open a door, nobody can shut it. And when I shut a door, nobody can open it.
8 I know everything that you do. Look! I have opened a door that is in front of you. Nobody can shut that door. I know that you are not very strong. But you have obeyed what I told you. You have continued to believe in me. 9 Some people there say that they are Jews. But that is not true. They are telling lies. Instead, they belong to a group of Satan's people. I will cause those people to bend down low in front of you to give you honour. Then they will understand that I love you. 10 I have told you to be patient in this difficult time. You have obeyed what I told you. Because of that, I will keep you safe from the time of great trouble that will come. This trouble will come to everyone who lives in the world. It will show me what each person is really like.
11 I will come soon.[b] Continue to obey my message that you already know. Then nobody can take away your crown which is God's gift to you.[c]
12 Everyone who wins against Satan will be safe in God's house. I will make them like a strong pillar in the temple of my God. They will never leave that place again. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of his city. The name of that city is the new Jerusalem.[d] It will come down from heaven. My God will send it down to the earth. I will also write my new name on those people. 13 God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully!” ’
15 Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) 16 At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.
17 A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into his house.[a] He must not stop to get anything from his home to take with him. 18 People who are outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. They must not even go to fetch their coats. 19 That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! 20 You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest. 21 Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. 22 God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen. 23 At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah.” Or they may say, “There he is!” When they say that, do not believe them. 24 Some people will say to you, “I am the Messiah!” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. 25 So be careful! I have told you about these things before they happen.
26 Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is out there in the wilderness.” But do not go out to see who is there. Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is hiding in that secret room.” You must not believe these people. 27 Lightning shines quickly and it lights up the whole of the sky from one side to the other. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns. 28 If the dead body of an animal is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.[b]
29 Then after all these bad things have happened,
“The sun will become dark.
The moon will not shine any more.
Stars will fall out of the sky.
And the powerful things in the sky will shake.”[c]
30 Then people will see a powerful thing in the sky. This will show them that the Son of Man is coming. All the families of people in the world will cry because they are very sad. Then they will see the Son of Man. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky. He will have great power and bright glory. 31 People will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will go in every direction. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen from every part of the earth and from every part of the sky.’
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